“The Necklace” a 1800’s short story poem by French writer Guy De Maupassant, he was one of the fathers best modern short story writers and one of form’s finest exponents. The short story tale is about a low budget couple living in France named Mathilde with her lowly clerk husband who works in the ministry of education who is not rich by far. She is a woman who was never satisfied and always miserable, especially with her husband providing all his hard work and love he offers to her. But, nothing was good enough for Mathilde having to deal with her selfishness towards the finer things. Her materialistic ways expresses how unhappy she is with her surroundings and home environment. One evening her husband came home and brought an invitation …show more content…
When you read the middle of the short story, that she replaces the necklace, you would think of a famous saying “If all is well ends well” when it really brought you to the conclusion that for this one perfect night of putting on a show backfired in the future. The irony in which Maupassant was trying to convey, was that in the story Mathilde borrowed jewelry from a friend that she mistakenly thought was real that turned out to be fake. After having misconceptions of the Jewels she realizes all that time she has wasted was all for nothing. That being said, the point Guy De Maupassant was trying to make, was based on the incident the author was trying to demonstrate having to do with the difference between real and false. Affected by Mathilde misconception of the two, he just wanted to criticize the vanity of wealth and materialistic things. Mathilde tried to paint this perfect picture that really was just paint on paper meaning it would never become reality. In other words the moral of Maupassant story was, you shouldn’t try to impress people on how much your clothes cost, how rich you are, or how much money you make; it should be based on your character and how you perceive
Her husband tries and tries until he comes up with a great idea to give her an invitation to a ball. She cheers up a little until she realizes she can’t afford a dress. Her husband asks how much and had given her the money to purchase herself a nice dress. She has the dress but still doesn’t feel pretty nor happy after she put the dress on. She wanted more than just the dress which was jewels but didn’t have any. Someone suggested that she should use flowers, but didn’t find happiness in the flowers. Madame Forestier offer Mathilde to borrow her diamond necklace, which gave her the emptiness that she needed to feel happy. She had a great night and was on her way home when she went to feel for the necklace but found that it was gone. She started to panic and retraced her steps but couldn’t find it anywhere. She and her husband went from jeweler to jeweler to find the exact necklace and to replace it. They worked and worked until they had paid it off and returned it to Madame Forestier. She was a little annoyed since she had got it a few weeks after the ball. Eventually she admitted to what she had done and was surprised with what she was told. She was informed that the necklace was a fake. That it was costume jewelry. In this story the Madame was an outsider towards Mathilde. Mathilde didn’t know who she was and had taken the necklace to wear for the
In the short story, Guys de Maupassant blends in symbolism by writing lessons that are similar to real life experiences. With that, he is points out his meaning in which people should not ask more than what they need because it will lead to bitterness. For if people obtain too much of what they want or more than what is required, their eyes will soon be clouded of foolishness. Identically, the character Mathilde was able to prove this true.
telling the owner of its loss. "In a shop in the Palias-Royal, they found a
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
Some things are not what they seem. In The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, Madame Loisel is not content with her social status or husband. She loses a necklace she borrowed to look rich and must work hard to pay for a replacement. She later finds out it was not authentic and she had wasted her life replacing a cheap object. By using characters and events throughout the passage, Maupassant develops the theme that what appears to be is not necessarily true.
Ten years lost on repaying debts, losing money, time, and her beauty; Guy De Maupassant illustrates in his 1884 short story “The Necklace,” that self-indulgence can cost more than intended. De Maupassant uses irony and symbolism throughout this common tale of greed. He illustrates the main character Mathilde Loisel, a very sad and selfish woman, never happy with things in her life, always in search of finer, richer, and better possessions. “Mathilde suffer[s] ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries” (para. 3). When her devoted husband provides all he can; even an invitation to the ball at the palace, Mrs. Loisel is not content. She needs a new dress, and jewelry, inevitably she borrows a diamond necklace, so she can pretend she is more and has more. She loses the necklace, and then Mr. and Mrs. Loisel spend 10 years paying off the replacement; only to find out the original is a fake. Mathilde is a very greedy and selfish woman, with the use of symbolism, characterization, and social class; De Maupassant illustrates how these traits in human nature can cost a person everything.
