A study on irony in the three short stories of Guy De Maupassant

This study is considered as a literary analysis study. Thus, it uses the intrinsic part of the literary works. It uses three short stories of Guy De Maupassant, for be is a master of short stories whose works are mostly ironical. The three stories-Houtot Senior and Houtot Junior, The Necklace and The Jewels-are chosen because they are assumed to have the most irony and share some similarities in irony. Related to that, this study tries to find the irony in the three short stories as well as the similarities in irony shared in those three stories. Certainly, in its finding of irony and its similarities, the study includes some theories related to the short story, which are mainly about the elements of short story, and the theories related to irony, which are the nature, the form and the phase of irony. Eventhough the study includes the theories about the elements of short story - character, plot, setting and theme, the study limits the finding of irony on two elements, character and theme, as most ironies in each story are found in these elements. Also, this study is not intended to put the categorizing of irony into its forms in its analysis, since the sources and the time needed are limited. In conducting the analysis, there are five ironies found in the story of Hautot ; Senior and Houtot Junior, four ironies in the story of The Necklace; and six ironies are found in the story of The Jewels. However, the most important irony in each story is shown at the ending of the story. The irony in Hautot Senior and Houtot Junior is seen best at the end where Hautot Junior did not only inherit his father's inheritance but his father's mistress as well. In The Necklace, the most important irony is pictured at the end where the efforts done by Mathilde and M. Loisel to pay the necklace were not worth the price of the necklace they lost. Also, the most important irony in The Jewels is shown at the ending where M. Lantin was happier living with a prostitute than a true honorable wife. Despite the findings of irony in the stories, the study also finds that there are at least four similarities shared by those three stories. Two similarities in Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior and The Jewels; one similarity in The Necklace and The Jewels; and also one similarity found in Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior and The Necklace. The first similarity in Hautot Senior and Hautot Junior and The Jewels is about the inheritance which should not have been taken; while the second one is about the ignorance of a person that he had opened the chance for an unexpected thing to come. The similarity in The Necklace and The Jewels is about the contradiction in the characterization shown by the characters of Mathilde and Mme. Lantin. Also, the similarity found in Hautot Senior and Houtot Junior and The Necklace is about one's being responsible for the things he had done that resulted in an unexpected outcome