ORIGINAL SIN
Helen M Walters looks at a short story by Guy de Maupassant to explore how you can use the seven deadly sins in your fiction
T his month’s story revolves around how the sin of envy can lead to the crime of murder and a lifetime of guilt. Guy de Maupassant has framed his story The Confession around a past sin and its long-lasting consequences. As always, you will get the most out of this master class if you read the story for yourself: https://writ.rs/theconfession.
The main body of the story occurs at the deathbed of Marguerite, younger sister of Suzanne. The cast of characters is small, limited to the two sisters and a priest who has come to hear Marguerite’s final confession. We also meet another character through back story; Henry, a young man with whom both the sisters were in love as young women until his untimely death.
The pivotal relationship is that between the two sisters. We hear that they have spent their lives together, neither marrying. At first sight the relationship is presented as an idyllic one of total commitment to each other.
But why has Marguerite, the younger of the two sisters, aged so badly and found herself on her deathbed at the age of 56? We learn that her hair went white at the age of thirty and that she has always seemed afflicted with suffering.
As the story unfolds we learn the dark truth behind the devotion of the younger sister to the elder and the reasons for her affliction become clear.