The Brief Analysis of Moonlight

潘清玉

【Abstract】Guy de Maupassant was a French writer， remembered as a master of short stories. His short novel Moonlight is arresting with careful reading. The paper will analyze its profound meanings from the aspects of characterization， normalization and abstinence.

【Key words】Moonlight； Marignan； normalization； abstinence

Maupassants stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient， effortless denouements. Moonlight， one of his early short stories， does not get much attention but is intriguing. The protagonist， Abbé Marignan， is a pious priest. He affirms he understands God well. He hates women except his niece. But he angrily finds that his niece is dating with someone. Going out to make things clear， he gets stunned by the poetic moonlight. The story can be divided into three parts： the exposition of Marignans subjective readings about Gods will， his perverse attitude towards women， and the shift of his attitude under the moonlight. It will be analyzed from three aspects： the round character Marignan， the normalization in narratology， about abstinence.

In great novels， protagonists are always dynamic characters whereas short stories are more likely to be static characters. But Moonlight is the typical counter instance. Marignan is a round and dynamic character who is absurd and ridiculous. At the beginning， he is an adamant priest with fixed beliefs. He thinks all things created by God have their existent meanings. But after he finds his nieces secret， attitude is changing. There are three steps. The first is the primary awakening. When he opens the door to go out， he is surprised by a splendor of moonlight. At that time， having forgotten all annoyance， he drinks the air as a drunkard drinks wine. The second is questioning. “He sensed within himself another of those questions he sometimes posed. Why had God done this？” （Yuan Zhongzhi， 45） He raises questions about the evening， the moon， and the birds. But he finds no answer. The third is the astonishment. When two people brings the still countryside to life， the scene enfolds the lovers and his head echoes verses of the Song of Songs. The astonishment suggests his inner transformation from divinity to humanity. Then the former and later attitude become a dilemma： if he was not on the verge of disobeying God， must not God permit love since He lavishes upon it such visible splendor？ This is obviously the last resort to struggle against himself.

Normalization refers to endowing everything with meanings. “The unwillingness to tolerate the condition of unknowing in which we all live may lie behind the ancient and persistent tendency to believe that some powerful force controls all aspects of our lives.” （Abbott： 2002， 41） In the priests eyes， the “why” and the “because” always balanced out. For example， dawns exist to make waking up a pleasure… women born to ensnare the men. Ridiculously， he imagines womens stretching arms and parting lips are traps for men. Then what are mens stretching arms and parting lips for？ All feelings about women are subjective. Startled by the moonlight， he rebuilds another normalization： the seductive moon is designed by God to fulfill humans desire for loving each other. In this light， the definition of everything depends on Marignans normalization.

Abstinence is part of religious practice within many religious traditions. In the Genesis， Eve ensnares Adam to eat the apple so they are expelled， and women are made from one of mens rib so that women are nothing but attributes to men so they are inferior. So Marignan despises women by instinct. Knowing himself invulnerable， he is also exasperated by the need to love. According to Sigmund Freud， if Id， ego and superego are imbalanced， the personality will go into disorder. As a priest， Marignan shall pursue abstinence and get away from women. This is the embodiment of super-ego. But the id always exists in human. Though indulgent only of nuns， he would stride away from them as if fleeing from danger. It shows struggle and confusion between the id and the super-ego. His thinking of the scene designed for the couple walking arm in arm， the conflict between the id and the super-ego is mitigated by the ego. He starts to understand love adorns the beautiful world and it is Gods will.

Though the plot is seemingly simple， the design of Moonlight is exquisite with abound meanings. Its a special perspective to portray a priest as the protagonist to talk about the pure earthly love. The round character Marignan shifts his abhorrence of women towards understandings， the super-ego towards the id and the ego.

References：

[1]Abbott，H.Porter.The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative.London：the UK at the University Press，Cambridge，2002.40-42.

[2]Zhongzhi，Yan.An Introduction to Literary Criticism.Si chuan：Sichuan International Studies University.

[3]車文博.自我與本我[M].北京：九州出版社，2014：161-69.