The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Essay

They leave in a rush because Mathilde doesn't want the other ladies to her in a "modest, everyday wrap" while they were wearing expensive furs. When they arrive home they realize the necklace is gone, so they retrace their steps trying to find it. When they have no luck, they buy the necklace for thirty-six thousand francs borrowing every cent from people. They spend ten years repaying everything back including interest. When it is over, Mathilde confesses to her friend and receives the shocking news that the necklace was costume jewelry and only worth a mere 500 francs at most.

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

When she is given the opportunity to dress in extravagant clothing and act like she is wealthy, she found a “sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman’s heart” (3). Mathilda Loisel’s change from the exposition of the short story to the rising action is dramatic. The reader’s first impression of the character is that she is unhappy and resentful but at the party she comes off just the opposite. She was joyful and “danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty” (3). Mathilda Loisel’s true character starts to reveal itself when the reader sees how much value she puts in possessions.

Every person has on object in their life that is very precious to the, for me, it is my pearl necklace. They are small and round and a lustrous cream color with a pink sheen. They have a tiny gold clasp that holds the necklace together. My pearls tell a story than no other personal artifact can: my heritage. The pearls symbolized tradition and womanhood in my family’s life, and they were to be worn with dignity and pride. Every holiday, the girls of the family accessorized their outfits with the pearls given by our grandmother. They were something we all had in common: the thread that linked our generations together. I recall looking down at my Nana’s casket and I could almost hear her voice whispering

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

belongings that she had her for almost all of her life such as, her swimming hole, the singing tree, and the rest

‘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

Furthermore, when Mathilde got home she realized that the diamond necklace was gone. M. Loisel helps Mathilde look for it, and spends the next day looking for it around the city, but alas he fails to find it. Upon having no choice, the couple takes loans and spend their whole inheritance to get a new necklace for Madame Foreistier. They get the necklace, and Mathilde returns it to Madame Foreistier, who didn’t notice the replacement. However, for the next 10 years, Mathilde and M. Loisel save up to pay for all

In the story "The Necklace" Mathilde borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend to wear it to a party but then lost it and so she sold everything she owned to buy her friend a new one but little did she know that the diamond necklace her friend gave her was a fake. In the story it says "you lost it! but you returned it. I brought you just like it .And

"God, but your silly! Go to your friend Mrs. Forrestier and ask her to lend you some jewelry. You know her well enough to do that." (The Necklace, Pg 7) When Matilde's husband suggests that she borrow some jewelry from one of her wealthy friends, he really had no idea what a terrible mistake he was making at the time.

Exposition- In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant the reader learns that the story takes place in 19th century Paris, France. It’s important for the reader to know this so they can get a feel for the time’s culture. We also learn about Mathilde’s wants and haves and we see how she feels towards them. This is also when Mr. Loisel shows Mathilde the invitation and she says she will not attend if she does not have a new fancy gown. Conflicts- One of the main conflicts is that Mathilde wants everything she cannot have without this there would be no story because if she was fine with what she had she would have never wanted the

But at what a cost! Matilda is no longer lovely and refined; she now looks old, haggard, and common. When she meets Mrs. Forestier in the street, her friend does not even recognize her. The story ends with Mrs. Forestier's revelation that the stones in the original necklace weren’t even really diamonds -- they were

Mr. Loisel was an average guy with an average job at the Ministry of Education as a copyist. He doesn't seem to be bothered by their basic yet comfortable lifestyle; however, Mathilde is obviously anguished over the lack of his riches.

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