Free Essay Comparing Stories of Guy de Maupassant and Thomas Hardy

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Comparing Stories of Guy de Maupassant and Thomas Hardy

Both the stories we were asked to read contain elements of mystery. They both are designed to make the reader think and make their own conclusions about what is going to happen at the end. The stories make you want to read on to find out what is going to happen. The stories are designed to trick you in to believing what you think is going happen but in fact it doesn�t. They do this by placing Red Herrings in to the story to confuse the reader. There is also often a twist at the end of mystery stories.

Maupassant�s story mainly surrounds the issues concerning the conditions and psychology surrounding vengeance, this makes the story seem gruesome from the beginning because as she has a murder to gain revenge on you think that she will do something like that back. Hardy is focused on writing a story in which the mystery involves issues surrounding a community. The community ideas in this story make you think about the safety of everybody all together in the small cottage but it fact the mystery makes you wonder how safe it is.

When Hardy first starts to introduce the story he is very descriptive when talking about the rural setting. He describes the cottage as �lonely� and the land surrounding it �irregular� the language which he uses to describe the area, the night and the cottage bring on a sense of mystery because it is a very quiet area, which usually has quite bad weather. Which means that there is not many people around to see any crimes take place.

�The wind up here blew unmistakably when it did blow and the rain hit hard whenever it fell.�

As it was in the middle of nowhere except for the two paths nobody would see anything happen and a lot of strangers would pass along the two paths to the towns. Again this brings on a sense of mystery because you would see strangers passing to and from town but you would not know why they are leaving or entering the town.

Hardy makes the environment seem very realistic through the detail; this would make the reader feel as if they were at the scene if they could picture it. Hardy describes the community at the christening in quite a lot of detail so to set the scene then the reader would be able to picture what is going on and make assumptions to what is going to happen in the story.

The way which Hardy describes each person makes you think about each persons mannerisms, personality and power over others. When they are all told about the man escaping from the jail you would think about each person and how they could be the escapee. When the first stranger arrives at the cottage he is dressed as a country worker when he is really a town worker. A sense of mystery is bought on because of the full moon in the sky, this is because in horror stories it is normally on a full moon when wear-wolves and other ghouls come out. The story says �it was nearly time of full moon�

As the first stranger approaches the cottage he behaves quite suspiciously, stopping to think and to look around. �His first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside the row of vessels, and to drink a copious draught from one of them�

He did this to quench his thirst, this would be necessary if he had to run because somebody in the room knew who he actually was, quenching his thirst would make it easier to run because he would not wear out as fast as if he was thirsty before running. You do not find this out from the story as you read it but if you read the whole book and look back at that section it makes you realize why he acted and did what he did. When the first stranger enters the house he made people happy because a song had been suggested and nobody wanted to sing.

�The knock afforded a not unwelcome diversion�

When he is inside the conversation stops being desultory and all turns to listen to the questions which the farmer is asking the stranger. The stranger does not want to be questioned to much so stops the shepherd�s wife from asking questions about where he is from by saying

� �My time would be long before yours Ma�am you see� �

Saying this makes you question about where he is from and what he is hiding that he cannot tell. The fact that you do not find out his name also makes you ask questions about him and makes want to know who he is. When the shepherd�s wife starts looking at what the stranger is wearing he tries to explain himself. He says

� �I have had some rough times lately and have been forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing.� �

He then gives a clue to what he does as a job when he says

� �I must find a suit better fit for working days when I reach home.� �

This shows that he cannot look scruffy for work but if he were a country worker this would not be as necessary than if he was a town worker. The people in the cottage do not question him about his profession when he says the comment about his suit, so they cannot have suspected that he was lying.

When the stranger asks for �a little baccy� but has no pipe, the farmer is very surprised. The stranger excuses himself by saying � �I have dropped it somewhere on the road� �

Then when the stranger also reveals that he has lost his baccy-box the farmer is even more surprised. The stranger is lucky because the farmer has not thought about why he actually has no pipe or box. The real reason is that they were taken off of his at the prison. This is the sort of thing that mystery stories make you think about but they do not actually tell you.

The second stranger is very different to the first stranger. He was described as having

�More of the common place in his manner�

Which means he was more down to earth and normal than the first stranger was. Therefore he fitted in easily with the crowd making himself at home.

Hardy teases the reader about the second stranger�s mission when at first when you hear about his clothes it makes you think that he is something quite posh and holds down quite an important job in the city.

�He wore a suit of cinder-grey shade throughout.�

When the second stranger makes himself at home and drinks the whole mug of mead he is thought of as rude and impolite. This would make you wonder if he was as sophisticated as you thought in the first place. Hardy then teases the reader about the second strangers mission when the second stranger says � �I am going to Casterbridge and to Casterbridge I must go.� �

This makes you want to know why the stranger has to go to Casterbridge. He goes on to talk to the farmer�s wife about why he is going to Casterbridge but doesn�t actually tell you what he has to do for work in Casterbridge.

When the farmer asks what the two strangers do for work and the second stranger does not reply immediately it makes you wonder what he has to hide. When the first stranger says very suddenly

� � Anybody may know my trade � I�, a Wheel wright.� �

It could either make you think that he was proud of being a wheel � wright or he wants to tell people what he does so that nobody starts questioning him. The second stranger then sings a song to tell people what he does which is an executioner.

When the third stranger arrives it makes the reader start to question about what is the link between the three strangers and what it has to do with the second stranger being an executioner. When the third stranger starts to ask directions he hears the executioner singing his song about the next day and what he has to do and see the first stranger singing along and he turns and runs. It makes you wonder why seeing and hearing these two men has made him flee. When the gun shot goes off to tell the area that a prisoner has escaped the reader would probably think that the third stranger was the escapee and that is why he ran when he heard the executioners song.

At the end of this story the exposition makes the reader realise what actually happened and who all of the three strangers were. I believe that this mystery story was designed to make you think about who is who and to make you guess throughout the story. This would entertain the reader, as they would want to read on so to find what happens in the end. When Hardy talks about the mystery as if it had been based on fact it has the effect on the reader which makes you think that it could have been a true story.

When Maupassant begins his story A Vendetta he, like Hardy, describes the surrounding area in detail. Like Hardy he tells the reader the points about the area, which develop a sense of mystery like

�----------------------------------------------.� (I don�t have the story!)

Maupassant�s introduction is different to Hardy�s because Maupassant goes straight in to introducing the characters but Hardy describes the area before he mentions the farmer and his family. The mood to these openings is different because Hardy concentrates on making the reader think about the mysterious area first but Maupassant doesn�t make the story seem very mysterious at first.

The two stories have very different openings, Hardy�s story begins with a christening but Maupassant�s begins with a horrific Murder. The two different openings create different senses of Mystery. Hardy creates a sense of mystery that is happy but still has a curious and strange part including the three strangers. Maupassant makes you know that his story is going to have a sad weird story line and from the beginning you can guess what the old woman is going to do. The way in which Hardy�s story is focused around a community and Maupassants around the isolation of the old woman creates different senses of mystery because the old woman has nobody to share her problems with and nobody can see her training the dog. But despite the cottage in The Three Strangers being in the middle of nowhere the community is there at the time of the story so a lot of people are involved and nothing that the strangers tell the farmer is kept secret.

The mystery of how the old woman will enact her vendetta is presented to the reader in the form of a series of questions this intensifies the readers interest in the psychology of revenge and the way it makes the reader think. This is different to Hardy�s approach to mystery, Hardy puts many intriguing clues throughout the story some are Red Herrings and some help the reader to decipher the story. This means that the reader may guess wrong at what happens.

The clues throughout the story are built in and very subtle. The way in which she trains the dog to bound at the throat of a dummy is a clue in itself because it makes you think about why she is training the dog to do this and who she is going to get the dog to attack. These clues intensify the readers interest in the old woman�s psychology because it makes the reader wonder if the old woman is sane and why she is going so far to get her revenge.

The end of A Vendetta is horrific compared to Hardy�s ending. The horrific ending leaves the reader feeling altogether more uptight and shocked. It also leaves you feeling slightly curious because it makes you think about what can happen and what can be done just to get revenge. Hardy�s story leaves you feeling more entertained because the ending is a happy one with the first stranger getting away and not being caught again.

I think that the reason why each mystery story was effective was because they both made the reader think about what is going to happen and to make assumptions. With Thomas Hardy�s The Three Strangers Hardy concentrated on writing a story in which the mystery involves a community and what the whole community does about mysterious goings on. With Guy de Maupassants A Vendetta Maupassant focused on issues surrounding the conditions and psychology surrounding vengeance. His story was effective in its own way that it made you think about different things to what you thought about with Hardy�s story. In this story you thought more about why the old woman was doing what she did where as in The Three Strangers you are thinking more about who everybody is and what is their purpose.

I believe that although both stories use the usual devices of the traditional mystery story like lonely and hostile environments, bizarre behavior and puzzling relationships between people, an explanation with a scattering of clues some of which are Red Herrings. There is much more to mystery stories than meets the eye. They are not just entertaining to read, but they leave the reader thinking about the morality of a legal system. Which will hang a starving man for stealing a sheep to feed his family and thinking about the nature of a society in which there seems no legal system, in which those who suffered in the form of vengeance must administer justice of any form. The mysteries set by the stories are developed and resolved at the literal level of the narrative, but the mystery of the relationship between justice, revenge and morality remains.