Guy De Maupassant Character Analysis

POTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN THE SELECT SHORT STORIES OF GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Author: Ms. R.AnnaLakshmi, Assistant Professor, Karpagam University-Coimbatore.
Co-Author: Ms. D. Sarulatha, Assistant Professor, Karpagam College of Engineering-Coimbatore.
Abstract
The paper focuses on Guy De Maupassant’s women characters. He describes characters from various professions and social classes with sensitivity and humour. Although Maupassant was himself very pessimistic, rather chauvinistic, and also distrustful of organized religions, his characters do not simply mirror his own philosophy. He wrote about topics of interest to his French readers in the 1880’s, but he also enriched his

She is the protagonist and this character has some reflection of his mother. She is depicted as a lady who is bold enough to meet the challenges in her life. She also repents for her sins. The story opens with the mother’s narration of her life’s incidents to a lawyer. She says that in her young age she was in love with a person but her family rejected him as he was not rich. She was compelled to marry another person. They had a son and after a few years her husband died. One day, she met her lover and he felt pity on her and they both brought up her son together. Some years passed happily, but at one point of time, when the son had come to know about their relationship, he ran out of home. When the mother came to know this, she insisted her husband that he must bring back her son to home. She says “I forbid you to come near me or to see me again unless you find him. Go away!” (SSG 30). She had a strong hope that her son will return one day. From then on she has been alone in her house for twenty years expecting her son’s return. The missing of her son caused her nervous attack and now she is waiting for a peaceful death. “A sum of five thousand francs is left to you as a fee if you do not succeed, and of a hundred thousand francs if you do succeed. I want you to find my son after my death.”(SSG

The main character Mathilde who is extremely pretty is not a wealthy person, and is married to a clerk. Mathilde is very unhappy with her life, and wishes she could have more luxuries. The author says: “she dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people of the equals of the very greatest ladies.”(SSG 92.) Mathilde Loisel, was not honest with herself. She did not accept her existence. She sought an aesthetically pleasing lifestyle, and felt that she would give anything, even her life to have it. Since, she did not realize the fact that she had a loving husband and a secure lifestyle. She was not happy with her surroundings and possessions. She felt secure to have such beauty and grace with no class to go with it. She dreamt of things that were simply not meant for her and she overlooked the things she