Essay On The Necklace

The short story "The Necklace" is one of the most significant stories that I believe the message through it is so powerful for women. "The Necklace" is a story about a woman named Mathilde Loisel that thought she was supposed to be born into a wealthy family and behaving like one. Unfortunately, the destiny of her life did not match with what she actually wanted–the luxurious life fill with happiness, attentions and jewelries. "She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks." The first thing that we know about Mathilde from the first sentence of the story is that she seems that she was meant for a life of luxury and wealth, but oppositely born into a low middle–class family who parents were clerks. She was also married to a little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction. The real conflict between what she wanted to be represent out of her life and what really are established in her life happened when her husband brought back an invitation letter to a ministerial ball. Mathilde prepared her best, from her dress to the jewelry that she wears to look magnificent at the ball. Then, everything changed her life and her eagerness towards wealth after the calamity that she lost the necklace that she borrowed from Mme. Forestier. After reading the whole story and understanding the idea of the author, I believe that the story thought me, that the pride of being a women is not only been measured from the Get

The Necklace Rhetorical Analysis

In "The Necklace", Guy de Maupassaut uses the irony with the necklace to criticize Madame Loisel's need to make a false impression and her equally false desires. Madame Loisel shows her desire for everything throughout this short story. Guy de Maupassant uses an angry tone showing the reader he disapproves of Madame Loisel actions and need for attention. In the beginning of this short story, Guy describes Madame Loisel as "one of those pretty and charming girls born" (CITATION). Guy de Maupassant immediately lets the reader know Madame Loisel is incredibly beautiful. Her husband even says "Why the dress you go to theatre in. It looks very nice to me" (CITATION), yet Madame Loisel does not care. Madame Loisel needs to make a false impression

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In The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant reveals imagery very well throughout the poem. Mrs. Loisel feels her life is just not enough. She is constantly complaining, asking for more or daydreaming of what she could have. The Madame is very discontent with everything in her day–to–day life and cannot seem to find the good in it. This piece of literature contains vivid images to reveal the character of Madame Mathilide Loisel.

The first example he uses is when Mrs. Mathilide is thinking about what her life could be if she had more money. "She thought of the silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, lit by tall bronze candelabra's, and one of the great footmen in knee breeches who slept in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the heavy warmth of the hot–air stove.", is a sentence where I could literally see the small room leading out to the hallway (68). I am able to see the Asian artwork hanging on the candlelit walls and the footmen falling asleep on one of the great loveseats. I am able to smell heat coming from the...show more content...

I can see her dancing with drunkenness and desire. I can see her twirling all over the ballroom, husband on her arm, within her own "cloud of happiness" (70). She is happy to be there in her new ball gown and her borrowed "diamond necklace" from Madame Forestier (70). After all of Mrs. Mathilide's drama about what to wear when her husband gave her the invitation, she had an amazing night dancing away. Lastly, the author does a great job displaying how Mrs. Loisel really is day to day. On page 72, he describes her doing her wifely duties by washing the dishes and dirty clothes. He also talks about how she "dressed like a woman of the people", going from market to market "bargaining, insulted, defending her miserable money sou by sou" (72). From the Madame's attitude throughout the short story, she is not comfortable dressing this way and acting like common

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Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is a short story about a middle–class girl Mathilde, who loses her friend's costly necklace and spends a decade paying for its replacement. "The Necklace" represents the story of a standard young lady who loves her husband, despite her desires to be an affluent person. However, readers fail to notice that Madame Loisel's love for Monsieur Loisel vanishes upon their marriage and her materialistic personalities continue to increase. "The Necklace" is influencing other stories because of its elegance and love, but people will never understand the melancholy and negative reality of this narrative. Therefore, in the short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, the protagonist Mathilde is portrayed as a dissatisfied, begrudging, and calumniating character through her perspective of her average life, her actions toward her friend Madame Forestier, and her husband Monsieur Loisel. To show that Mathilde is dissatisfied with her ordinary life, the author mentions "She grieved over the shabbiness of her apartment, the dinginess of the walls, the worn–out appearance of the chairs, the ugliness of the draperies" (Maupassant 198). This quote tells the reader that Madame Loisel has many complaints about her lifestyle as well as her...show more content...

