The False Gems Character Analysis

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The False Gems

ZHAO XINYU

INTRODUCTION
The False Gems is a short story by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1883. The story is set in Paris in the late 1800s and tells about after a husband found that “the false gems” his wife collected was not an imitation but it was real, he has changed a lot. Meanwhile, it is a moral novel and this novel has also exposed a social phenomenon that people were crazy about pursuing the hypocrisy and money at that time. The central idea of the False Gems is to expose this social phenomenon and is the irony of people who pursue hypocrisy and money.The author wishes to address this subject in 3 parts: I.brief introduction of this novel, II.interpretation of the irony of the story, and III.interpretation of the tittle “The False Gems”.
I
The plot of The False Gems is rather simple. Monsieur Lantin meets a young lady and falls with her. The lady was seen as a very virtuous woman and she was beautiful,modest and honest and people agreed that the man who wins her love would be the luckiest man.Then, Lantin lives a happy life with the lady and he believes that his wife to be virtuous,but his wife deceives him. Lantin loved her more after six years of marriage and when she died, he was pretty sorrow. “But life soon became a struggle.”(Maupassant,1883) Lantin hesitated to sell his wife’s favorite gems.However, when he learned that his wife’s gem is not an imitation but it is real, he decided to sell them.After selling jewelry, he became