Monsieur Latin, a man who only made three thousand five hundred francs a year, fell in love with a young girl who seemed to be a very virtuous woman, one that "every sensible young man dreams of one day intrusting his happiness" (1). Once they were married Monsieur Latin's wife "governed his household with such clever economy that they seemed to live in luxury" (1). This quote gives us a hint of what exactly Monsieur Latin's wife was doing behind closed doors or in this case at the theatre. Even though they seemed to have a picture perfect marriage - it wasn't at all. Monsieur Latin's wife actually having an affair. In "The False Gems" Maupassant uses the theme of the story to show us that ignorance is bliss. By using the ironies in the …show more content…

The next morning Monsieur Latin wakes up in his own bed, and comes to the conclusion that "The rich, indeed are happy. With money it is possible to forget even the deepest sorrow. One can go where one pleases, and in travel find that distraction which is the surest cure for grief. Oh if I were only rich!" (5). Now that Monsieur Latin discovered that his wife was a whore, he now wishes to get rid of this sorrow and he believes the only way is to be rich - in a way he is buying into what his wife was into. When his wife married him, she knew that yes that she'd be poor, but she would be able to comprise this by the nights at the opera accompanying other men, and investing her worth in jewelry. Later that day, Monsieur Latin returns to the jewelers and receive his payment of eighteen thousand francs. Monsieur Latin becomes in awe of actually holding that much money, and offers to sell the other jewels owned by his wife to the jeweler Within an hour he returns to the jeweler and finds out all the worth of them all, "the large diamond earrings were worth twenty thousand francs; the bracelets, thirty-five thousand .... making the sum of one hundred and forty-three thousand francs" (5). Finally, Monsieur Latin is rich as well. He hires a carriage and brags to the other occupants that he is worth two hundred thousand francs. Then he gets even more caught up in the cycle of greed and resigns from work - telling