JUST INSTINCTS: BODY AND RAPE IN MAUPASSANT’S NARRATIVE

In a short story by Guy de Maupassant La Petite Roque, the main character succumbs to his male instincts and rapes an adolescent girl. He saves himself from this guilt by writing a confession. In this paper we are going to discuss the role of confession in liberating a culprit. Also, we are going to focus on the representation of rape in all its manifestations. In the end, we are going to see that the female body itself is the source of men’s monstrosity in Maupassant’s work.