Story summary
Streszczenie książki Bezużyteczne piękno
- 8 min czytania
- 8 parts
- Nagranie wkrótce
A wife tells her husband that one of their seven children is not his, and he cannot find out which.
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Bezużyteczne piękno — najważniejsze informacje
Streszczenie: 8 min czytania
- Czas czytania
- Około 2 h 40 min2 h 5 min fast, 3 h 10 min slow
- Długość
- Liczba słów: 37 600
- Poziom trudności w bibliotece
- Średni longer sentences, everyday words
- Pierwsze wydanie
- 1890by Guy de Maupassant
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Ile czasu zajmuje przeczytanie klasyków · Zaktualizowano
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Bezużyteczne piękno in short
Useless Beauty gathers eleven tales in which people try to control what cannot be controlled. A countess uses one oath to rule her husband's mind. A priest's buried past comes up the road at dusk.
What Bezużyteczne piękno is about
What would you do if your wife swore before an altar that one of your seven children belongs to another man, and then refused to say which one? Useless Beauty begins in a Paris courtyard, where a victoria waits on a warm June afternoon.
This book gathers eleven short stories by Guy de Maupassant, the French writer who died in 1893. He fills his pages with unhappy marriages, proud priests, peasants, clowns and men who lose their reason. Each tale builds toward a single turn that stays with you after the last line. You meet a countess, a priest, five boaters, a widow with a parrot, and a man whose furniture walks out at night.
Dla kogo. Readers who enjoy incisive short stories about love, jealousy and vanity will love this collection. It suits those drawn to Paris, Provence and Normandy, darkly wry humor, and hidden lives.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A wife turns one secret into a weapon
Useless Beauty opens at half past five on a June afternoon. The Countess de Mascaret steps into her victoria. Her husband comes through the gate, and the sight of her stirs the old jealousy that has eaten at him for years.
The carriage rolls up the Champs-Élysées, and he tries to speak kindly. She is thirty, she says, and she has borne seven children in eleven years. She claims he did it on purpose, because a jealous man hopes that a woman who is always pregnant will stop drawing other eyes. The count seizes her wrist and says the law is on his side. She does not give way.
She orders the coachman to the church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule and kneels at the choir rail. Then she swears before God that one of the seven children is not his. She refuses to say which one, and she calls this her only revenge.
At dinner the count stares from face to face as if a name might be written there. He demands that she repeat her oath before the children, and she does. He throws down his napkin and leaves. At dawn a letter says he has gone on a journey. A secret you refuse to explain can rule another person's whole life.
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Six years on, the quarrel is still alive
The story jumps ahead to a night at the Opera.
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A priest's quiet life meets a stranger
The Olive Grove takes place in Garandou, a small port in Provence.
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Two tales of the water mix comedy and fear
Memories of a Boater is told by a rich man looking back at his poor twenties on the Seine.
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Doubt and vanity put couples to the test
The Test follows Bondel, a retired businessman, and his hot-tempered wife.
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Three short tales show how appearances mislead
In A Portrait, the narrator meets Milial, an older man whom women adore, though he is not handsome.
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Two narrators lose the world to their own minds
A Divorce Case is a lawyer's speech in court.
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Beauty, desire, and pride drive every tale
Across the eleven tales, desire and pride clash with the ordinary body.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Countess Gabrielle de Mascaret A beautiful mother of seven who has had enough of her jealous husband and fights back with a single oath.
- Count de Mascaret A rich, tall, violent husband who rules his house through jealousy and cannot bear not knowing the truth.
- Abbé Vilbois A strong, proud village priest in Provence who left a rich Paris life after a love betrayed him.
- Philippe-Auguste A ragged young drifter who arrives at the priest's door with an old photograph and wants to be recognized as a son.
- Mouche A quick-tongued Parisian girl who steers the boaters' skiff and dreams up a glorious future for her unborn child.
- Patin A Fécamp fishing skipper and brute who curses and beats the wife he blames for his own choice.
- Captain Revalière A former army officer who lost both feet in the war and travels home by train with gifts for children.
- Pavilly A lanky, red-haired farm clown who makes everyone laugh and wants only pleasure, drink and a soft bed.
How it ends (spoiler)
In Useless Beauty, the countess tells her husband six years later that she lied and never betrayed him, and they part as friends. In The Olive Grove, the priest is found dead with his throat cut, and his drunken son is arrested. Mouche loses her baby in a fall, and her friends promise to make her another. The widow throws the parrot into the sea. Bondel watches his wife greet Tancret with joy.
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Pytania o Bezużyteczne piękno
What is Useless Beauty by Guy de Maupassant about?
It is a collection of eleven short stories about love, jealousy, vanity and hidden cruelty. The title story follows a countess who defies her controlling husband, and the other tales visit priests, boaters, fishermen, clowns, couples and a man haunted by his own furniture.
Is Useless Beauty a novel or a set of separate stories?
It is a set of separate short stories. Each tale has its own characters and setting, from a Paris carriage to a Provençal olive grove and a Normandy fishing town, and each can be read on its own in one sitting.
What does the title Useless Beauty mean?
In the title story, a young man at the Opera argues that beauty, art and elegance serve no purpose for nature but are the best things humans have made. The countess is his chief example of beauty that exists only to be admired.
Who is Philippe-Auguste in The Olive Grove?
He is the ragged young stranger who comes to the priest's country house at dusk. He carries an old photograph of the priest and claims to be his son, and the story builds around what each man learns from the other.
Why are the stories in Useless Beauty still worth reading?
They are short, vivid and full of memorable scenes, and their themes of vanity, jealousy, desire and class still feel familiar. Maupassant tells each tale with clear detail and a sharp final turn, so every story makes a satisfying read.
Zacytuj to wydanie
Maupassant, Guy de. Useless Beauty. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/useless-beauty.
Maupassant, G. de. (2026). Useless beauty. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/useless-beauty (Original work published 1890)
Maupassant, Guy de. Useless Beauty. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/useless-beauty.
@book{maupassant2026useless,
author = {Maupassant, Guy de},
title = {Useless Beauty},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/useless-beauty},
note = {First published 1890}
}
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