Griselda De Leon Rhetoric 5 Dec.2001 A Story of Love Through a Heart of Insanity In "Was it a Dream?" by French author Guy de Maupassant, the protagonist tells of his previous love experience and a terrible dream while visiting his deceased lover's grave. Now, he dwells in the pain and resentment caused by constant memories of his bad experience. Such disappointment in love has caused him to become insane. A sign that reveals his insanity is that he does not clarify what is real and what is not as he combines reality with a dream. Throughout the story, his disposition and flaws are revealed by the way he handles the situation. Two main flaws that lead him to an unstable mind are his obsession over his lover and his continual denial of her infidelity. The protagonist claims he was deeply in love with his mistress. When she dies, he expresses grief, but the sorrow is not because of true love. The way the protagonist refers to the love he felt for her describes an obsession that has taken control of his identity and life. He implies that his main value in life was his relationship with her when he states, "I met her and loved her; that is all" (Maupassant 288). When he emphasizes "that is all," he clarifies that she was his main focus in life. Furthermore, he continues, "I no longer cared whether it was day or night, or whether I was dead or alive, on this old earth of ours" (288). The main conflict of the protagonist is that consciously he does not accept the fact that his lover was unfaithful. Since he gave himself to the relationship and thought she loved him and needed him as much as he needed her, he was cowardly and refused to confront truth. Through the story, there are several hints that reveal his denial and pretence to be confused. Usually, when people are about to die and have a guilty conscience, they confess their wrong doings to their victims. Of her death he says ". . . her eyes bright and sad. When I spoke to her, she answered me, but I do not remember what we said." The implication is that she confessed her unfaithfulness to him, but he pretended he did not remember. Furthermore, he stresses, "I have forgotten everything, everything, everything" (289). It is evident that he chooses to forget the facts. Also, he tells of an encounter with "the other man" when he mentions, "Another came who was very kind and tender, and I shed tears when he spoke to me about her" (289). At that point, he is overwhelmed with his beloved's death and the harsh truth of her infidelity. Since his love and his pride as a man are challenged, he isolates himself. As the victim, the protagonist does not react to the situation with hatred and desire to seek revenge; instead, he is weakened and becomes depressed. With depression, he wishes to forget everything in order to heal his heartache. He proclaims, (290) "Happy is the man whose heart forgets everything that it has contained. . . . How I suffer!" Despite his wish, he cannot be at peace with himself or move on with his life because he does not deal with the issue. Since he refuses to acknowledge the truth based on what others are revealing to him, his subconscious intervenes. As a result, the protagonist has a dream that confronts him with the truth. The purpose of the dream is to compel him to realize it is time to face reality. David G. Myers writes that "Freud consider[s] dreams the key to understanding our inner conflicts" (256). The protagonist's dream displays a clear understanding of his denial and knowledge of the truth. The inscription on her gravestone, "She loved, was loved, and died," symbolizes his obsession with the love that did not exist. In the dream, his lover changes the inscription to the following: "Having gone out in the rain one day, in order to deceive her lover, she caught cold and died" (294). This is a representation of the moment she confessed the truth before dying. Finally, in the dream he admits his denial when she says "[this is] the truth, the terrible and the holy truth of which everybody was ignorant, or pretended to be ignorant, while they were alive" (294). However, as the protagonist introduces his story, it seems he has not resolved the inner conflict despite his dream. He expresses resentment about love, his obsession, and still shows his denial when he says, "I do not know; I no longer know anything," (288) as if his conscious mind is confused. He did not recover from his bad experience because he did not face the truth. Throughout the story, Maupassant reveals how sometimes people are cowardly and choose to ignore the truth about a person because it is painful. "Was it a Dream?" is similar to many of the author's stories which are "built around simple episodes from every day life, which [reveal] the hidden sides of people" ("Guy de Maupassant"). In this case, the hidden side of the protagonist is his inner conflict concerning his unfaithful lover, his refusal to face reality, and acceptance of the truth. Sources Cited "Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)." Books and Writers 15 Dec. 2001 <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/maupassa.htm>. Maupassant, Guy de. "Was it a Dream?" 27 Nov. 2001 <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ etcbin/toccer-new?id=MauStor&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/ texts/english/modeng/parsed&part=0>. Meyers, David G. Psychology Myers in Modules. New York: Worth Publishers, 2001. |