Examples Of Greed In The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

Since that is beyond Mathilde’s social reach the only way to escape that status is through marriage. Yet she let herself be married off to a “little clerk in the Ministry of Education”. This developed more of the discontent in her current rank. Despite this, Monsieur Loisel is still tolerant of her behavior and wants to please her. Her excessive pride, materialism and shallowness cause her emotional torture to herself when she feels deprived of luxuries.

In “The Necklace”, Mathilde Loisel is a woman who cannot tolerate her lower-class status, believing “herself born for every delicacy and luxury”(82). Mathilde’s vain materialistic goals, make her bitter and unhappy. The main point of irony in the story is the fact that Mathilde borrows the necklace and looses it. The necklace was very expensive, or so she thought, so she ended up in poverty

Mathilde never seemed satisfied with what she had. She envied the upper class and felt she should have what they have. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling” (Maupassant). This desire to belong in the upper class caused her only to focus on what she did not have. When her husband surprises her with the invitation to the ball the only thing she can think about is not having the proper dress for the occasion. “She looked at him with an irritated eye, and she said, impatiently: “’And what do you expect me to put on my back?’” (Maupassant). It seemed

Socrates once wrote, “He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” The quote above shows how envy is able to take a toll on a person’s soul and is relevant to the story “The Necklace.” When Madame Loisel is invited to a prestigious party, she borrows a seemingly priceless necklace. Mathilde misplaces the incomparable necklace; thus Madame’s envy for the fame of the party and the accessory she desires causes her to plummet into deep poverty. She works and sacrifices for 10 years, suffering to pay off the immense the debt she dug for herself. Within the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Madame Loisel presents many negative characteristics including greed, the importance of status, and insecurity through her desire to look wealthy and prestigious. She offers all she has to please those traits within her, to mute and cover the echoing voices that come from within.

Do you know a materialistic person, who only cares about money? Do you like this person? Usually, people like this are not so friendly, just like Mathilde was. But in this case, Mathilde was able to change, and we can see this by some facts in the text; she was arrogant and materialistic, then became a motivated and comprehensive, and also she was lazy, but in the final she became a very hard worker woman. Mathilde actions and attitudes changes are very complex, but with these two things as support, it is possible to make this change very clear to understand.

Now consider the role of Mathilde Loisel in “The Necklace”. She constantly grieves about her simple life and fantasizes about extravagant life style with rich people and food surrounding her. Her husband is a simple man and is satisfied with his life. He appreciates her for the food which is cooked and never complains. Being in the Ministry of Education their lifestyle is modest. Mathilde is not satisfied on the other hand even when her husband proudly announces that they have been invited at a formal party held by the Ministry of Education. The irony in the story is more or less the same with regard to the female characters. Mathilde cries and gets her prize in the form of a dress but she is never satisfied. She wants jewelry as well. The necklace that she borrows from Madame Forestier teaches her a lesson of life. Since she is not familiar with the real jewelry she picks the cheapest one from her collection and wears it to the party why she loses it. Upon not finding the jewelry her husband takes the pain of selling everything out just to purchase an identical necklace worth 40,000 francs which leaves them poverty stricken for the next ten years during which her husband does three jobs and

Thereafter, by learning a lesson from her doings there was a great transformation in Mathilde’s character from beginning to end of the story. After giving the diamond necklace to Forrestier she knew they have to live a “horrible” (5) life “of the needy.” (5) . Thus “with sudden heroism” (5) she decided to repay the debt taken for that necklace and “dismissed their servant, changed their lodgings and rented a garret under the roof.” (5) The woman who valued her youth and beauty the most lost it and became the woman of “impoverished household-strong and hard and rough.” (5) But sometimes she

Over the course of 10 years living with only the bare necessities of life, each month trying to pay back a loan asking for a bit more time. Mathilde, now was living a life that was almost unbearable, although nothing other than her envy and greed brought a harder life for Mr. Loisel and her. Finally, they were able to clear all of their debts after 10 years they were free now to start over again. One day when Mathilde was walking, she saw Mrs. Forrester and blamed her for what had come upon her family for the last ten years. Mrs. Forrester was very confused at this statement, not understanding what Mathilde was trying to imply. Mathilde then said that they had lost her necklace at the party, and have lived for 10 years like paupers because they had to replace her 48 000 francs necklace. Mrs. Forrester then told Mathilde in a gentle voice that the necklace was a knock off and was no more than 500 francs. This dénouement that Guy de Maupassant wrote, showed the true destructive forces of envy and greed.

