Symbolism In The Necklace

The first event that impacts Madame Loisel’s circumstances is when her husband brought home the invitation. One evening, her husband came home delighted with an invitation in which he was quite proud of receiving. However, “Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she flung the invitation petulantly across the table, murmuring: "What do you want me to do with this?"” (Maupassant 10). This reaction proves that she is unhappy with her life, and nothing her husband provides will meet her unreasonable standards. Also, instead of being proud of her husband for his hard work, she instead showed selfishness and greed in regard to what they have/ do not have:

First, Maupassant makes the character, Madame Loisel, seem as though she does not appreciate the things she has in her life. As the narrator states in the story,““She had a rich friend, a schoolmate from the convent which she had

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

The short story“The Necklace” by Gui de Maupassant follows Madame Loisel and her husband who are living in the middle-class during the rise of the middle class in Paris, France.There are many different examples of irony throughout the short story, demonstrating Maupassant's talent at commenting on the society in which he was immersed in. The theme of “The Necklace” is revealed through the character Madame Loisel, irony, and symbolism.

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

Woman throughout the years have experienced many society established conflicts. These conflicts are appreciated in four stories “The Storm” and “The story of an hour” by Kate Chopin (1851-1904), “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), and “A&P” by John Updike (1932-2009). In these stories the feminine role portrayed by each author provides an insight of the image placed upon woman at their time in history. This imaged forced upon woman can be interpreted as the struggles in that moment of time. Thus struggles affect indirectly the way we see woman at present time.

Throughout history, women have had little power in the world. Many times a woman’s family and connections determined what social standing she had. How much money a woman’s family had often would determine whom a woman would marry and how comfortably she would live her life. France in the late 1800’s was no exception. Guy de Maupassant in his story “The Necklace” through Mathilde’s life and the social event of a party. At first Mathilde might seem greedy and ungrateful, but her character shows through in the event of enormous debt. The social setting of The Necklace shows that Mathilde’s greed comes more from social norms rather than her character.

Monsieur Loisel, in contrast, is content with his place in life. He too is proud, but of what he has achieved, not what he desires to be. He does not yearn for dainty dinners but is satisfied with plain cooking: “... her husband, who uncovered the soup-tureen and declared with an enchanted air, ‘Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I dont know anything better than that.’” (Maupassant 1). Monsieur Loisel is happy and shows pride in the simple things in life. He is also proud when he receives the invitation to the ball and cannot understand his wife’s negative reaction to the invitation: “Instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table with disdain…” (Maupassant 2). He sacrifices money he has saved to buy a gun so that his wife can buy a suitable dress, but she is still not happy.

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.

In the story, "The Necklace," Matilde is a middle class woman who can't come to terms with her position as she dreams of having a graceful and rich life. The irony here is her fate. She would love other women to envy her. When her husband comes home with an invitation to a fancy dinner, her first thought is of her appearance. Although her husband offers to buy her a new dress, she still feels that she will appear shabby without jewelry for the rich people to see. He suggests that she borrow something from her friend. She borrows a beautiful necklace. She's a hit at the party and enjoys herself very much. Unfortunately, somewhere between the party and the ride home, she lost the necklace. The most ironic part of the story without

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.

Her persistent mindset of wanting and needing more, is how her internal conflict developed. All of Madame Loisel’s issues relate back to her internal fascination with becoming incredibly rich and valued by her peers. The text states, “She had longed so eagerly to charm, to be desired, to be wildly attractive and sought after.” (1) Madame Loisel’s mindset was simply set on materialistic things and being respected amongst her peers. Even throughout the years, her idea of ‘perfection’ never changed a bit. The story reads, “But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and thought of that evening long ago, of the ball at which she had been so beautiful and so much admired.” (5) Ten hard and stressful years later, Madame Loisel is still under the impression that everything she has must be beautiful and valued. This situation expresses irony because although she is beautiful, she still feels a desire to receive expensive things. The text states, “She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans… She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury.” (1) Although she is beautiful

Madame Loisel is a very stuck up character in the beginning of the story. She sees no value to money. She believes she was meant to live a wealthy life, and has high hopes for an elegant and luxurious life. This is shown in story when it says that “She suffered constantly, feeling that all her attributes of a gracious life, even luxury, should have rightfully been hers.”