Yet he is often only a would-be egoist; his heart, as he recognizes (11:42), is easily touched. Despite his hard for Mme. de Renal, principles, he is capable of love for her children, for Abbe Pirard, for his devoted friend Fouque, even for a time and in his way for Mathilde. Mme. de Renal is not deluded in seeing tender- ness and great idealism in him. Stendhal makes it abundantly clear that if Julien is at war with his society, one reason is that that society is corrupt.