“Am I Insane?” An Analysis of Maupassant
It seems like anything I’d say about this work would ruin the beauty of it. However, some mental notes were that the woman’s revived desire was renewed by the horse, but the jealousy of the man led him to murder.
I suppose the work is meant to capture an image of the passion called love; but also, I’d argue, it hints at an ideal. The woman loved her horse, and the man felt jealous of that love. Should he have loved the woman, I suppose the poem forces you to consider whether he would have been happy for her revived desire, since the root of the problem wasn’t an affair.
His description of the woman made her very relatable. Very desirable, however, the poem seems to try and insinuate the revived desire is with a man, until the end when the notion is dismissed with totality. When, it turns out to be a horse who has revived her desire.
The thought that ran through my mind was this: that if the woman were truly loved, this interest, this passion, would be shared. It wouldn’t be something to incite jealousy.
The woman was martyred for having a renewed passion.
The tendency is in men to do this. The internal narrative of the story is the strained relationship between a man and his partner. The jealousy aroused is a passion of dominance; to be her waking passion morn and eve.
When he’s not her object of total adoration, he goes crazy. So, the poem describes the feeling of a strained relationship, how it seems to make one crazy. Yet this work is supremely beautiful for its rendition, with moral shades to the text: that if he actually loved the woman, perhaps he would have taken another course of action. Seeing the renewed sense of life would have made him joyous and not callous. That was the sensation I received from the prose, was a moral bearing the insanity of a man who wishes to dominate his partner in everything. So, the wife’s joys are sucked from her. It is a relevant discourse, as true love would create a response of affection for any renewed interest because true love wishes to see its beloved happy.
Some notes about Maupassant, I think his naturalist persona was a cover for success. The poems, although usually very cruel, do have a moral shade to them, despite the so called “Pessimism.” This piece affirms the female Libido, and the revival of passion through a healthy cathexis. It then turns to a moral rebuke of the man, by having him internally monologue, “Am I insane?”, insinuating to the reader that he is not insane, maybe, but that maybe he is bitter with jealousy, an emotion we all have felt. The relatability of this passion, for anyone who’s had a partner who showed considerable disinterest in them, is perhaps what shades the text with its insidious interpretation. Perhaps the reader draws too much sympathy to the narrator.
However, there is a moral to draw for someone feeling similar emotions. There is a brightness in the female character. A trueness. A revival of the female libido, which, ought to be shared by the husband/boyfriend, because true love would share its joy with the beloved. So, perhaps the poem scathes the jealousy, which is murderous. An emotion many have felt, if they’re honest. An emotion many have been troubled with, if they’re honest. Because I don’t believe the moral tone could do anything more than offer a remedy to the jealousy. It seems to reaffirm love, by showing love’s complete opposite. As, I tend to empathize with the woman and not the man.
I will not recant my analysis, as I find it is a good analysis.
Maupassant, Guy. The Tales of Maupassant. Illustrated by Gunter Böhmer. The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written Collector’s Edition Bound in Genuine Leather. Easton Press, 1977. Text.
B. K. Neifert 