THE VENDETTA
By Guy de Maupassant
This paper aims to make an analysis of the short story entitled, “The Vendetta”, written by Guy de Maupassant. “Vendetta”, which means “revenge” in the English language, is the core of this short story, and the concept from which the main character depends upon in order to survive. The story revolved around the revenge of the Widow Saverini because of the death of her son Antoine Saverini. Antoine was killed by a man named, Nicolas Ravolati, who was the object of revenge of Antoine’s mother. The death of her son, and her plot for revenge made her restless and sleepless at nights, thus, motivating her to avenge the death of Antoine.
The development of the story involves the important role played by Semillante, the dog of Antoine, which the Widow used in order to get on with her revenge. The plan of the widow is to starve the dog for two days, and using a scarecrow made of straw, she trained the dog to attack it by using a smoking sausage she tied to the neck of the straw man. She trained the dog for several months, and when she believed that both of them were ready to execute her plans, she went to the town with the dog to look for Nicolas Ravolati. Her plan was a success, as she already avenged the death of Antoine, thus, giving her peace after returning home.
This short story was a simple story, with a simple plot and theme, which depicts what really happens in real life. Three important points can be recognized in this particular story, namely, the emphasis on revenge, the observable individualistic character of the Widow and the French themselves, and the underlying importance of love for family, as exhibited by the Widow. Primarily, the short story was able to show the presence of love of a mother to his son, for it can be perceived that her revenge would not be executed by her if not for her love for her son. From this it can be understood that a mother’s love can do anything for her child, despite death. If love was not present in the heart of the Widow, then she could not have wasted her time and effort plotting her revenge towards Nicolas Ravolati. In this regard, one of the causes of her revenge was out of her love for her son.
Secondly, the short story was successful in emphasizing revenge and how it was used by the Widow in order to give justice to the death of his son and to give her peace. The Widow swore a vendetta against the killer of her son, and to do this, she trained the family dog, named Semillante, to attack a man made of straw with sausage hidden in it. She was able to execute her plan by disguising her self as an old man with a dog, and traveled to Longosardo, a town across Bonifacio, where Nicolas was hiding. Semillante tore the murderer’s throat out in his home, and the Widow and the dog escaped undetected. The story of Maupassant started with a murder, which provided the hint for the succeeding actions of the Widow. However, the mere fact that the Widow was alone and isolated creates the sense of mystery in the story because she has no one to talk to and ask for help during her crisis. The mystery behind the actions of the Widow in accomplishing her revenge strengthens the interest of the readers, as it emphasizes the psychology of revenge, and its relation to the events of the story. The way the Widow trains the dog in itself presents clues to how she would be accomplishing her revenge, as it presents to the readers the Widow’s way of thinking, and how the development of her thoughts can be perceived by the readers of the story.
In this regard, revenge can be seen and analyzed through the psychology of the Widow, which became responsible for the development of her actions. Revenge can be analyzed, as it becomes the exhibited behavior of the Widow resulting from a number of causes. First cause is the harm done to her family; second cause is the Widow’s perception of violence during that time; and the third cause is her aggression toward the killer of her son. The first cause of her revenge is the most obvious reason why she avenged the death of her son, and this is because the killer caused pain to her family. Any mother would be committing the act especially that her son was the only company she has. The second cause pertains to the Widow’s perception of revenge during that time, and because at the time, wars and feuds were still evident in the French society, bloodshed for the Widow is not something to be scared of, given any means. This story was only successful in showing to its readers how the society thinks of death during those times, which can be achieved through any means, by which losing one’s life was not something to be thought of carefully. This just proves that during that time, morality was not given high regard as it is now. Death by any means can be accomplished by anybody, regardless of age, gender, and status in society. The third cause of the Widow’s behavior is her aggression toward the killer of her son, which was not literally shown or described in the story, but was evident based on the development of the mind and thoughts of the Widow. In this sense, aggression may not be shown physically at hand, but may also be shown through the development of thoughts and ideas first before executing them. This shows that the Widow was not impulsive enough to kill the murderer of his son immediately, but came up with an intelligent plan, based on the resources she has, given that she was not physically capable of attacking the killer.
Lastly, this story was successful in depicting the individualistic character of the French, which was clearly exhibited by the Widow. Being individualistic, the story shows that the Widow was independent and self-reliant in accomplishing her goal to kill Nicolas, and although she knows how incapable she is due to her old age, she still devised means on how to execute her plan. Becoming individualistic emphasizes her traits of being resourceful, critical, experimental, and organized, based on the training of her dog and the development of her thoughts on her plans. This just shows that she was really focused on achieving her goals through available means. In addition, as the Widow exemplifies an individualistic character, she also exemplifies selfishness, as she only thinks of her plan of revenge and neither of the consequences nor the reason why Nicolas killed her son. She only used her skills of becoming resourceful, organized, focused, critical, and experimental in doing her plans, and not on thinking about the results of her actions. It never occurred to her mind to know the reason why Nicolas killed her son, nor did it ever occur to her to know what her son did to provoke such actions from Nicolas. Being individualistic strengthened her trait of not asking for help from any witnesses or even the authorities who seized Nicolas. Although she was able to avenge Antoine, in reality, the death of her son was not given justice because she was not able to know the truth, thus, not giving her entire peace and comfort from the situation.
In this sense, this short story provides readers with the opportunity to become critical of the actions depicted by the main character of the story. The story leads one to give importance to both the psychological and emotional aspects involved in making decisions, as these aspects become crucial in changing someone’s life. Although the plan of the Widow may look rational and just, other angles and aspects of the situation must still be analyzed and looked upon, for they would provide clarity and proofs on the situation at hand. This story also provides the readers with a moral that sometimes, individualism may not be applicable in certain situations, and that the value of information must be given importance in order to weigh certain aspects of the situation, which are needed in making sound decisions.
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