In examining the influence of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and “Piece of String”, a similar form of figurative language is found. Situational irony, where an outcome is different from what was expected, is found in Maupassant’s short stories’ surprising and cruel endings. In “The Necklace” the protagonist, lost a diamond necklace, and ten years after struggling to pay off the replacement, she found the original was a fake. In Maupassant’s “Piece of String” the main character picked up a piece of string from the street and as a result of it, he was accused of theft and spent the rest of his life trying to prove his innocence. Guy de Maupassant’s short stories, “The Necklace” and “Piece of String,” were strongly influenced by his …show more content…
Additionally, Gustave Flaubert, Maupassant’s father figure after Louis Bouilhet’s death, strongly influenced Guy de Maupassant. Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant’s mentor, swayed Maupassant’s writing in teaching realism which, “Called for a scrupulous concern with form and a dedication to precision of detail and exact description” ("(henri); Maupassant" 3). Afterward, Gustave Flaubert’s death further devastated Maupassant. Additionally, the strain of work along with Herve’s death worsened Maupassant’s illness and caused his, “Descent into madness” (Bloom 17). Mainly Maupassant’s depression and view of others because of Boilhet and Flaubert influenced his style of writing and avoidable burdens on the main characters’ harsh life in “The Necklace” and “Piece of String.”
Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace,” revolved around Mathilde Loisel’s view of her life. Mathilde, beautiful woman born to a family of clerks, always felt unsatisfied with her life and wanted a more extravagant lifestyle. One day, her husband, Monsieur Loisel returned home from work with an invitation to a ball hosted by his employer, Monsieur Ramponneau, at the Ministry of Education. Although Monsieur Loisel thought Mathilde would be excited with the chance to attend the lavish party, she was angered because she had nothing to wear and said he should give the invitation to one his friends whose wife can afford better clothing. Though Monsieur Loisel had money he was saving to buy a gun for
The quality of one’s emotional life changes over the years. But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In short story “The Necklace” written by Guy de Maupassant is about a woman by the name of Mathilde. She’s described to be average in the physical sense and was married to a clerk by the name of Loisel. The couple get invited to a ball and shortly after, Mathlide complains that her wardrobe was too embarrassing to wear to the ball. Loisel buys his wife a gown and suggests she borrows a necklace from her friend to complete the outfit. Mathlide falls in love with a necklace from the collection. “She threw her arms round her friend's neck, kissed her passionately, then fled with her treasure” (Maupassant 44). The night of the ball Mathlide realized she had lost the necklace. The couple decide to replace the necklace ad work ten years to pay off the debt, finally finds out the original necklace was a fake. This short story created a perspective for who to blame for the outcome of the situation, which in this case is Mathlide.
The second use of irony is the fact that the necklace turns out to be a fake, and they have to replace it with a real diamond necklace worth thirty-six thousand French francs. Madame Forestier tells Madame Loisel that she lent her a fake necklace, meaning that all ten of the years she has worked to repay it are worthless (10). Madame Loisel and her husband work ten long and hard years to pay off their necklace because of her pride and inability to tell Madame Forestier what truly happened to the necklace.The third example is Madame Loisel borrowing the necklace to appear richer when it reality it’s a fake intended to make Madame Forestier look richer. Maupassant demonstrates Madame Loisel’s middle-class station by writing, “He
In Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is the story of Mathilde Loisel, who resents her "station" in life. Mathilde Loisel is shown to be a vain and ungrateful person who believes that she was born to have a better life. She feels that she has married beneath her, in spite of the fact that her husband is a hard working and dependable man. Mathilde is unable to recognize and appreciate the
Guy De Maupassant is recognized as one of the finest writers of the modern short story. Maupassant’s literary career began in 1880 in France. He was a marvelous writer of short stories which were based upon the aspects of the French Society, frequently touching sensitive subjects such as social and moral principles. The beauty of Maupassant’s stories is the unpredictability of them, quite identical to life, where things do not always turn up the way one may expect. The short story, Jewelry by Guy De Maupassant is an insightful piece, with a compelling theme of appearance versus reality and that the life is full of irony.
In Guy de Maupassant’s story the necklace, Madame Loisel’s is a women in the middle class who’s unsatisfied with her lifestyle and envies the upper class lifestyle. Her personality takes her through a irony filled roller coaster throughout the story. The story shows three different types of irony in the story which are verbal, situational, and dramatic.
