Freyja, whose name means “the lady”, was one of the principle Norse goddesses. Her realm was love, fertility and beauty, as well as destiny, war, magick and divination. She was a member of the Vanir, a group of gods and goddesses associated with nature, animals and otherworldly realms. Freyja had a love of nice things, particularly jewelry.
One day, while out walking along the edge of her kingdom, which also happened to be the boundary of the territory of the Black Dwarfs, she noticed some of the dwarfs crafting a beautiful golden necklace. It was so enchanting that she stopped to ask what it was. The dwarfs told her it was the Brisingamen or Brising necklace, an item that was very special to them. She was obsessed and wanted the item for
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“There is only one thing that we will accept in payment”, the dwarfs replied. The gift of her love was the purchase price. If she were to wed each dwarf for one day and one night in payment for the necklace, it would be hers. She so desperately wanted the jewelry that she forgot her handsome husband Odr, she forgot her beautiful daughters, and she forgot her decorum (as she was the queen of the Aesir). So, for four days and four nights, she wed each dwarf in turn, to which they handed her the object of her desire. She returned to her kingdom in shame and hid the trinket, paid for with her …show more content…
At first I was unsure as to why amber would necessarily be representative of Freyja and vice versa. However, Freyja was the Norse goddess of love and beauty. Firstly, this story is all about love in it's many forms: true love, lost love, forsaken love, love of possessions, love for oneself. And the necklace is beauty: Freyjas beauty, the beauty of natural amber itself, the beauty in creativity. I feel that the amber in this myth also represents healing. While Freyjas tears are part of her penance, we also know that a good cry can be very cathartic and is sometimes the only way to heal pain of this sort, pining for a lost love. Elementally, amber not only has the color of fire, but upon further research, I found that the word Brisingamen is etymologically a compound of the Old Norse -men (“torc”, “ornamental neck-ring”) and brísingr, for "fire" or "amber". So now the association with fire makes more
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
This story is about Matilda and her husband. Matilda receives an invitation to attend to a party, but she has no jewelry to wear, so she borrows one from a rich friend. Unfortunately, Matilda loses the necklace at the party and has to buy a new one worth thirty-five thousand francs. She works for years to repay all the money she borrowed, but when she finally gets all the money, she finds out the necklace was worth “No more than five hundred francs.” This story has two unexpected twists in it: she loses the necklace and she works for years to pay it off, only to find out it is less than one sixth of what she paid. How Matilda deals with finding out the price is left to the reader’s imagination, but it shows that when Matilda loses the necklace she deals with it relatively calmly, borrowing money to buy a new one and later working for years to pay it
In "The Necklace", the couple was not wealthy; the husband was a store clerk. When it came to going to a ball, she did not want to attend not just because she did not have anything to wear but she did not have any jewelry. The couple just could not afford it. Since her husband would do anything to make her happy, he had given her the money that he was saving up so she could buy herself a dress. After buying a dress and borrowing a necklace from her rich friend, they were off to the ball. After having a wonderful time and returning back home, she realized the necklace that she had borrowed was not on her neck anymore. After going to the jeweler to get it replaced, they knew that they would be in debt for a long time. "Loisel possessed 18 thousand fiancés which his father left him and he had to borrow the rest" (Maupassant, 2004, p. 349). For the necklace cost 44 thousand fiancés. Ten years they spent repaying back the money that they borrowed.
which explains well how she had a finite amount of money and thought material wealth was more important than happiness. If she only knew before that she would spend the next decade working off her debt, she would have never asked for the necklace and she would have had a happy life. Furthermore, wealth isn’t the only thing that brings happiness to life. With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable.
Here is a short list of some of the Norse Gods, starting with the Aesir Gods.
many colors, over which was a thick mantle, fastened by a brooch. Now she grasped a
In the beginning, the realm called Niflheim (Neflheimr) was located on the northern side of the Great Void called Ginunngagap (Mighty Gap). Niflheim was a dark and cold place that consisted mostly of ice and frost. Everywhere in Niflheim there was a mist for which it gets its name, 'Mist Home' or 'Mist World.'
