# Miss Harriet — Short Fiction character guide

> Miss Harriet in Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** this Miss Harriet, this strange Miss Harriet

**First appearance:** 0003-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A solitary English spinster in Normandy, plain and odd, whose sudden, overwhelming love for a French painter transforms her from comic eccentric into tragic romantic.

## Who they are

Miss Harriet lodges at the same Normandy inn as a French painter, climbing the same cliff each day to sit motionless in her red plaid shawl and dream. When he sketches her beloved rock and she blurts out, 'Oh! Monsieur, you understand nature in a most thrilling way!' the two begin walking together at sunset, and her starved, ecstatic soul opens like a flower. Her rapturous 'I love—I love—' and wish to be a bird signal a passion she can neither express nor survive.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/short-fiction)

Eponymous character of 'Miss Harriet', an Englishwoman whose unrequited love ends in tragedy.

### [Miss Harriet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/miss-harriet)

Referenced as the subject of the lamentable love story to be told by Léon Chenal.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/i)

A solitary, eccentric Englishwoman who spends her time in nature, praying and caring for animals; she is called 'the demoniac' by the locals.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/ii)

The eccentric English spinster who becomes the narrator's devoted companion, displaying intense emotional reactions to his painting and nature.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/iii)

The deceased woman whose body is recovered from the well; her life of loneliness and unrequited love is revealed.

### [A Humble Drama](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/a-humble-drama)

The elderly Englishwoman encountered by the narrator in Auvergne; she is lonely and grieving the loss of her son.

### [The Wreck](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/the-wreck)

The eldest English daughter, who sketches the wreck and shares a close, emotional vigil with the narrator.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/characters/miss_harriet
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/characters