Macquart branch
Antoine Macquart
/ɑ̃.twan ma.kaʁ/
Drunkard, small trader, former soldier
The illegitimate son of Adélaïde by the smuggler Macquart. Bitter, idle, and alcoholic, he embodies the hereditary vice of the Macquart line — the same tainted blood that produces genius in one descendant and madness in another here producing mere rancour and dissolution. He served in the army and came back with nothing except a sense of grievance against the Rougons, who have inherited the family property while he has inherited only his father's vices. Father of Lisa, Gervaise, and Jean, he treats his family as a resource to be exploited and abuses his long-suffering wife Joséphine for decades. His resentment of Pierre Rougon's prosperity is one of the cycle's persistent bass notes. He dies a gruesome but darkly comic death in Le Docteur Pascal — spontaneously combusting after a life of near-pure alcohol, his body so saturated that it burns like a lamp.
Fils illégitime d'Adélaïde et du contrebandier Macquart. Alcoolique et rancunier, il incarne le vice héréditaire. Père de Lisa, Gervaise et Jean, il meurt d'une combustion spontanée dans Le Docteur Pascal — son corps si imprégné d'alcool qu'il brûle comme une lampe.
Slouching, sallow, with reddened nose and the loose gestures of a habitual drinker.
Slouching, sallow, with reddened nose and the loose gestures of a habitual drinker.
Family & Relationships
- Child Adélaïde Fouque
- Sibling Pierre Rougon
- Sibling Ursule Macquart
- Spouse Joséphine Macquart
- Parent Lisa Quenu
- Parent Gervaise Macquart
- Parent Jean Macquart
Engraving from the Vizetelly English translation of La Fortune des Rougon (1886) — Public domain
Appears In
The Fortune of the Rougons
La Fortune des Rougon
major
The Dram Shop
L'Assommoir
minor
The Earth
La Terre
minor
Details
- Branch
- Macquart
- Generation
- II