# Rosalie Prudent explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

## What happens

Rosalie Prudent, a servant girl, is on trial for infanticide. She initially remains silent but eventually confesses that the father is Monsieur Joseph Varambot, her employers' nephew. She describes her seduction, pregnancy, and the birth of twins. Overwhelmed by the impossibility of raising two children on her meager wages, she smothers them and buries them in the garden. The court, moved by her story, acquits her.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cruelty and Suffering

Rosalie's physical and emotional suffering during childbirth and her agonizing decision to kill her twins highlight the cruelty of her circumstances.

### Social Class and Money

Rosalie's poverty and low wages as a servant drive her to infanticide, illustrating the harsh realities of class and economic inequality.

### Isolation and Loneliness

Rosalie's loneliness as an orphan with no family or support network contributes to her vulnerability and tragic actions.

## Character check-ins

### Rosalie Prudent

The defendant, a pregnant servant girl who kills her newborn twins out of desperation.

### Joseph Renardet

Monsieur Joseph Varambot, the artillery N.C.O. and nephew of her employers, who seduced and impregnated Rosalie.

## Key lines

> I haven't a father, or mother, or brother, or sister, no one. I felt as if he was a brother who'd come back when he began talking to me.

Rosalie explains that her loneliness made her susceptible to Joseph's advances, as she had no family to turn to.

_Reveals her emotional vulnerability and isolation._

> Two children. Me that earns a pound a month. Tell me… could I do with it? One, yes, could be managed, with scraping and saving, but not two. It turned my head.

Rosalie describes the impossible financial burden of raising twins on her meager salary, which drove her to kill them.

_Highlights the economic desperation that led to the infanticide._

> I put the pillow over them, without knowing what I was doing. I couldn't keep two… and I lay down again on top of it.

In a state of panic and exhaustion, Rosalie smothered her newborns with a pillow.

_Depicts the act as a desperate, almost involuntary response to her situation._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/rosalie-prudent
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters