Moonlight

by Guy de Maupassant
Reporter: Clarise L. Marciano
 About the Flag

• The French flag was officially adopted on

February 15, 1794.

• The flag - the tricolor - consists of three vertical

bands of equal width, displaying the country's
national colors: blue, white and red. The blue
band is positioned nearest the flag-staff, the
white in the middle, and the red on the outside.
 About the flag
• Red, white and blue have come to represent
liberty, equality and fraternity - the ideals of
the French Revolution. Blue and red are also
the time-honored colors of Paris, while
white is the color of the Royal House of
Bourbon.
 LOCATION

AREA: 643,801 km²

 POPULATION- 67,201,000
CAPITAL CITY- PARIS
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE- FRENCH
RELIGION- 51.1% Christian
39.6% Irreligious
5.6% Muslim
0.8% Judaism
2.5% other faiths
Climate- Oceanic, continental, and Mediterranean
Government- exercises executive power in France.
It is composed of a prime minister, who is the head
of government, and both junior and
senior ministers.
 Guy de Maupassant
• Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant
( August 5, 1850 – July 6, 1893) was a French
writer, remembered as a master of the short
story form, and as a representative of the
naturalist school of writers, who depicted
human lives and destinies and social forces in
disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
 Guy de Maupassant
• Maupassant was a protégé of Flaubert and
his stories are characterized by economy of
style and efficient, effortless dénouements
(outcomes). Many are set during the Franco-
Prussian War of the 1870s, describing the
futility of war and the innocent civilians
who, caught up in events beyond their
control, are permanently changed by their
experiences.
 Guy de Maupassant
• He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels,
three travel books, and one volume of verse.
His first published story, "Boule de Suif"
("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his
masterpiece.
• Notable Works: Bel-Ami, Boule de Suif, The
Horla, La Maison Tellier, Pierre et Jean and A
Woman’s Life.
 Summary of “Moonlight”
• Moonlight" is about two sisters who are reunited
after one of the sisters has been out of the country
for five weeks.
• Madame Julie Roubere is hosting her older sister
Madame Henriette Letore. Madame Roubere is the
younger sister. Madame Latore has been on a trip to
Switzerland for the past five weeks. At first, the
sisters are very excited to see each other. They hug,
chatter excitedly, and generally enjoy each other's
company. The story's tone changes when Madame
Roubere notices that her twenty-four-year-old sister
has two white streaks in her jet-black hair at each
temple.
 Summary of “Moonlight”
• Madame Roubere is horrified because her sister is so
young and because there was no white in her hair
before she left for Switzerland. She demands to know
what is wrong with her sister. Madame Letore admits
to having a lover. She admonishes her sister to be
very careful because women are weak and it takes
very little for them to stray into immorality. She
describes her husband as steady, calm, and boring.
She describes a time when they were traveling
together and entered into a valley. Madame Latore
was overcome with the beauty of the natural scene
and asked her husband to kiss her.
 Summary of “Moonlight”
• He quashed her request. "I clasped my hands
with delight, and said to him: 'How beautiful it
is, dear! Give me a kiss! Kiss me now!' He only
answered, with a smile of chilling kindliness:
'There is no reason why we should kiss each
other because you like the landscape.' And his
words froze me to the heart. It seems to me
that when people love each other, they ought
to feel more moved by love than ever, in the
presence of beautiful scenes."
 Summary of “Moonlight”
• A few days later, Madame Latore went out in
the evening for a walk. Her husband was in
bed with a headache. The moon was full and
the scene was idyllic. Madame Latore was
once again overcome with the beauty of it
and says she was "seized with an insatiable
need of love." She begins sobbing, and a
young man appears, comforting her and
saying all the words she longs to hear. She
implies that they were overcome and gave in
to their physical desires.
 Summary of “Moonlight”
• Letore is adamant on telling her sister that she
loves her husband and never thought she would
cheat on him. He is a good man, treats her well,
provides for her and is nice, but at the same
time he is very stifling and not very emotionally
connected to her. Roubere replies that it is all
too often that women don't necessarily fall in
love with the man they "love" but more-so with
the idea of love and love itself. She says "And
your real lover that night was the moonlight."
meaning that she didn't cheat with a man, but
with an idea.
Characterization Techniques
Characterization impacts the story by
revealing the personality of the characters

Dynamic Character: Madame Letore- her

feelings and thoughts about her life change
throughout the story.

Static Character: Madame Roubere- stays

the same throughout the story because it’s
about what happened with her sister.
Setting

The broadest setting location for this

story is Paris, France. The entire story
takes place in the home of Madame
Julie Roubere. More specifically, the
two main characters spend the story
talking with each other in the parlor
room.
 Point of View
The narrative point of view is third person
omniscient.

