Short Fiction · Chapter
A Widow explained
During a rainy hunting season at the de Banville country seat, a young lady notices a ring made of blond hair on her old aunt's finger and asks for its story.
What happens
During a rainy hunting season at the de Banville country seat, a young lady notices a ring made of blond hair on her old aunt's finger and asks for its story. The aunt reluctantly recounts her tragic past: as a seventeen-year-old, she became the object of devotion for her twelve-year-old cousin, the last of the passionate Santèze family. She encouraged his childish love as a game, but when she became engaged, the boy, true to his family's legacy of fatal passion, hanged himself. She broke off her engagement and has lived ever since as the 'widow' of the thirteen-year-old boy.
Themes in this chapter
Obsession and Delusion
The Santèze family is described as a 'race of fools for love' with violent passions that drive them to extreme acts, including suicide. The aunt's playful encouragement of the boy's devotion borders on delusion, leading to tragic consequences.
Love and Desire
The story centers on the intense, precocious love of the young Santèze for his older cousin, and the aunt's coquettish manipulation of that love, which ultimately results in his death.
Cruelty and Suffering
The aunt's actions, though initially playful, are cruel in their manipulation of the boy's feelings, leading to his suicide and her lifelong penance as a 'widow'.
Characters to notice
- Mademoiselle Pearl
The old aunt who tells the story of the ring and her tragic past.
- Guy de Maupassant
The author of the story, though not directly mentioned in the excerpt.
Key passages
“It is sad, so sad that I never care to speak about it. All the unhappiness of my life is centred in it.”
The aunt describes the ring as the source of all her life's sorrow, which she finds too painful to discuss.
This sets the tone for the tragic story that follows.
“They were an extraordinary race, a race of fools, if you will, but of charming fools, of fools for love.”
The aunt characterizes the Santèze family as a lineage of passionate, love-driven individuals, whose devotion often led to extreme actions.
This establishes the family's reputation for intense romantic obsession.
“I was guilty, very guilty, and I have wept since, unceasingly, doing penance all my life, by remaining an old maid—or rather, an affianced widow, his widow.”
The aunt admits her culpability in encouraging the boy's love and explains that she has spent her life in remorse, never marrying and considering herself his widow.
This reveals her lifelong regret and the lasting impact of the tragedy.