. .] she scornfully tossed the invitation on the table, murmuring, 'What good is that to me?'" (Maupassant 200). In this situation, Monsieur Loisel brings home an invitation from the Minister of Education and Madame Ramponneau for Madame and Monsieur Loisel to attend the evening reception. But instead of being ecstatic, she shows her agitated state by tossing the invitation purposely to make her husband feel apologetic and ashamed. Maupassant says "She gave him an irritated glance and burst out impatiently, 'What do you think I have to go in?'" (200) to characterize Mathilde as a harrowing and hellish wife to her

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Examples Of Literary Elements In The Necklace

Many authors utilize literary elements to allow readers to predict the plot, using details, and visualize scenes, using imagery. Two examples of these short stories are "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupossant and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber. "The Necklace" is about a materialistic woman who faces consequences because of her envious personality and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is about a man who experiences daydreams randomly throughout the day. Although both short stories used literary elements, Guy de Maupassant utilized them for readers to understand and enjoy the story more than James Thurber.

"The Necklace" is a short story of a middle–class woman, Mathilde, who borrowed a necklace from a friend to seem...show more content... But mine was only paste. Why, at most it was worth only five hundred francs!" (Maupassant 204). At that moment, Madame Loisel, as well as the readers, learn all the debt Mathilde and her husband went through was for nothing. If she hadn't worried the consequences from the truth, the hard labor could have been avoided. This is ironic because throughout the whole story the necklace represented something expensive and high class, when in reality it was a fake. The Necklace can be described as a story with many detailed and vivid sentences, making each scene come to life in the reader's mind. Even though there are many of these occurrences, the most animated example was right after Mathilde and her husband paid for the replacement necklace. When describing Madame Loisel's hard labor, it is said "She washed dishes, wearing down her shell–pink nails scouring the grease from pots and pans; she scrubbed dirty linen, shirts, and cleaning rags which she hung on a line to dry" (Maupassant 203). This created a visualization and feeling of hard work and exhaustion, which was exactly what Madame Loisel was going through. The details about her nails, for example, form an image of physical wear down. This is significant because in the beginning of "The Necklace" it is explained that Mathilde cares deeply about her outward appearance. Because of the expensive necklace they replaced, her materialistic Get more content

"We want what we can't have": This renowned adage has been the cold reply of many parents to their sobbing children as they walk out of the toy store. At the time, the heartbroken children might not fully grasp the words of their parents, but as they grow up they will understand that the well known adage holds true to its meaning. Almost everybody has experienced this feeling, whether it is as young children or as wise adults. Examples of this noted proverb is evident both in print and on screen. Now, since this is the case with most people around the world, it is not difficult to see how this byword applies to Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace." Its protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, longing for a lavish lifestyle rather than...show more content... She even contemplated how much money she could squeeze out of her husband without "drawing on herself an immediate refusal" (453, Maupassant, "The Necklace"). Her greed filled every aspect of her life and she ended up paying for it at the end. Another character trait of Mathilde is being unrealistic. Instead of focusing on the things in her own life and fulfilling her own obligations, she just stargazes about how her life could have been better if she lived a life of luxury. She constantly imagines a life filled with grandeur, of fine furnishings, and clothes. It is observable that she is not satisfied with her husband, and often dreams what life would have been like if she were married further up the social class. She yearns for a luxurious life that is highlighted with candlelight dinners, large rooms, and servants willing to meet her every need. Rather than trying to improve her lifestyle, she wastes her time imagining if she had taken a different path in life. She even wanted to go to parties and have "talks at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought afterВ…" (452, Maupassant, "The Necklace"). Even as she had supper with her husband, she couldn't help but dream about "dainty dinners [and] of shining silverwareВ…" (452, Maupassant, "The Necklace"). Get more content