• In third person omniscient, the narrator knows

all the thoughts and feelings of all the
characters in the story. When writing in third
person omniscient, the author will move from
character to character, allowing the events to
be interpreted by several different voices, but
always maintaining an omniscient - or godlike -
distance.
 Exposition

• During the exposition, the author tells the

reader that Madame Roubere is waiting at
her home for her sister, Madame Letore,
who has just returned from a trip to
Switzerland. Madame Letore has come to
Paris to visit alone, her husband having
returned to their estate early to take care of
some business.
Rising Action
When Madame Letore arrives, the action
begins its rise. The sisters embrace, and
Madame Roubere is astonished to see that
Madame Letore has "two large locks of white
hair". When Madame Roubere presses her
sister to tell her what is the matter, Madame
Letore reveals tearfully that she has a lover.
Madame Letore explains that she is fond of
her husband, "but he is mature and sensible,
and cannot even comprehend the tender
vibrations of a woman's heart".
Rising Action
Madame Letore herself is a woman of
deep feelings and emotions, and she
has for quite awhile longed for more
passion in their lives. Madame Letore
had never meant to deceive her
husband, but the final straw came
during the time they had just had,
traveling together.
Climax
In the climax of the story, Madame Letore
describes how she had been walking with
her husband one morning, and had been
overcome by the beauty of the landscape
around them. She had exclaimed about the
scene, and asked her husband to kiss her,
but he had responded with "chilling
kindness" that the fact that she liked their
environs was no reason for a kiss.
 Conflict
The central conflict is an internal conflict.
Madame Henriette Letore has had an affair
while she was on vacation. Her husband had
returned early and that gave her the
opportunity for the affair. It goes without
saying that Letore must be conflicted about
her marriage in order to consider having the
affair in the first place. She confesses that she
loves her husband, but she wishes that he
was more physically intimate with her more
often.
Falling Action
A few nights later, Madame Letore was
walking alone by the lake, as the falling
action begins. A full moon was showing,
and the scene again was sublime, evoking
strong emotion in the passionate woman.
She sat by the lake and was sobbing "like a
crazy woman", and a man appeared, a
"young barrister" with whom she and her
husband were distantly acquainted.
Falling Action
They talked for awhile, and he
commented on the sights they had
seen on the trip and recited some
verses of poetry. Seized with
"indescribable emotion" that the
young man should so clearly
understand what she was feeling,
she made love with him.
 Resolution
Madame Roubere consoles her
sister as the older woman shrieks in
anguish at the turn her life has
taken. Gently, she tells her that it is
not the man she loves, "but love
itself", her "real lover that night"
having been the the idea of love as
represented by the moonlight.
Theme
As for a theme, there is definitely a
theme of love. I think the love theme is
shown in three distinct ways in this
story. The first is that love is (or should
be) an all-consuming combination of
emotional and physical attraction. It's
what Letore seems to want most out of
a relationship.
Theme
She admits that her husband is a
wonderful caregiver; however,
that doesn't seem to be solid
enough evidence of his love for
her. That care and devotion for
somebody is the second thematic
display of love in this story.
 Theme
The husband believes that he is showing his
love through his care and his goodness. She
longs for physical love and he gives her
devoted love. Both are wonderful expressions
of love. Roubere points out a third view of
love in this story. She points out to Letore that
in many cases love is nothing more than an
abstract concept. People love the idea of
being in love.
"You see, sister, very often it is not a man that
we love, but love itself."
 Important Questions

1. Do you think Madame

Henriette has lost affection
with her husband Robert?
Why? Why not?
 Important Questions

2. What are your impressions

of Robert?
 Important Questions

3. Why do you think the story

is entitled “The Moonlight”?
 Symbol
As we love, we must never forget to love
ourselves first. The thought that love is
giving and sharing, we must also learn how
to express these affections. From the story,
the moonlight was involved because only
the moonlight was Madame Henriette’s
witness when she was expressing all of her
sorrows and despairs.
 Symbol
From my perception, we chose the reflection
of the moonlight in the ocean as our symbol.
As for me, in front of her husband, Madame
Henriette is a composed woman who is strong
and does not even bother to tell her husband
of what she feels inside. Similar to the
moonlight, it is calm and beautiful to look at,
especially when it shines so bright in the dark
night.
 Symbol
But when the moonlight reflects in the
water, it is wavy or its original form is
distracted by the disturbances under the
water, alike Madame Henriette, she may
look calm outside but she always wanted
to burst and shout inside. She only does
not have someone to talk to.
 Symbol
That moonlight’s reflection on the
water and Madame Henriette’s true
feelings are the same, ready to burst
out and is troubled from the inside.
While the moonlight is the mirror of
Madame Henriette’s outer personality.
 Symbol
In reality, we must learn to never keep
ourselves from expressing our real
feeling because if we will not do that, it
will make us insane. Sometimes, the
deeper the emotions we keep, the
bigger the impact it may cause when
we let it all out.
Thank You for
Listening! 