The Necklace

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There are multiple valuable and abstract lessons that can be learned by reading famous short stories written throughout history. Arguably the most relevant lesson of complacency and the avoidance of self infatuation is learned by observing the events that take place in the story The Necklace written by Guy de Maupassant. In the short story, The Necklace, a young woman named Mathilde is depicted as terribly unsatisfied by her way of life. She believed that she was entitled to all devices and luxuries that were intangible in her current situation. Despite her husbands attempts to reconcile, Mathilde and her selfishness could not be mollified. When Mathilde and her husband were invited to an exclusive and extravagant social gathering, she demanded that she be given a large sum given money in order to purchase a new dress. Mathilde also requested to borrow lavish jewelry from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. While at this gathering Mathilde managed to misplace the expensive jewelry provided by her friend. In despair Mathilde could not bring herself …show more content…

In an act of desperation Mathilde’s husband requested a loan in order to purchase an exact replica of the jewelry given to Mathildes. Subsequently, Mathilde and her husband worked tirelessly for years in hopes of paying back the loan that they had received. When Mathilde finally confessed to losing the necklace Madame Forestier tearfully informed her that the necklace was a cheap imitation "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Mine was an imitation! It was worth five hundred francs at most! ..."(Maupassant) . Mathilde’s greed and discontent had led she and her husband to misfortune and

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    To help out, she gets a job and helped her husband pay off the debt in ten years. In those ten years she had lost her beauty and had not seen Madame Forestier face to face in danger of feeling ashamed in front of her rich friend because of her poverty. After they had paid off all the debt, she finds Madame Forestier down the road and talks about what had happened in her lifetime since the last time they had meet. They start talking about the necklace and the incident that happened the ball night. Mathilde talks about hardships that had taken her to pay off the debt of about twenty thousand francs. And suddenly Madame Forestier says “But mine was fake. It wasn’t worth more than five hundred francs.” ( Maupassant 179 ). This mesmerise Mathilde’s brain and the story ends.

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