Dans le royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois

The expression “Dans le royaume des aveugles, les borgnes sont rois” captures how a person may appear distinguished when those around them have few points of comparison, then seem ordinary in a wider world. The novel applies the proverb to the change in Madame de Bargeton’s appearance and social reception after she arrives in Paris with Lucien de Rubempré.

Meaning and Context

The proverb’s image is of a one-eyed person reigning among the blind: an advantage that depends on the limitations of the surrounding group. Here, it describes provincial standards of beauty. In Angoulême, familiarity with local faces and the absence of alternatives allow a woman considered beautiful there to acquire a kind of conventional beauty; Paris, by contrast, supplies immediate comparison with numerous stylish women.

Use in the Narrative

At the Paris spectacle, Lucien notices the fashionable Parisiennes around him and begins to see Madame de Bargeton’s clothes and coiffure as outdated. The narrator uses the proverb to explain why her provincial reputation for beauty brings her no attention in the capital. The comparison also reverses the judgments the couple had made of one another: as Lucien reassesses her beside Parisian women, Madame de Bargeton sees his short-sleeved coat, poor gloves, and narrow waistcoat as painfully provincial beside the young men in the balcony. Paris changes not only their surroundings but the standards by which they see each other.