The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant is a cautionary tale about the dangers of trying to live outside of who you are. France, at the time this short story was published, was highly divided by class and had rigid structures for defining those classes. The three main structures at this time were the aristocrats, the merchants, and the peasants. The main character Madam Mathilde Loisel yearns to be a member of the aristocracy; however, life has found her married to a poorly paid clerk. Her marriage is appropriate because she had no dowry or nobility, but she believes she was destined to be more than a clerk's wife. Her husband has spent their marriage trying to make his wife happy; however, Mathilde is solely focused on how much better the aristocracy live. At last her husband is able to acquire an invitation to a party being held by the Ministry of Education. He returns home expecting Mathilde to be excited about the prospect of going to a party with the aristocracy. To his surprise Mathilde tells him that she will not go, because she will feel ridiculous attending the party in the clothes that she has. Her husband, to please her, gives her the 400 francs he was saving to buy a new hunting rifle. Mathilde uses the money to …show more content…
When he asks her what is wrong, she tells him that she has no jewels to wear with the dress. Since there is no money left, her husband suggests that she use flowers to decorate the dress. This was very fashionable at the time and would have worked; however, Mathilde doesn't agree. Finally the husband suggests that she go to her friend Madam Jenne Forestier. Being a friend, Madam Forestier brings a jewelry box for Mathilde to select some jewelry. Mathilde is not happy with the contents of the box, so Madame Forestier continues to bring out jewelry boxes until Mathilde selects a diamond necklace that she finds to be the fanciest of the entire
To start off with, Mathilde had many conflicts she had to face during the story. First, she was poor and low in the social class. In the textbook it says, “she dressed plainly because she could not afford fine clothes.” She does not have money to buy new clothes because she is poor. Secondly, she got invited to the ball but had no evening clothes. “Only I don’t have an evening dress and therefore I can’t go to the affair.” Mathilde is poor and does not own an evening dress and can’t afford a dress she thinks she can’t go to the ball. Next, she has no jewelry to wear. . “It’s embarrassing not to have a jewel or gem-nothing to wear on my dress. I’ll look pauper.” She has no jewels or gems to go with her dress. Finally, she overcame many conflicts
and Mme. Loisel cooperate to find what seems to be an exact replica of the lost necklace, which they must purchase and return to Mme. Forestier. Mathilde attempts to find a replacement for the necklace to prevent Mme. Forestier from realizing the original had been lost. The couple travelled “from one jeweler to another hunting for a similar necklace” (175). They went together to look for the necklace, which proves that they are exerting mutual effort. M. Loisel uses all means necessary to pay for the necklace. He “made ruinous deals” (187) and “risked his signature” (188) in order to pay for the expensive diamond necklace. Though Mme. Loisel lost the necklace, her husband uses his savings and takes out loans to help her pay for the replacement. The couple acquires the necklace and must return it to Mme. Forestier. M. Loisel brings the necklace home, and “Mme. Loisel took the necklace back” (199) to the owner. The couple collaborates to get the necklace into the hands of its owner. Mathilde and M. Loisel work together to replace Mme. Forestier’s necklace, and she is none the
Mathilde is not satisfied until she finds an expensive diamond looking piece. She is ecstatic when she goes to the ball and is swooned over for her beauty. In all of her pride she loses the necklace that was loaned to her. Instead of being honest, she asks her loving and willing husband to go out and search for the necklace. The two of them make an unwise decision to avoid the truth, and took out loans that they would not be able to pay back. Taking out the loans proves to be Mathilde’s demise as she is forced to live the poverty-stricken life that she imagined herself to always have. For ten years she must suffer and work harder than she ever has
To begin with, Maupassant displayed the necklace as everything that Mathilde had ever desired. The necklace was “…superb…and [Mathilde’s] heart throbbed with desire for it” (Maupassant 6). Mathilde had her choice of “…bracelets,…a pearl necklace,…a Venetian cross of finely worked gold and gems” (Maupassant 6), but instead she chose to take the most expensive and finest looking bauble in her friend’s jewel box. The diamond necklace revealed to the reader that Mathilde no only wanted the finest things, but she also wanted the most luxurious and expensive ones to be...
