The Necklace Greed Essay

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”, 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

Guy de Maupassant and Chinua Achebe show their opinions on materialism through the thoughts of their characters in their stories. In “The Necklace”, Mathilde, an avaricious and narcissistic character, believes she possesses “...no dowry, no hopes, not the slightest chance of being appreciated, understood, loved, and married by a rich and distinguished man” (de Maupassant 373). The author, Guy de Maupassant, mocks Mathilde’s attitude towards her life, claiming “...She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers” (de Maupassant 373). By showing Mathilde’s thoughts, the author shows how materialism can cause someone to unappreciate the life that they have, even when it is exceptional compared to

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

People who are driven by greed end up focusing on what they do not have instead of being grateful for what they do have. This is relevant in the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant because Mathilde Loisel ends up losing everything she owns just because she lets greed drive her decisions and get the best of her. When receiving an invitation to an extravagant ball, she declines because she says she does not have anything nice to wear. In the beginning of the short story she says, “There is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women.(Maupassant).” The reader sees how she puts value in possessions and what others think of her. After finding a dress and then borrowing a necklace that she thought

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

‘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

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

Similarly, in “The Necklace” the author uses imagery and setting to show why Mathilde feels ashamed of her background, which essentially leads to the downfall of her youth. As Maupassant described her as a “pretty and charming [girl]” (Maupassant 1). This creates the notion that pretty girls are suppose to be born in a wealthy family. Also, the creation of a line is established with saying that the poor do not match up to the wealth or looks of the upper class. As the story continued, Mathilde wanted a new gown to

Throughout “The Necklace,” Mathilde, otherwise known as Mrs. Loisel, is shown as the main character. From the beginning Mathilde is a middle-class woman, whose greed and selfishness get in the way of her seeing what she already has. When it comes to material items, Mathilde is greedy. She already has more than what some other people have and does not think that it is enough. The quote, “She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries,” shows her greed.

A major theme in “The Necklace” is greed and envy, we can see this in Mathilde, who is never satisfied with what she has, always wanting more. The more you have, the more you want, it just keeps snowballing in a amalgamation of greed, never satisfying you, or in this case Mathilde. Even though Mathilde is blessed with what she already has, she still wants more, she is greedy and selfish, not caring for her husbands wishes or even considering them, all she cares about is looking wealthy at a party, and ultimately, this is what leads to her family's fall into poverty and despair.

In the beginning of “The Necklace,” Mathilde is seen almost wishing her life away on the luxuries and niceties of the more privileged. She feels as if she was made for such luxury, and that she would not be happy until it became hers. This truly shows Mathilde’s materialism, and Morrie’s ideas about material possessions greatly differ from Mathilde’s. “The Necklace” states, “She imagined silent antechambers, heavy with Oriental tapestries, lit by torches in lofty bronze sockets, with two tall footmen in knee-breeches sleeping in large arm-chairs, overcome by the heavy warmth of the stove. She imagined vast saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends.”

As Vikrant Parsai once said, ¨He who wants everything every time, will lose everything any time.¨ This quote relates to the short story, ¨The Necklace¨ by Guy de Maupassant because in the story, the main character, Mme. Loisel is focused on living a wealthier life, so she borrows a diamond necklace from a friend to look like she belongs at a fancy party. She also makes her husband buy her a new dress to wear. She dances wildly at the party, and ends up losing her ¨expensive¨ necklace. She takes loans to buy a diamond necklace to give back to her friend, and works the next ten years paying them off. She eventually tells her friend the truth, and the friend informs her that the necklace was not real diamonds, and was only paste, way cheaper. She would never of had to work so hard for the next ten years of her life, if she would have just went to the party as herself. The theme of the story, ¨The Necklace¨ is to not be greedy. Being greedy is not a good way to live your life because it will not get you anywhere. Material

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

Her desire for a life above her means shows how dissatisfied she is with what she has. The author shows how greed influences our desire to be happy, it is the driving force in us to chase after wealth. The author also makes a statement of how appearance disguises our reality in life, as Mathilde constantly tries to create a façade of her wealth and her social class. She insisted on wearing jewelry to the ball because she wanted to create an appearance to look rich, so she insisted on borrowing the necklace from her friend. Even though Mathilde has a comfortable life as a middle class, she wants to present herself as belonging to the higher-class society. This happens with many of us today as we try to keep a fake persona of ourselves disguising ourselves with clothes, shoes, cars, and other materialistic things instead of being content with what we have. Guy de Maupassant also depicts pride regarding the nature of life, by showing how we are responsible for the tragedies in our lives by having too much pride. Having pride can be a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. In the story, when Mathilde lost her necklace she was too prideful to admit the truth to Madame Forrestier. Mathilde was too proud to admit that she lost the necklace, instead, she and her husband searched all over the town to replace a necklace they could not afford. This sent her into a life of hardship and poverty because pride was holding her back from telling the truth. This can translate into