How did Guy de Maupassant’s treatment of social class change in his later fiction?

As Guy de Maupassant became more successful and gained closer access to the upper echelons of society, his fiction underwent a notable shift in focus. While his earlier works frequently centered on the lives of the Norman peasantry and the struggles of the lower classes, his later writing increasingly moved toward the nobility and the bourgeoisie, transitioning from the setting of the brothel to that of the boudoir.1

This evolution reflected his changing personal circumstances and his growing acquaintance with women of the nobility. Despite this shift in subject matter, Maupassant maintained his characteristic objective and dispassionate style, continuing to observe the hypocrisies, material desires, and sensual appetites that he believed drove human behavior across all social strata. Whether depicting the poor or the wealthy, he consistently presented his characters as victims of ironic necessity, struggling against a fate they could not escape.1