I shall look like a fright-I would rather stay at home” (Maupassant 38-39/49-50). Mathilde rather than taking her husband suggestion, “Why not wear flowers? They are very fashionable at this time of year. You can get a handful of fine roses for ten francs” (Maupassant 50-51), instead, she borrowed an elegant looking diamond necklace from her friend. She had achieved all she wanted for the night, “She was prettier than them all, lovely, gracious, smiling, and wild with delight. All the men looked at her, inquired her name, tried to be introduced” (Maupassant 69-70), this was the life she believed she should have. Come the night comes to an end, she panics as she realizes the necklace is missing. She lies to her friend to buy time to find an identical necklace and finally she does. It took 10 years for her and her husband to pay off the debit lent to them to replace the borrowed necklace, only to find out after years of hard work and poverty, the necklace was no more than costume
As the day drew near Mathilde’s envy overtook her once more and she became distraught. She decided that she could not go. When Mr. Loisel asked why, she replied that she had no jewelry to wear and that she would look l...
When Mathilde goes to her friend’s house to borrow the necklace she is taken with its exquisite beauty and “her heart throb[s] with an immoderate desire” (para. 45). Although Mathilde does not know the value of the necklace at the time, it appears very luxurious. It exhibits precisely the characteristics that she wishes for others to perceive her as having. Later, when Mathilde loses the necklace, she does not want to tell her friend. She fears that Madame Forestier will mistake “[her] for a thief” (para. 91). Although she is not guilty of stealing, her fear of being viewed in such a way is enough to lead her to a decision that will change the course of her life. After ten years of arduous labor, Mathilde and her husband finally pay off the debt taken out to replace the lost necklace. Mathilde happens to run into Madame Forestier again. During this encounter, she learns the true value of the necklace when her friend states that the “necklace was paste” (para. 121) and “it was worth at most only five hundred francs” (para. 121). What a devastating blow – to find out that the very thing that still stirs up such feelings of royalty within her is a fake! This serves as the final proof that things are only as wonderful or awful as you believe them to
The obvious theme is greed as it affects many people’s happiness and is portrayed throughout this short story. Therefore, showing that the diamond necklace shows symbolism. Mathilde had borrowed a diamond necklace from Madame Forestier and has lost it during the ball which results to Mathilde’s husband
When she introduced herself for the first time in years Madame Forestier was in shock of how rugged and different she looked. “I’ve been through some pretty hard times since I last saw you and I’ve had plenty of trouble- and all because of you! (301) “ After saying this Madame Forestier was confused, and Madame Loisel decided to tell her about all the pain her family has been through because of the necklace. “ Oh, my poor, poor Mathilde!
She wanted nothing but luxury and wealth and she wasn't content with what she had. Her husband who was a clerk gave her an invitation to a wonderful ball, she wanted to attend and he went through many difficulties to get that invention, however it still wasn't enough for her she needed a dress which is understandable no woman wants to wear any simple old dress to an elegant ball and moreover a dress that she doesn't see fit for the occasion, so of course he said “come, let us see, Mathilde. How much would it cost, a suitable dress,which you could use on other occasions. Something very simple?” (Maupassant,60 ). Even if he couldn't afford a new dress he went out of his way and got her a beautiful dress, but of course it still wasn't enough for her she needed more she wanted a necklace and she borrowed what appeared to be a very expensive necklace from her friend, unfortunately life took a different turn when she lost the necklace and she had to work many years to repay that necklace back to then come to find out that it was a fake necklace. Mathilde did not see it, but she had a very good life, regardless that she fantasized over richness and materialistic things, moreover she quickly came to find out that everything that shines ain't
Mathilde Loisel lived the life of a painfully distressed woman, who always believed herself worthy of living in the upper class. Although Mathilde was born into the average middle class family, she spent her time daydreaming of her destiny for more in life... especially when it came to her financial status. Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, tells a tale of a vain, narcissistic housewife who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she was creditable for. In describing Mathilde’s self-serving, unappreciative, broken and fake human behaviors, de Maupassant incorporates the tragic irony that ultimately concludes in ruining her.
In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.
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.
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
One day her husband came home from work and handed her an invitation to attend a ball. She wanted to attend; yet she had no dress to wear. After digging in to money they had been trying to save, Mathilde purchased a dress for the ball. Mathilde decided she needed jewels to wear with the dress, so she went and visited her only friend to borrow some jewels for the evening of the ball. Mathilde picked out a stunning diamond necklace.