What is the portrayal of innocence in A Wedding Gift?

Answer 1

In The Wedding Gift by Guy de Maupassant, I would say that the character of Berthe herself is a portrayal of innocence. Her husband-to-be is a womanizer, and has apparently had several long-term sexual relationships, casting women aside like garbage, and yet he suddenly wishes to marry Berthe.

He indeed does seem to turn over a new leaf, refusing to have anything to do with a woman that he had lived with for a long time, and eventually after several months, her parents relent and allow the marriage. Interestingly, while the after-wedding party is still going on, he receives an urgent summons to the beside of a former lover who is dying after giving birth to his child. He lies to his new wife about where he is going, and then stays to watch his old lover die, and then runs out with the child back to his abandoned bride.

He gives the short version of what has just happened, and without hesitation, she takes the child in her arms and says that they will raise it.

... She has no idea what she is getting into, in terms of this man who so easily lies to her, or raising a child, but she, in her innocence, is committed to both, and rather than accuse or question, she just jumps into it. We have to admire that simplicity of devotion I think, while at the same time hoping that the storyline after what is written is kind to her, for in her openness and faithful love she leaves herself vulnerable to a life that is bound to be less ideal than she believes, starting that very night.