There are several elements that make up a fairy tale. Some of these elements are specific details that so picky that a story’s interpretation can be reversed into a completely different meaning. One of the most famous elements within fairy tale literature is the rose. The rose has been a long time symbol of romance and love. However there are many types of different roses and some species are only native to certain areas. Then besides the fact of species and location, one must also take into account color symbolism as well, which also varies by culture.
For example, a flower blooming may symbolize rebirth and revival, just as a flower’s pigment may pertain death and grief. There were certain kinds of flowers that pertained to Aphrodite the most and that she held dearest to her. One of the flowers was the rose. Roses have signified beauty since ancient times, and for ancient Romans, the rose was especially associated with Aphrodite. According to an article entitled, “Aphrodite: Highlighting Her Symbols and Their Appropriate Meaning,” the author states, “the red rose was stained with the color red when she cut her feet on its thorns while running towards her dying Adonis.” This depiction of the tragic love story between Aphrodite and her love poses as an interesting background behind not only the color red itself, but the flower in which we see as romantic in modern times. What we view as sentimental and charming actually obtains fateful and grievous
Women are the ones who are left to mourn the loss of loved ones’ kill in the wake of the war. Although the central theme of the poem is how Beowulf rescues and restores the kingdom of Hrothgar from Grendel’s reckless destruction, the role of the women that have been labelled silent, weak, and passive cannot be overlooked, if there is to be a whole and rounded analysis of the poem. Women are the ones who were able to stave off feuds and death through
Similar themes, such as ash as a symbol of loss love and status. Another similar theme is tears. Cinderella uses her tears to water a tree she planted on her mother’s grave, while tears are a reoccurring theme throughout Tita’s journey.
The rose often represents love and ever-lasting beauty. Roses are often preserved after they die. Emily was denied a rose. Her father denied her suitors when she was young. Her town denied her suitors later. Homer Barron also denied her love because he saw himself as not the marrying kind of man. She refused, however, to give up her "rose" when she fell in love with Homer. She kept him in the only way that she could. She isolated herself from the world to keep him. The room she kept him in was rose colored. There was an indentation in the pillow where her head had lain. On the pillow was a long strand of iron gray hair. Her deep feelings and longings indented her heart like the indentation in the pillow. She controlled them the only way she knew how. She kept the man she loved from moving forward in time. She kept him in the past with her.
In 1785, the court jewelers, Bohmer and Basange, constructed a necklace with five hundred and forty diamonds of varying sizes in an ugly arrangement that resembled the collars worn by circus animals. They hoped that King Louis XV would purchase it for his favorite, Madame du Barry. Unfortunately, the king died before the necklace was completed. So, naturally the jewelers tried to sell the piece to the newly crowned Queen, Marie Antoinette, because she was known for her extravagant spending and taste. They priced the jewelry at and equivalent of two million dollars in modern money. The Queen declined the offer. She did not like the necklace and the price was even too high for her. Knowing that they would be ruined if the Queen didn’t buy their product the jewelers continued to plead with her for ten years. Each time she turned them down. Then, one day the Queen received a note signed by Bassange which said, “We have real satisfaction in thinking that the most beautiful set of diamonds in existence will belong to the greatest and best of Queens.” Puzzled by the message, the Queen, put the note to flame by a candle sitting on a nearby table (Komroff 85).
As I did research on how others interpreted the story, the same conclusion would pop up. The necklace was used as a symbol of higher class of wealth. We use symbolic items to try and fit into societies belief of “fancy”. The deeper meaning is within the true value of the necklace. It is a fake just as she is! She is trying to be something she is not and ends up losing the necklace which holds a false value as well. This is why a person should not take everything as it
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