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.
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
French, 1984. Print. In this short story can be observed that tragedy is brought by human beings’ foolish desire. Human beings’ desires, which are a strong hope to have or do something, become a motivating power to accomplish something we want to do and therefore it makes us feel proud and achieving. In this short stories, Maupassant gi ve some lesson. It is useful to reader because we can see his writing skills in this stories. The author also demonstrates her unlimited desire through symbolism and adjective words. For example, "she suffers because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, and ugly curtains and she wants to be envied, attractive in a house with large, silent anterooms, with elegant valets and large drawing rooms draped in the most expensive silks with fine end tables of inestimable value". These adjectives are enough to show Mathilde’s unrealistic awareness of her situation with innate pride, which is not expected to come true. This bibliography is different with other bibliography because it isn't summarize whole facts about Maupassant or his works but we can see a little part of Maupassant writing skills through his story. This source help who needs to know what is the story about the necklace. Also, it is not a hard story so this source can be easy to read and understand. This source is objective and this is book so it is also reliable. This source
“She so much longed to please, be envied, be fascinating and sought after” (de Maupassant 67). The main character desires to be at the center of attention, she wants to be coveted by others. In his fictional short story titled, “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant writes about how the lusting for more may cause people to be blinded and unable to see/value the treasures they already have. The story begins with an introduction of a lady who daydreams about the happiness that materialistic yearnings can bring her, forgetting her situation and social class. After taking her husband’s recommendation to borrow jewelry, specifically a diamond necklace, from her close friend Madame Forestier to wear alongside her dress at the evening reception, the main character later discovers that she had lost the necklace. Following their failure to find the necklace, Madame and Monsieur Loisel devise a plan to borrow money to replace the necklace with another and in doing so, fall into years of debt. Moreover, Maupassant uses direct characterization, imagery and situational irony to further depict why you should be grateful for what you already have before it’s too late.
In Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace the story focuses on the protagonist, madame Loisel, as she changes her focus from her social status to paying her debt. The story follows her from when at first when she is dissatisfied with her life because she is jealous of everyone who has more than her. When she gets the invitation to the ball she decides that she needs to look nice and borrowing the necklace from madame Forestier to give the impression of wealth and glamour. After the ball when she realizes that the necklace has gone missing she came up with the money from the loan sharks to buy madame Forestier a brand new one and is forced to live a life of hard work and going without any of the luxuries in life to pay off the debt. When she finally
“She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, as if by an accident into a family of clerks” this is what Guy de Maupassant started “The Necklace” off by saying (Maupassant 221). Also, this helps describe the main character and to give the readers a visual of Mathilde Loisel. “The Necklace” is a short story that Mathilde Loisel, the main female character, wants to be a higher class than she really is. Mathilde’s life drastically changes one night after she loses the necklace. Guy de Maupassant incorporates his use of the social class into the short story.
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant is about a middle-class woman, Madame Loisel, who feels as though she is entitled and deserving of the luxuries of an upper-class life. Monsieur Loisel obtains an invitation to a Ministry ball where Madame Loisel is finally able to dress and portray the image of the woman she desires to be. Included in her attire for the evening was a diamond necklace she borrowed from a friend. After returning home at the end of the night, she discovers that she is no longer wearing the necklace. She and her husband search for the necklace, but with no luck decided to buy a replacement to return in place of the original necklace. The couple borrowed around eighteen thousand francs in order to buy the replacement. This put
In The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant, the theme discovered are of materialism, insecurity, discontent, happiness, sacrifice, selflessness, desperation and humility. Taken from The Complete Short Stories collection, the story was narrated in the third person point of view by an unnamed narrator and after reading the story the reader realised that Maupassant may be exploring the theme of materialism. Mathilde believes or at least fantasizes about the fact that her life would be better if her circumstances were improved by the wealthy finery that she imagines others to have. She never considered herself to be fortunate in any way. To have had a loving husband and a household that was not in debt. She longed for a different type of life one that
“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.