The Necklace Rise

‘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

"The Necklace," "A Monkey's Paw," and "The Gift of Magi" all have a distinctive technique that leads to a deeper meaning of the story. The technique of "The Necklace" is represented by symbolism of the necklace. In "A Monkey's Paw," the technique that is seen is foreshadowing. In "The Gift of Magi," irony is the technique that is noticed throughout the story. All three short stories deal with the irony of consequence. Each story involved a major decision and in each case the result of the decision was incredibly unexpected. Through symbolism, foreshadowing, and irony the authors conclude that what's inside the heart is far more important than material wealth.

She did not accept her existence. She sought an aesthetically pleasing lifestyle, and felt that she would give anything, even her life to have it. She did not realize the fact that she had a loving husband and a secure lifestyle. She was not happy with her surroundings and possessions. She felt cursed to have such beauty and grace with no class to go with it. She dreamt of things that were simply not meant for her and she overlooked the things she did have. It is ironic that she should not recognize her wealth in love and security but, in turn, want a lifestyle that is usually cold, unloving, and shallow. Mathilde daydreamed about things that are unimportant to those that have them. It actually upset her to be invited to a party because she doesn't have anything to wear. At this point in the story it is easy to see that she misjudged her wealth. She wanted a new dress for the Chancellor's party, and even though her husband was saving the money to buy a shotgun, he gave her the money almost without hesitation. This was not enough. She also had to have beautiful jewelry because "…there's nothing more humiliating that looking poor in the company of rich women." (De Maupassant 7). The reality of her situation was that although she was not as rich as the women she admired from afar, she was certainly in a position to be comfortable financially, and she was not poor.

For centuries man has created this patriarchal society in which women have been treated as the lesser entity, having no sense of self-being or worth. These feelings led women to feel repressed in their everyday life. It was in the late nineteenth century when literary writers started to expose this female repression. Guy de Maupassant and Kate Chopin clearly express definitive examples of female repression in their stories, The Necklace and The Story of an Hour.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

In order to earn the money to pay the debt, “She did her share… completely, heroically” (Maupassant 191). She did not give up her work. She kept on to get the work done so that she could pay back the debt. She also accepted responsibility for part of the debt instead of pushing it off onto her husband making him to do it all. This is important because it shows that she is a hard working woman and will do whatever it takes to honestly earn back the money. Instead of relying on her husband to do all the work she accepts responsibility for her actions and her part in losing the necklace. Willing to do any work, “She learned to do the heavy housework, dirty kitchen jobs” (Maupassant 191). When called to it Mathilde will do what she needs to despite what society says. Because she is willing to do the hard, dirty jobs, her character over comes the social norms. She no longer buys into the lie that she deserves nice things because she is beautiful, and realizes that she must work hard for nice

Again, I wasn't expecting that ending at all. I really sympathize with Mathilde and her husband because they really didn't deserve to work that hard for just a necklace. Especially the husband, all he really wanted to do was buy a gun so that he can go hunting in the summer. I wouldn't necessarily say that Mathilde deserves those hard-working 10 years she lost to repay the lost necklace mainly because it has always been in Mathilde's nature to want the best and dreams of other luxuries. I do, however, blame her for the misfortune she brought upon her and her husband when she lost the "fake" necklace. If she wasn't so demanding of things and would have settled with simply the dress her husband bought for her in exchange of his gun dream, then for sure their lives would probably have been a whole lot

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

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