Literary Devices In The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

It was once said that, “seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised or a little mistaken” (Austen). With today’s ever growing economy it is of no surprise that individuals pretend to be something they are not because they want to give the illusion that they are part of the wealthy class, the elite. This can be seen through Mathilde’s deceiving clothes and jewelry at the ball, where her reality actually matches her dreams. Some individuals may even act as if they are a part of a higher social class than they actually are to attract the more wealthy people towards them or in other words, to fake it until they make it. All of these acts are deception, the intentional act of portraying something fraudulently. In “The Necklace” and “The Monkey’s Paw” the theme of deception is addressed by both de Maupassant and Jacobs, suggesting everything is not what it seems and that true value solely depends on how a person perceives it to be.

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

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.

"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.

“Expect the unexpected,” is something that I heard many times. We should follow this rule while reading different genres of writing, because writers use irony to keep readers’ attention, and make their works more interesting.

What would you do if your significant other passed on and left you with over 12 million dollars? That's exactly what Guy De Maupassant tries to answer in the short story, “The Jewelry”. The author answers this question by expressing it through the five main parts of a complete story the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion. Not having a plot in the story it would be the equivalent of reading someones everyday journal. There are many events that happen but they are in a random, that may not make sense. The three of the most important elements of this story are the rising action, climax, and conclusion. This short story allows each of the elements to build on each other creating a greater outcome for the following

The theme of The Necklace, a short story by Guy de Maupassant, is that being honest is the best course of action. Another theme of The Necklace would be that honesty is the best policy. Both of those are equally good, and they both carry the same message and meaning. People often make the decision to lie about making mistakes or losing something of a friend, usually to avoid causing depression if there is a prized possession involved. That is why The Necklace is a great example of that situation.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breaths away”-Maya Angelou. This quote demonstrates that life isn’t about the amount of things one has or can do, but the time one spends with joy and fun, appreciating what they can do and have. In the short story, “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant, the main character does the exact opposite of what this quote represents, she learns the hard way. Madame Loisel, the main character, doesn't appreciate her ways of living and wants something to represent the lifestyle she wants to live. Madame borrows a diamond Necklace, loses it and rather than telling the truth, she lies and buys another. She ends up wasting 10 years of her life working hard to pay off debt. Madame then finds that the diamond necklace was nothing but paste though the replacement was real. Maybe if Madame had been grateful for who she was and what she had, she would’ve lived a better life. De Maupassant uses multiple internal and external conflicts to teach the reader that people should just be grateful for who they are,what they have and what they can do.

Lies and deceitfulness can hurt those who are affected by it. Fear also harms the anxious person. In the story ‘The Necklace’ by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde is a girl who dreams of living the wealthy life. Unfortunately for her, she was born into a family of clerks so she wasn’t born into a wealthy family. M. Loisel, Mathilde’s husband, receives an invitation to a ball of sorts.

She doesn’t think about others or their needs so she is basically selfish. When she was invited to the fancy party, she was upset because she didn’t have anything ‘pretty’ or expensive looking to wear. So, she becomes angry because she doesn’t have anything ‘pretty’ to wear. She looked at him, irritated, and said impatiently: “I haven’t a thing to wear. How could I go?” (Maupassant 334) She questions her husband, who tries to give suggestions, and becomes impatient and hot-headed.

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

Some people experience specific conflicts throughout their lives that can affect the way they view themselves and others. An example of this is in the short story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, where Madame Loisel is constantly suffering the mental battle of wanting everything she does not have. Jewels, necklaces, and riches - all the materialistic things that Madame Loisel sought after her whole life, cause her to display an ungrateful attitude towards herself and her husband. Once she finally receives something that she wanted, a beautiful necklace borrowed from a friend, she loses it and in order to replace it, she becomes forced to borrow more money from friends. Consequently, she had to spend many years of her life to pay back every person she borrowed money from, when in result, the necklace was a replica and was much cheaper than what she had thought. Madame Loisel undergoes a series of external and internal conflicts, causing the idea that it is important to remain truthful and appreciative to be discerned.

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.