People always wonder about the gold chain reposed upon my neck everyday. They ponder about what's so significant about the two inch pendant perched around my neck that makes me never want to take it off. The necklace has a 1cm thick chain that holds a gold plated pendant of my name written in my mother language, Malayalam. As they glare upon the letters аґњаµЂаґЁ they ask "What does it even say, what does it mean, is it english?" I reply simply with the fact that it not only represents my name, but it symbolizes who I am as a person and what I've become. I remember the day I initially received this necklace. It was my first day of kindergarten. I went through a superfluity of emotions that ranged from anxiety, curiosity, timidness and apprehension. I worried about how I was going to make friends, or if people would make fun of the hideous bowl cut my mother did to my hair the previous night. Before I had stepped into what I would call my second home for the next 6–years, my parents gave me a scintillating, lustrous gold chain to wear around my bare neck. They told me to never forget who you are and where you come from, so keep this as a little reminder forever. At the time, I didn't really think much of it, I just assumed my parents gave me this necklace as a good luck present. But as I got older, I really started to appreciate that moment more. As I was in school, I constantly got questions from other peers about whether it's on backwards or

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"The Necklace" Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant's short story, "The Necklace", he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she...show more content... She thinks that because her friend is rich and beautiful, that her material items would extend with that wealth. Instead, it shows Madame that even the richest of people do not always have to have genuine items. Madame realizes that she does have fun at the party even if she is not wearing all authentic things, the opposite of what she thinks she is wearing. A third ironic happening, is when she has been working to pay off the money for the necklace for a decade. Madame clearly admits to her friend on page 196 how she loses the necklace, and has been paying it back for ten years. As someone is reading the story, they will find it silly how Mme. is working for something when she is usually having people, mostly her husband, do things for her. Instead, she is working to pay off the money that she has spent on a replacement necklace. The turnout of the story changes Madame's views on how silly, textile items, are not always needed for someone to be happy. Outcomes in life are diverse for Madame, like her ideas of materialistic pieces in comparison to her husband's outlooks on important items. Guy emphasizes how Mme Loisel is not appreciating what she has in the right way as he uses juxtaposition to compare her to her husband, Mr. Loisel. A beginning example is the food that is set before them for dinner. Mr. Loisel seems to be very happy with his meal as he sits down and claims, 'Ah! A good stew! There's nothing I like better...' (pg 190). But

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The Necklace "The Necklace" by Guy De Maupassant tells of Mathilde Loisel who "by error of destiny" was born poor and winds up marrying a clerk. Mr. Loisel surprises Mathilde with an opportunity to taste the luxurious life for an evening and she unexpectedly bursts into tears because she has nothing to wear. Mr. Loisel agrees to buy her a gown and suggests that she borrow jewelry from her wealthy friend. The evening turns out to be a dream come true until the Loisels arrive home to find that the borrowed necklace is no longer around Mathilde's neck. The Loisels secretly replace the necklace with an expensive duplicate that takes them ten long, hard years to pay off. Shortly after the loan is paid off, Mathilde runs into her rich...show more content...

When the necklace turns up missing, Mathilde replaces it and dooms herself as well as her husband into ten years of misfortune. In the end, Mathilde finds that the hardships of her and her husband were all in vain. The conflict in the story occurs when the Loisel's return home from the banquet, only to find that the borrowed necklace is missing. Resolution isn't presented until the end of the story when Mathilde awkwardly realizes that the unnecessary suffering her and her husband have done over the past ten years was caused by her materialism and vanity. The main conflict is important to understand in this story because had Mathilde been content with the simple life she leads, her and her husband would not have had to go through the suffering that they had been dealt for so long in order to pay off the debt she created by losing the necklace. Finally, Mathilde realizes the internal conflict lives within her dreamscape lifestyle and the simplistic reality she occupies. The story takes place in Paris, France. The time is unknown, however, social rank is of great importance. In the beginning of the story, the couple resides in a simple apartment with simple belongings, however, by the end of the story, the life they were living seemed luxurious compared to the life they live now. Their grim apartment with drab walls, threadbare furniture and ugly curtains now seem lavish compared to the maidless, attic flat they currently reside in. Mathilde had Get more content

