Carnal Desires in Literarute

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Recommended: Biography on guy de maupassant

Laurence Sterne once said, “The thirst for riches, like the desire of knowledge, increases ever with the acquisition of it.” This quote applies to the writings of Guy de Maupassant. Even though some critics say his stories were written to entertain his audience, Guy de Maupassant's writings show people have an under-lying carnal desire. In “The Necklace,” he shows that Madame Loisel's carnal desire was to be in the upper class. In another one of his popular short stories, “The False Gems,” he shows that Mr. Lantin was grieving over his wife, however, his desire was to be wealthy, so he sold all of his wife's gems. In his story “Moonlight,” Madame Henriette Letore had a desire for love. She did not care who the love was for, she just wanted to give and receive love.
Guy de Maupassant is one of the more celebrated writers in French history. His writings were severely influenced by the Franco-Prussian War which is why most of his writings are a little pessimistic. It is said that “his work as a whole is described by irony and pessimism; humanity is shown motivated more by greed than by finer passions,” ("Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant”). Guy de Maupassant also did not make the message of his works very clear. He learned this because he was an apprentice to Gustave Flaubert. Maupassant also had a respect for women, showing they were treated unfairly. “Maupassant notes a female's subjugation to patriarchal order in most of his stories,” (Hadlock, Philip G).
“The Necklace” is a story about a woman named Madame Loisel and her husband. They were invited to a dinner party but Madame Loisel had nothing to wear. She begged her husband for money so she could buy a new dress so she did not look poor. After buying a new dress, she real...

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...en the lines in hopes that his readers would catch on to what he was actually trying to say.

Works Cited

Commins, Saxe. “The False Gems”. The Best Short Stories Of Guy de Maupassant.
New York, NY: Random House, 1945. Print. 167-174.
---. “The Necklace”. TBSSoGdM. Print. 236-238.
---. “Moonlight”. TBSSoGdM. Print. 486-491.
"Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Power Search. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
.
Fawell, John W. "Maupassant's 'Idyll': The Art of the Simple Tale." The Midwest Quarterly 49.3 (2008): 314+. Gale Power Search. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
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Hadlock, Philip G. "The light continent: on melancholia and masculinity in Maupassant's 'Lui?' and 'Une famille'." Style Spring 2001: 79+. Gale Power Search. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.
.

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