Short Fiction · Chapter
The Relic explained
Henri Fontal writes to his old schoolfellow, the Abbé Louis d'Ennemare, explaining how his engagement to the Abbé's cousin Gilberte was broken off due to a foolish deception.
What happens
Henri Fontal writes to his old schoolfellow, the Abbé Louis d'Ennemare, explaining how his engagement to the Abbé's cousin Gilberte was broken off due to a foolish deception. Henri bought a relic (a bone of one of the Eleven Thousand Virgins) for Gilberte, but lost it and replaced it with a similar fragment, then claimed he had stolen it from the cathedral in Cologne. Gilberte initially adored him for the supposed sacrilege, but when she visited Cologne and discovered the truth, she broke off the engagement. Henri now seeks the Abbé's help to obtain a genuine relic to win her back.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
Henri's love for Gilberte drives him to deceive her, and her love for him is conditional on his supposed daring and devotion.
Illusion vs. Reality
Henri's fabricated story of stealing the relic creates an illusion that Gilberte adores, but the truth destroys their engagement.
Obsession and Delusion
Gilberte's religious fervor and Henri's desperate attempts to maintain the deception highlight their shared delusion.
Characters to notice
- Henri Fontal
The narrator and protagonist, a doctor who becomes engaged to Gilberte but loses her trust after a deception involving a relic.
- Guy de Maupassant
Author of the story, though not a character within the narrative.
Key passages
“I need not tell you that my faith is not very great, but, as my friend, you are magnanimous enough to put up with my indifference, and to leave me alone, and to wait for the future, so you say.”
Henri admits to the Abbé that he is not particularly religious, but appreciates the Abbé's tolerance.
Henri reveals his lack of religious conviction, which contrasts with Gilberte's piety.
“Just note this: I had committed sacrilege for her sake. I had committed a theft; I had violated a shrine; violated and stolen holy relics, and for that she adored me, thought me loving, tender, divine. Such is woman, my dear Abbé.”
Henri reflects that Gilberte loved him more for the supposed crime he committed for her than for any virtuous act.
Highlights the theme of love and desire intertwined with deception and religious transgression.