The novel chronicles the fortunes of Julien Sorel: the son of a carpenter, he manages through his own drive and intellect to climb the social ladder, first within the provincial bourgeoisie and subsequently among the Parisian aristocracy.
He is engaged as a tutor to the Mayor’s children, and soon embarks on an affair with the Mayor’s wife.
He then pursues his studies in a seminary and, through a series of fortuitous circumstances, becomes secretary to a powerful nobleman, with whose daughter he enters into another love affair.
The young noblewoman, haughty and proud, falls madly in love with Julien, by whom she is soon expecting a child.
The Mayor’s wife, persuaded by her confessor, sends the girl’s father a letter that slanders Julien’s character.
Consumed by rage at his injured honor and by the betrayal of his former lover, he attempts to kill her; he is subsequently imprisoned, tried, and sentenced to death.
During his imprisonment he realizes that he is truly in love with his first mistress, but by then it is too late.
The plot of the book appears to correspond to an actual real-life incident; yet beyond mere verisimilitude, the narrative may be interpreted from three distinct perspectives.
From the standpoint of historical context, the novel depicts the social ascent of a representative of the common people, rising through the bourgeoisie and up to the aristocracy.
In Julien there is neither submissiveness nor the slightest humility: he is convinced that he is equal to, if not worthier than, the members of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy he encounters along his path.
As he comes to know them better, an initial phase of admiration gives way to disillusionment with the narrow-mindedness of the provincial bourgeoisie and the vacuity of the aristocracy.
In this sense, Stendhal’s novel resembles Proust’s, even if it totally lacks the philosophical underpinnings that characterize In Search of Lost Time.
The portrait that emerges of the clergy is likewise profoundly negative.
In this light, the title The Red and the Black would seem to signify the conflict between the progressive, democratic spirit and the reactionary conservatism of the ruling classes in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The title, however, appears to mirror deeper and, to some extent, universal peculiarities and contrasts.
The novel’s characters all operate within an atmosphere of falsehood and hypocrisy, which equally marks Julien’s behavior.
One need only consider the subterfuges he employs to conquer and dominate the beautiful Mathilde, or the fact that until the very last moment he maintains an ambiguous posture toward her, showing her affection at the very moment he is in love with his former mistress, the Mayor's wife.
Underlying these sentiments, a pervasive superficiality and a logic dictated by mere expediency hold sway.
This ambiguity dissolves only in Julien’s revolutionary act—at this point a "true hero"—as he seeks to avenge the false accusations leveled against him and accepts death with courage and dignity.
Confronted with injustice and death, Julien casts aside hypocrisy and expediency to act with integrity, even if in a manner baffling to his contemporaries.
The third perspective is embodied by the two women, the Mayor’s wife and Mathilde, who constitute the novel’s true heroines.
From the outset, their feelings are profoundly genuine: the Mayor’s wife endures an unhappy marriage and confronts her new lover with astonishment yet immense courage; Mathilde, so haughty and aristocratic, is nonetheless willing to forfeit everything, with passionate abandon, for the man she loves.
One need only recall the pages describing the rapprochement between Mathilde and Julien.
On the young woman’s part, a profound struggle unfolds between her aristocratic pride and her burgeoning love; on Julien’s, what predominates is merely the fear of being "made a fool of" and the drive to dominate, even through deceit.
Julien fails to grasp the true stature of these two women; he suspects ulterior motives and snares, only to later indulge in fantasies of their devotion after his demise.
In truth, the end of both women will be tragic and profoundly genuine, just like their love: the Mayor’s wife will die of a broken heart, while Mathilde, seized by madness, will bear away her lover’s severed head.