‘The Necklace’ is a morality tale written by Guy de Maupassant where he portrays the life of a beautiful but dissatisfied girl named Mathilde who desires to live a luxurious life despite being born into a clerk’s family and marrying a clerk too. Mathilde’s discontentment in life instigates her to pretend someone rich that she is not. Moreover, it leads her to severe trouble that caused ten years of hardship to Mathilde and her husband. So, this suffering is a punishment for Mathilde which taught her a lesson and changed her dramatically over the course of the story by making her a person of completely different personality for whom appearances
Have you ever want too many things even though your life was already fulfilled and lost yourself? Have you ever ask too much and regret for what you did? Every desire, ambition, selfishness and a bit of extravagant of a human being was carefully portrayed in this story, “The Necklace”. The story is about a young woman named Mathilde Loisel. Born in a family of artisans, she wasn’t rich, but beautiful and glamor. But she never feel satisfied of what she had and never stop dreaming to have more, to live a luxury life with expensive homes and glittering dresses, and eventually paid hard for her nonsense dreams. In “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant uses third person limited narration to show how Mathilde Loisel changes in how she
Guy de Maupassant, a french writer, wrote and published a very detailing short story in February of 1884, known as "The Necklace". The story takes place in the late nineteenth century when the main character gets invited to a formal event. Preparations are made based on the desire of materialistic items to satisfy the main character. The allowance of obtaining a higher image, rather than appreciating her current status may place her in life-long debt.
During this time period, women’s role in society was that of a submissive, powerless position. They often relied solely on their husband for direction, allowing the husband to make decisions and take lead no matter what. In the story of The Necklace, Maupassant illustrates these
The internal conflicts established in “The Necklace” were a result of Madame Loisels perception of happiness. Because of her ungrateful and dejected views on life, she didn’t realize nor recognize true merriment. In the text, Guy De Maupassant shows how Madame “..was one of those pretty and charming girls born as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of
Maupassant uses metaphors to support how she felt before losing the necklace and the mental and physical challenges she and her husband had to undergo after losing the necklace. Madame Loisel's life takes a turn after losing the necklace she borrows from her friend. When Madame Loisel dresses to impress and gets noticed by the upper class she is “in a kind of happy cloud composed of all the adulation” (Maupassant 4). This shows how being the most elite girl at the party and getting an abundance of attention made her happy in that moment. It was not going to last because all clouds eventually fall apart. When the party ends, Madame Loisel looks in the mirror to find the necklace is missing. When Madame Loisel's husband realizes the necklace is lost, he is “terrified by the outlook for the future by the blackness of despair about to close around him” (Maupassant 6). This reveals that the husband of Madame Loisel is terrified of what will happen next since the necklace is missing. The reality of hard work will come through because they will need to pay for the necklace, proving that life is not always about looking the most upscale. After having to work and pay off for the necklace, she finally decides to confront Madame Forestier and exclaim to her what had actually happened. Her friend responds with, “oh my poor Mathilde. But mine was only paste” (Maupassant 8). This shows that the necklace was not real diamond and not worth a profusion like she had thought. Madame Loisel loses merriment always trying to be at the top of society with fashion and wealth. Metaphors support the theme by telling how Madame Loisel's life was before losing the necklace, “in a cloud of adulation” (Maupassant 4) and after losing the necklace.
Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace”, from a Marxist perspective, can be used to show the negative impact of social classes on lives of the working class. The story was written during the “Belle de Époque”, which translates to the lovely age, this was an era of economic and social growth. Popularity of shopping malls and high-class luxuries grew. As the bourgeoisie got richer the working class got poorer. This is reflected in the life of a couple, Mathilde and Mr. Loisel, who are mainly focused on in the story and considered to be part of the working class. Their socio-economic standing constricts their life. Mr. Loisel brings her an invite to a prestigious party at the ministerial mansion, however since she has “no clothes, and in consequence [she] cannot go to this party” (Maupassant). She borrows a diamond necklace from her rich friend, Mme. Forestier, but in the end she loses it. The next 10 years of the couples life is spent repaying debts for replacing the necklace. Mathilde constantly struggles to improve her life but because of the economic system that controls the society, she cannot. The story comprises a plain lesson that social classes will remain divided from each other while social inequality grows.
Monsieur Lantin, of Guy De Maupassant’s, “The Jewelry” is a man married to a woman who he became infatuated with over the influence of others, resulting in their marriage, and her eventual untimely death; shortly after her death it is revealed that she lived a mysterious life with her not-so-fake jewels. Madam Lantin’s character is revealed from the perspective of her husband, by way of Maupassant using third person point of view, consequently making her a flat character. Monsieur relies upon his wife to conserve his ever so quaint lifestyle. Monsieur is that of a dynamic individual, in the sense that he has the ability to adapt to life by a swayed decision making method, usually resulting in their misplaced value in his happiness. Based on the context in this short story, it is safe to say that Monsieur takes life at face value, is critical of two of his wife’s habits, and eventually becomes overwhelmed with skepticism concerning his emotional and financial life.
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
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