When her husband gave her the invitation to the ball, which was a perfect place to meet the rich people, Mathilde got mad and cried. It was a shame since she has nothing to wear. Mr Loisel gave his money to Mathilde and she got an elegance dress. But she didn’t stop and wanted to have jewels. Mathilde met her friend, Madame Forestier and chose an gorgeous diamond necklace. Of course, she became the prettiest woman in the ball, with everyone stared at her, as if she was the most attractive woman ever. She felt fascinated, just like her dream came true. But then a tragic came to her. She lost the necklace! Mathilde and her husband tried to find the necklace, but they found nothing. Mathilde lost her hope and had aged five years. The Loisels finally decided to replace the diamonds for 36 000 Francs, spent all of their money and accepted to pay the debts. It was such an unfortunate situation. After Mathilde lost the necklace, she was described as “ And, clad like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money”. (Maupassant 8). The family was suffering from poverty and have to pay the debts continuously. Mathilde changed immediately and did everything. They have worked so hard to earn every single penny for their life, to survive and pay all those debts. The third person limited

Mathilde finds herself dissatisfied with her life. She craves for riches and glamour. Instead of appreciating what she has, Mathilde craves for jewels and high class commodities. One day, her husband receives an invitation to a formal party, which would give Mathilde a chance to experience the luxuries of high society. However, she seems upset because she does not own a formal dress to wear to the ball. Mathilde’s husband feels compassion for her and gives her his savings to buy a new and elegant dress. The night before the ball, we noticed Mathilde’s greed when she complains that she has no ornament to put on. She arrogantly tells her husband, “It's so mortifying to look poverty-stricken among women who are rich” (Maupassant). For this reason, he then advises her to borrow some jewelry from her friend, Madam Forestier. Blinded by greed, Mathilde follows her husband’s advice and borrows what looks like a diamond necklace. At the ball, she has a great time. However, when she and her husband get home, she realizes she has lost the diamond necklace. Worried by the consequences of losing a diamond necklace, Mathilde’s husband decides to buy a new necklace by using his inheritance, getting loans, and borrowing money from acquaintances. They return the necklace to Madam Forestier and focus on paying their debt. After 10 years of hard labor and misery, they eventually pay all their debts. At the end of the short story, Mathilde finds out that the diamond necklace she borrowed was fake. Ultimately, we see how greed drove Mathilde to misery and

As Mathilde worked hard to recover the money she owed to the Madame, she finally sees and reflects on the mistakes she made in her previous life. In the process, she internally becomes wiser and truly understands what went on during her former life. After her self-centered and thoughtless behavior vanished over time, she became the woman she always had dreamed of

He was trying to help her solve a problem she had, even though she ended up losing the jewels. She wanted everything that she could not have, especially the luxurious life of an aristocrat. Only after Mathilde lost the necklace did she realize how fortunate she originally

The author of Mathilde’s story, “The Necklace,” right from the start, showed readers how prideful Mathilde was, and how her pride led her into the mindset that she should be of the noble class. A passage that expresses this, one taken from the first page of the story, goes: “She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers” (Maupassant 333). Although not expressive of her pride’s consequences, this passage gives readers an informing amount of insight as to how deeply rooted and corruptive her pride is. Furthermore, Mathilde even went so far as to reject a kind offer from her husband to join him at a noble’s ball, simply because her pride kept her from going in an outfit that was any less than fabulous. One passage that acutely describes Mathilde’s feeling about going to the ball is: “I hate not having a single jewel, not one stone, to wear. I shall look so dowdy. I’d almost rather not go to the party” (335). Moreover, the most prominent consequence Mathilde goes through because of her pride is the losing ten years of her life to repay a debt that stemmed from her overflowing pride. Before going to the ball, but after her husband had spent a gigantic portion of their saving into buying a dress, Mathilde buys the necklace

The dictionary definition for the word greed, is excessive or rapacious desire, especially for wealth or possessions. In many stories, greed plays an important role. Usually when a character is overcome with greed, it leads to a horrendous downfall of some sort. In the story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the author acknowledges that the main character Mathilde is very greedy. The author lets the reader compare Mathilde to a foolish person taking life for granted instead of her realizing she already has everything she needs. Mathilde finds herself wanting a fantasy life that she did not have, when in reality her future fades it away. In “The Necklace”, Maupassant is able to show that Mathilde learns a devastating lesson because of her

First, Mathilde asks to borrow her desired necklace, to which Madame Forestier replies, "Why, yes, certainly" (Maupassant 3). This foreshadows the deception, as nobody would lend a valuable piece of jewelry to a friend, no matter how close the relation. However, Madame Forestier readily lends it to Mathilde, with no hesitation. After losing the necklace and paying for a more expensive copy of the necklace, Mathilde "[becomes] the woman of impoverished households- strong and hard and rough" in order to repay the debt incurred (Maupassant 5). The necklace deceives Mathilde and her husband to find a more expensive copy of the missing jewelry which they fear is as expensive as the original.