Going Into Depth With "The Necklace" "She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, as if by an accident into a family of clerks" this is what Guy de Maupassant started "The Necklace" off by saying (Maupassant 221). Also, this helps describe the main character and to give the readers a visual of Mathilde Loisel. "The Necklace" is a short story that Mathilde Loisel, the main female character, wants to be a higher class than she really is. Mathilde's life drastically changes one night after she loses the necklace. Guy de Maupassant incorporates his use of the social class into the short story. One, noticeable part that plays a huge part in the theme is irony and/or suspense. In "The Necklace" the readers are suspenseful of if Mathilde will come out and tell the truth or try to cover up her steps. Mathilde hurries to find the diamond necklace that she has lost, and to find someone willing to work with her payment plan. Throughout this short story Mathilde faces hard tasks of work to receive the money until she can pay it off. Also, It was very suspenseful when overtime we watched Mathilde try to conquer her external conflict. Suspenseful was a feeling that took over most readers because most of them were worried that Mathilde's friend was going to find out about to lost of the necklace. Also, Ironically the necklace was fake causing all of Mathilde's hard work to be useless. Overall, this taught Mathilde a lesson. Another, noticeable part that plays a huge part in

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Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

Freshman Composition II November 1, 2005 The nineteenth century French writer, Guy De Maupassant, tells an intriguing story in "The Necklace." He depicts the painful life of a beautiful woman, unhappily born into an average family of clerks. She felt that she was destined to marry into wealth but sadly found herself settling as she married an average copyist. Unlike the women of today, women in the nineteenth century were not fortunate enough to have a career of their own; they were either born into a wealthy family or married a man with money. In "The Necklace", Guy De Maupassant creatively reveals Mathilde Loisel's dreams of a decadent lifestyle. As her struggles start to unravel, it becomes obvious that her heartache is solely...show more content...

Mr. Loisel was an average guy with an average job at the Ministry of Education as a copyist. He doesn't seem to be bothered by their basic yet comfortable lifestyle; however, Mathilde is obviously anguished over the lack of his riches. Mr. Loisel was obviously excited the day that The Chancellor of Education had invited them to an exquisite dinner. Surely he thought that this was finally a way that he could provide an outlet for Mathilde's deepest desires. Unfortunately, instead of being thrilled as he had predicted, Mathilde acted like a spoiled child, throwing the invitation on the table. "She had no decent dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but these; she believed herself born only for these" (5). She couldn't have been more manipulative than when she began to cry about not having anything to wear. Of course Mr. Loisel suddenly fell into her trap and suddenly decided to give her all of the money in his savings account to buy her a new dress. Most would assume that she'd be satisfied at this point; her husband has just made a huge financial sacrifice for her. However, as time drew near to the night of the party, she became insecure and restless because she thought she would look poor if she didn't have any fancy jewels to wear; she thought she'd look like a beggar. `I'd almost rather not go to the party (30)", she said.

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The Necklace Rhetorical Analysis

The Necklace is an engaging short story, making hearty use of irony to convey essential ideas. Guy de Maupassant's famous short story "The Necklace" makes use of various forms of diction to display Madam Loisel's vain and longing personality to the reader. With uses of dialogue, thought, action, and the pursuit of more than what she has, Loisel's conceited disposition, regards to the grandeur of vanity, and suffering wishes for a life full of easiness and luxury are conveyed. In the first page, Maupassant says, "She was one of those pretty, charming young women who are born, as if by an error of Fate, into a petty official's family." Here, it is implied that Loisel was destined for higher nobility from birth, and should have been born into a more remarkable family. With the adjectives pretty and charming, it is revealed that she is not average. Madame Loisel knows these things, and she always is imagining a higher, grander life, of riches, materialistic items, and fine luxuries....show more content... She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains. All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her." Within this, a suggestion that Loisel is indignant, feeling herself to be higher than her birth, it is insinuated that she is vain and does not believe that she should have to suffer under the yoke as other women of her class do. Whereas most of her social class would bear it humbly and not complain, she continues to pursue the life she craves. She is elegant and charming and pretty, but she is also, on a deeper aspect, vain and jealous and indignant. When the chance comes for her to attend the ball, she takes her husband's savings of four hundred francs without a second thought, using it to buy her own

