The Necklace

That is to say that in “The Necklace,” Mathilde’s perception of herself as a woman of higher social standing lead to her losing the one thing she had going in life, her true beauty. “It is Madame Loisel 's desire to be part of the upper class which sets the story 's events in motion” (Hatboro and Horsham). Mathilde is described as a beautiful woman who finds her life to be not up to her standards because she is not a part of the higher class. “She had no

In The Necklace, Madame Loisel was embarrassed by her poverty which made her state of being even worse with her self-centered actions. Characteristics to describe her actions would be materialistic, ungrateful, and unappreciative. Evidences from the story, about these characteristics, are given to support them. Madame Loisel have plenty of traits that describes her, but the three that stood out the most was materialistic, ungrateful, and unappreciative. With a simple, loving, and caring husband didn’t stop her self-centered actions.

In "The Necklace," Mathilde is very selfish throughout the story. Mathilde shows her selfishness when she longs to be rich and live in a nice home, wear expensive clothing and wear flashy jewelry with her clothes. "These…show how materialistic Mathilde is and how selfish she is for caring only about gaining these things for herself," says one critic (Directessays). Mr. Loisel provides the basic necessities for her to live a good life, but she wants more than just the basic necessities.

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 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.

Mathilde wanted to be rich and live a luxurious life. She did not just want to be rich but she thought that she deserved to be rich. Before she got married she was living a decent lifestyle,she even had a maid for the house “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born every delicacy and luxury.” (1). One night Mathilde and her husband got invited to go to a fancy ball. But she did not have any jewelry to wear so she borrowed a necklace from her friend. After the party she realized that the necklace was gone. She and her husband had to go out and buy the same necklace but for thirty six thousand francs. They had to be in debt for more than ten years. One day she decided to tell the woman that she borrowed the necklace from that she lost her original one and this is another one. ‘“Oh my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at very most five hundred francs!...”’(8). Mathilde and her husband were in debt for most of their lives and lived in poverty. The irony in the story is Mathilde wanted to be very rich but ended up the poorest of the poor and the necklace she lost was imitation and she ended up paying so much more money to replace it than she actually

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

In the second story, The Necklace, writers reveals the how the reality of a woman situation is that she is neither wealthy nor part of the social class of which she feels she is a deserving member, but Mathilde does everything in her power to make her life appear different from how it is. She lives in an illusory world where her actual life does not match the ideal life she has in her head—she believes that her beauty and charm make her worthy of greater things. The party is a triumph because for the first time, her appearance matches the reality of her life. She is prettier than the other women, sought

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

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.

This financial pressure Hester brought upon herself is also sensed throughout the family, explaining the constant whispers of “we need more money”. In comparison to “The Necklace”, the circumstances described through the setting of Mathilde’s life is very similar. Mathilde has a very comfortable life- always having food on the table and having her own servant. However, like Hester, she is not content with what she has and desires more, always comparing herself to others’ financial state. Guy de Maupassant describes Mathilde’s situation to be neither wealthy nor part of social class. She feels as though she deserves to be a member of the more lavish society. Thus, does everything in her power to create a wealthier lifestyle for herself as “she was one of those pretty and charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family of employees” (Maupassant, pg.1).This shows Mathilde’s confidence in herself to believe she was born to be wealthy. However, “She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a man rich and distinguished” (Maupassant, pg.1). In the first couple of lines of the story, Guy De Maupassant introduces Mathilde, whom internally believes is destined for a wealthy and luxurious life. Yet, Mathilde was born in a middle class family and is unsatisfied with her lifestyle

While her husband is only a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Education, he can afford to buy her modest things, and he appreciates the modest and simple. Rather than appreciate her modest life, Mathilde dreams of a world where she is dripping jewels and eating off fancy china. She has a negative outlook on her life and expresses the sorrow she feels for herself. Her husband wants a better life for them and tries to give her the best he has, money wise, but Mathilde still longs for more. She thinks that beauty and power only come from wealth and status; where wealth is money and expensive objects and jewelry. Her thought process was out of touch from her peers thinking at the time period. Elaborate jewels, decorations, and clothes were how people showed off wealth and

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.