What Point of View Is Used in "Was It a Dream?" by Guy de Maupassant?
Guy de Maupassant’s short story “Was It a Dream?” uses the first-person point of view. The unnamed main character acts as narrator, delivering the entire narrative in direct speech. The story begins with his declaration, “‘I had loved her madly!’” The speaker gives a primary account of losing his lover, being seized by “a strange, mad wish” to spend the night on her grave, and witnessing the dead -- including his lover -- rise and revise their gravestone epitaphs to reflect their misdeeds instead of false praise.
The Implied Listener
Although the narrative is delivered in the first person and uses direct speech, the presence of quotation marks and the speaker’s address of “you” raise another possibility regarding the point of view. Early in the narrative, the speaker says, “I am going to tell you our story.” The word “you” implies that someone specific is listening. This, along with the quotation marks surrounding the entire story, allows the argument that the story uses the third-person limited perspective. In this reading, instead of viewing the speaker as the narrator, readers imagine a silent listener observing and reporting the speaker’s speech. That listener adds quotation marks to denote that the speech is being reported instead of delivered straight to the reader.
Elissa Hansen has more than nine years of editorial experience, and she specializes in academic editing across disciplines. She teaches university English and professional writing courses, holding a Bachelor of Arts in English and a certificate in technical communication from Cal Poly, a Master of Arts in English from the University of Wyoming, and a doctorate in English from the University of Minnesota.