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"The Necklace"

The late Irish poet Oscar Wilde once stated, "In the world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." This quote accurately describes human nature to the extent that man is never fully satisfied with his current possessions. In fact, most people who rely on materialistic items for happiness are typically desolated and miserable. This story is based on an archaic view on women, where women have no caste or hierarchy. The people grade women based off their looks and beauty. Money "practically makes nobility" (Shmoop). It "enables the user to pay for the high life" (Shmoop) and confine the person with luxurious items known to man. Money controls the life of people,...show more content... She even married a minor clerk, to her distress, who cannot provide what she desires. The way she speaks to him comes off very distasteful and leaves a sour feeling. He likes plain things and seems rather happy for where he is in life, opposite of her. The husband is actually a weak character giving in to others, just like Malthide. Their life was simple. Her home was simple, as well, just like her life. She owned cheap belongings. Except, she didn't want that. No, she wanted the most expensive items perched in her home, rather than average items. Malthide dreams of being with the rich people. Her minor husband brings home an invitation to a prestigious dinner for the rich one day. Instead of being ecstatic, as he thought she would be, Malthide breaks down. Malthide believed that she was in a situation in which she could not spend her time at the dinner. She had no expensive dress or jewelry to wear so that she could like the others, but she possessed beauty and grace. Her husband offered her the dress she had, but she could not accept it, as it was cheap. Her false value of what one "should evaluate themself" (Cummings), only caused her more grief. In the end, she bought a dress and borrowed a necklace from a rich friend of hers. However, after the dinner party, she was missingthe necklace that she borrowed. Malthide and her husband bought a replacement for it, which costed a fortune for them. They had to suffer the consequences of

People who are driven by greed end up focusing on what they do not have instead of being grateful for what they do have. This is relevant in the short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant because Mathilde Loisel ends up losing everything she owns just because she lets greed drive her decisions and get the best of her. When receiving an invitation to an extravagant ball, she declines because she says she does not have anything nice to wear. In the beginning of theshort story she says, "There is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women.(Maupassant)." The reader sees how she puts value in possessions and what others think of her. After finding a dress and then borrowing a necklace that she thought...show more content...

When she is given the opportunity to dress in extravagant clothing and act like she is wealthy, she found a "sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman's heart" (3). Mathilda Loisel's change from the exposition of the short story to the rising action is dramatic. The reader's first impression of the character is that she is unhappy and resentful but at the party she comes off just the opposite. She was joyful and "danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty" (3). Mathilda Loisel's true character starts to reveal itself when the reader sees how much value she puts in possessions. The necklace serves as a symbol for greed. When Mathilda Loisel loses the necklace that she believed was worth forty thousand francs, she desperately retraces her steps and gets her husband to help her find it as well. It ends up taking ten years to pay off the debt. The ten years were hard on Mathilda Loisel and her husband, and Maupassant told the reader that she "looked old now... with hair half combed, with skirts award, and reddened hands" (6). However, even after the long ten years of manual labor all because she lost the necklace, she "sat down near the window and though of that evening at the ball so long ago, when she has been so beautiful and so admired" (6). The necklace symbolizes that when greed controls emotions and decisions, it never leads to good results. Mathilda Loisel's life is worse at the end of the short story than

In today's world what we wear and how we present ourselves can say a lot about who we are and the stories we can tell. Without speaking a word to another person someone could decipher many things about me based on a necklace that I wear. My necklace could reveal many different aspects of who I am. it could reveal that I am close with my family. It could also be determined that I value the sentimental value over the monetary value. As a gift from my grandmother I have many personal attachments to this necklace, it will allow people to think certain things about me, and it can reveal a lot about who I am; but there are also things that it doesn't show.

