The Red and the Black (Stendhal)

Why the novel was titled "The Red and the Black"? As everyone supposes, "The Red" means soldiers and "The Black" means priests. However I feel this is not the only the reason. It is an historical psychological novel. We can see French society for the first decades of the nineteenth century through a young man's attempts to socially rise. Even though you didn't have any knowledge of French history at all like me, this short version of "The Red and the Black" would be easy to read and quite interesting.

Ikaros,