“Regret”—Summary and Opinions

It might be too late to know something, and you will blame yourself for not having sought for the answer in the first place. It should not have resulted with the sadness you are enduring but simply because you were not brave enough or too dumb to comprehend something that was already so obvious.

“Regret”, a piece written by Guy de Maupassant, tells stories of an old man, Monsieur Saval, who was still a bachelor at the age of sixty-two.

The story starts with descriptions of Monsieur Saval’s life which has been so sad and empty. The author drew out his life as meaningless and colourless; he didn’t have great pleasure, success, and satisfaction of life. Perhaps he should have had a better life if he had grabbed good opportunities. He didn’t know that opportunities had already knocked on his door, but he unknowingly let it go. He used to fall in love with a married woman, the wife of his old friend, at first sight, but he dared not go beyond the friend relationship but keep it with him until this age.

The author creates an opportunity for Saval to learn about Madame Sandres’ feeling toward him. Monsieur and Madame Sandres and Saval together in three went for a picnic at the riverbank, and when M. Sandres fell into asleep after lunch, Madame Sandres and Saval took Saval’s arm and walked along the riverbank. She leaned gently on his shoulder and she asked him if she were as pretty as the wreath of flowers. However, M. Saval could not comprehend her actions, and he ended it without allowing a start.

Now, at this age of sixty-two, in this morning, he started recalling his past. Never before had he recalled and understood what had happened at the riverbank on that day. He could not help leaving this world without clarifying his doubt why she had acted like that. He rushed to her house to obtain an answer to his heart.

Madam Sandres was already fifty eight years old and she was still that pleasant and welcomed Saval as her friend. Saval took out his courage and asked her what if he had asked her for her hand, what would she have said? Madame Sandres’ answer would have been ‘I agree’. She had understood how he felt for her since the first time they had met, and she had given opportunity to him, yet he didn’t realize. Now that he had known the truth—the fact that he had let go of opportunity that would have changed his life.

The theme of this story is to tell us to beware of opportunities which might just knock on your door. Be smart and notice how others feel toward you. Be bold to say what you feel toward someone because s/he may feel the same way. You may torture your heart for years, and you will leave youself without anything else besides regrets once you know that you shouldn’t have had to be so. However, it’s not advisable to have an affair with someone who is married, and I don’t know why the author organised the protagonists in this way. All in all, we ought to fight for our love. To love secretly is useless because s/he will never realize it until it’s too late. Say it out and give her/him choices so that regrets will never exist.