Role of Women in Maupassant's Works
Guy de Maupassant is one of the most popular French short story writers from the 19th Century and was also considered to be the father of modern short story writings. Maupassant belonged to the naturalistic school and took issues like the attitudes of the bourgeoisie or the Franco-Prussian War, along with the highly fashionable life of France in his age, and these became the key aspects of the cynical style of writing.
Taking some of the aspects of his life in relation to his works, it is stated that he normally didn't like work and whenever he found free time, for which he actually searched for, he used to spend it in pursuit of women, which can probably relate to how he expresses hypocrisy in women's characters and have a better understanding of them. So speaking of this fact, it can some how be related to the aspect of the role of women in Maupassant's work which is one of the key aspects in his pessimistic views in his stories as well. When women are taken into account, the first thing that comes into mind is the fact that Maupassant presents a clash between the bourgeoisie and the high-profile French class. This not only highlights the theme mentioned earlier, but also the role of women in such environments.
The short stories that can be taken with regard to this particular aspect include "The Umbrella" where Maupassant expresses the protagonist Mme. Oreille as someone who is completely dominant and ruthless. In the beginning of the story it is mentioned that the main character Mme Oreille was:
" a very economical woman possessed a whole storehouse of strict principals with regard to the multiplication of money"
which indicates the fact that she is greedy but the negative connotation to her character doesn't start from here. Being an economical person is not bad in itself, but as the story proceeds the readers understand her character in a different way and she is in fact presented as a miser who wouldn't allow her husband to waste' money on a mere
Taking some of the aspects of his life in relation to his works, it is stated that he normally didn't like work and whenever he found free time, for which he actually searched for, he used to spend it in pursuit of women, which can probably relate to how he expresses hypocrisy in women's characters and have a better understanding of them. So speaking of this fact, it can some how be related to the aspect of the role of women in Maupassant's work which is one of the key aspects in his pessimistic views in his stories as well. When women are taken into account, the first thing that comes into mind is the fact that Maupassant presents a clash between the bourgeoisie and the high-profile French class. This not only highlights the theme mentioned earlier, but also the role of women in such environments.
The short stories that can be taken with regard to this particular aspect include "The Umbrella" where Maupassant expresses the protagonist Mme. Oreille as someone who is completely dominant and ruthless. In the beginning of the story it is mentioned that the main character Mme Oreille was:
" a very economical woman possessed a whole storehouse of strict principals with regard to the multiplication of money"
which indicates the fact that she is greedy but the negative connotation to her character doesn't start from here. Being an economical person is not bad in itself, but as the story proceeds the readers understand her character in a different way and she is in fact presented as a miser who wouldn't allow her husband to waste' money on a mere
Bibliography: The short stories mentioned