When I graduated from highschool I was felt very honoured to have my grandmother attend, her presence alone was all I needed from her on my big day but she still presented me with a gift, a beautiful necklace. That was the last time I really saw her while she was completely there. This necklace is a reminder to me of how much I love my grandmother and it brings me back to all the good memories I have with her. I connect with this object on a very personal level because it is so much more than a necklace with monetary value to me, I truly value the meaning behind the necklace more than I do that actual physical object. This objects reflects certain aspects of my life; it shows that I love and care for my family and it is a way to show that love by wearing the gifts that were given to me as a physical representation of love. I

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Literary Analysis Of The Necklace

In "The Necklace" the authors choice of words, or diction, is very well articulated. I enjoyed this story because the narrator, Guy de Maupassant sets us so much suspense with the tone of the story. Madame Louisel essentailly loses a valuable item, or so she thought, and goes to major extents and even life–deminishing problems to just make it seem like she was not responsible enough to take care of a necklace for a night. The story intially takes place at a ball that Madame Louisel has been invited to by her husband. In the beginning of the story Madame is very indecisive about making an appearance at the ball. She complained she did not have a dress, any jewels, and she was scared she would look like a "pauper"(174). She did not want to look poor around a bunch of rich woman, so she had asked a friend for a piece of jewelry to wear for the night. Excited, she picks out the diamond necklace that seemed to stand out to her. She adored it. The narrator describes it as "lovliest of all, elegant, smiling, and radiating with joy"(175). Having a blast at the party, dancing, drinking, and not thinking about anything else, Madame left the ball around four in the morning. Calling a cab, Madame and her husband were on their way home, delighted with the fun night that they had. Finally arriving at home, they begin to get into comfortable clothes when suddenly Madame notices that the diamond necklace she had borrowed from a friend for the night had gone missing. Searching everyhwere

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In the story "The Necklace" written by Guy de Maupassant, Madame Loisel's attitude and perspective on life changes for the good. At the beginning of the story she is very needy and ungrateful, "She had no evening clothes, no jewels, nothing. But those were the things she wanted: she felt that was the kind of life for her" (Maupassant 226). Madame Loisel "burst out weeping" when she was informed they were attending an evening event without a nice dress to wear (227). She was handed 400 francs that her husband was saving for a rifle. She was to buy a nice dress for the event. Although she buys an evening dress, she still thought she looked to poor to attend the event. She had asked to borrow a necklace from a friend, but she lost it later that

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The Short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant shows a common message throughout the entire story which is Pride. Pride is the satisfaction from one's possessions that are widely admired, which is shown multiple times through the main character, Mathilde Loisel. The reader can easily find that the theme of the short story is Pride because of the details the author uses from the beginning of the story, to the end. Mathilde is a proud woman who cares mainly of her wants of expensive things. She is a beautiful woman on the outside, but not so much on the inside. The story shows how pride effects her throughout her situation.

Mathilde is forced to marry a clerk with very little money. She thinks very highly of herself and wants nothing less that what she believes she deserves. In the short story, it says that Mathilde "would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after"

(Maupassant) which shows that she believes that she needs not only things, but also to be liked by the other women in town and to look pretty and stunning to anyone she passes by. Her husband does anything and everything to buy her what she wants, so when he gets her the elegant gown for the ball, she feels happy at once because of her beautiful possession that she loves. Mathilde does not care about how much money it costed her husband to buy the gown, all she cares about is that she looks good in her new ball gown and that she finally has something to show off to the other women.

Mathilde "feels that she needs only the external trappings of her true status" (May) so she then becomes sad again because she realizes that she needs expensive jewelry to go with the gown or else her look will not be complete and she will not have a piece of jewelry to show off at the ball. Once she picks out and borrows the gorgeous diamond necklace from her friend, she is proud and happy again because of what she has on her neck rather than the important things in life. Mathilde believes that if she goes to the ball looking beautiful with her new gown and necklace that the other women will think that she and her husband are wealthy and they will fit in with the higher class. Everything she had always wanted she now had, and she

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Analysis of "The Necklace" Essay

Bickford

English 1102

6 February 2006

Analysis of "The Necklace" Many women dream of living a rich life, full of luxury, riches and servants. In the short story "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, a middle–class woman named Madame Loisel desires that life style very much. In "The Necklace" Madame Loisel's vain desires cause many conflicts and her ultimate downfall. One small conflict in the story is Madame Loisel vs. her husband. He is always trying to make his wife satisfied and she never appreciates him or their way of life. De Maupassant makes this clear in the beginning by telling the reader that "she let herself be married to a little clerk" (p77). The word "let" indicates her unhappiness with her marriage to him. He...show more content... She asks her husband for four hundred franks to buy a dress for the ball and he agrees. He had been saving that money for himself, but instead he chose to make his wife happy. She is very excited about going to a ball and having an elegant dress. She knew that would be her chance "to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after" (p78). However she realizes three days before the ball that she has no jewelry to wear and that her husband cannot afford to spend any more money. Her husband suggests wearing a nice flower, but Madame Loisel would feel like the flower would show her that she cannot afford real jewelry and that she is the lowly wife of a clerk. At the last moment, she remembers her rich friend and she goes to her to ask her if she could borrow some jewelry. Her friend agrees to let her borrow a necklace that appears to be made of diamonds. All of Madame Loisel's desires are fulfill at the ball. She charms everyone and her beauty is recognized. She is happier than ever because she has fulfilled her vain desires. She has finally lived her dream. All of her acts show her desire for the upper class life. Her next act, however, causes her downfall. Her greed and pride finally catch up with her after the ball and she and her husband become victims of her greedy desires. When Madame Loisel arrives at home she realizes that she lost her friend's necklace. Her husband relentlessly searches, but

Guy De Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" remarkably demonstrates how misfortune can lead to self improvement through the character Mathilde Loisel. Madame Mathilde was one of those beautiful and delightful young ladies with not very many high expectations, achievements, and no way to be accepted into the elaborate society and lifestyle in which she finds herself daydreaming about day and night.

In Guy De Mauspassant's `The Necklace," the author examines the theme of how learning a difficult lesson about honesty can impact someone for the rest of their life. The author also examines the theme through the use of his title, the characters who act out the events, and the plot.

"The Necklace" plays a larger role than just the...show more content...

Throughout the story the title "The Necklace" becomes several other symbols, for example when Mathilde loses the necklace and makes the decision to be dishonest, the necklace becomes a symbol of Mathilde's greed and the severe consequences that came with it. After all, the necklace is the reason why Mathilde's life went into extreme poverty and unhappiness.

Mathilde's daydreaming and longing for a wealthy lifestyle starts to not only affect her, but her friendships and her relationships around her as well. Mathilde's husband is considered a middle class clerk in the Ministry of Education and seems to be perfectly happy with his average lifestyle. Even when things were considered out of his financial reach, Mathilde's husband was always trying everything in his power to please her.

"God, but your silly! Go to your friend Mrs. Forrestier and ask her to lend you some jewelry. You know her well enough to do that." (The Necklace, Pg 7) When Matilde's husband suggests that she borrow some jewelry from one of her wealthy friends, he really had no idea what a terrible mistake he was making at the time.

Mathildas envy and desire to be wealthy and to live a lavish lifestyle becomes a much larger problem, when she can no longer visit her friends because of the suffering and jealousy she would experience afterwards. But when Mathilde asked her wealthy friend to borrow some jewelry, she did not seem to experience any suffering, misery, or even