# The Wolf explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant. ## What happens The old Marquis d'Arville recounts a family legend about his great-grandfather Jean and his brother François, two passionate hunters in 1764 Lorraine. After a monstrous gray-white wolf terrorizes the region and kills their livestock, the brothers pursue it relentlessly. During the chase, Jean is fatally injured when his horse crashes into a tree. François, carrying his brother's body, continues the hunt, finally cornering and strangling the wolf with his bare hands. He returns home with both bodies, laughing and weeping. The tale is presented as true, and a lady remarks on the beauty of such passions. ## Themes in this chapter ### Obsession and Delusion The brothers' all-consuming passion for hunting leads to tragedy and madness, as François continues the chase even after his brother's death. ### Cruelty and Suffering The story depicts the brutal violence of the hunt, the wolf's attacks on humans and livestock, and the graphic death of Jean d'Arville. ### Isolation and Loneliness François experiences profound fear and solitude in the dark forest after his brother's death, haunted by the wolf and the silence. ## Character check-ins ### Duc de Servigny The old Marquis d'Arville, the narrator of the wolf story. ### Guy de Maupassant Author of the story, present as the narrator of the frame tale. ### Jeanne Cordier Not directly present; no character matches the lady who comments at the end. ## Key lines > They were possessed by this terrible, inexorable passion. It consumed them, having taken entire control of them, leaving no place for anything else. The brothers were completely dominated by their hunting obsession, which left no room for any other interests. _Highlights the theme of obsession and the brothers' single-minded devotion to hunting._ > If only poor Jean had seen me strangle the beast, he would have died happy, I am sure! François later lamented that his brother would have found joy in witnessing the wolf's death, even in his final moments. _Shows François's delusion and the tragic irony of his brother's death during the hunt._ > Well, it is beautiful to have passions like that. A lady at the dinner remarks that such intense devotion, even to a destructive passion, is admirable. _Reflects the ambiguous moral stance of the story, where passion is both destructive and revered._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/the-wolf - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters