The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant

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In Guy De Maupassant short story, “The Necklace,” he uses the necklace as a symbol of deceptive appearance. There is proof in this story that one’s appearance can be deceiving. The significance of theme is that throughout, it reveals which is that looks can be deceiving. Mathilde and the necklace itself are two pieces of evidence that shows that appearances can be deceiving. The reader gets the impression, from the author’s description of the necklace that it is stunning and very expensive. However, after a shocking surprise, the appearance of the necklace is what it appeared to be.
Mathilde uses her deceptive appearance to try and win society’s approval. The story starts off by giving an insight on the appearance and life of Madame Mathilde. The reader can infer from the description that Mathilde is greedy, ambitious, and has a desire to be in a higher ranking place in society. She thinks of all the finer things she could have possibly had possession of only if she had a higher place in society. The reader can infer that this is the problem in the story, Madame Mathilde social class situation, in fact, it is not. According to Jason Pierce (Ph.D. candidate at the University of South Carolina), this is a mystery story because “the reader is to believe that the story’s central conflict is based on [Mathilde] social situation…[but] the story’s true conflict [is] the disparity between appearances and reality” (1). The reader questions what will happen to Madame Mathilde because of how she complains about her place in life. At the ministry ball, the author states Mathilde made great success, she was prettier than them all, and all the men looked at her (401). She appeared to be wealthy and a member of the high social class to the pe...

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...ence of the needy. She took her part, moreover, all of sudden, with heroism” (404). Heroically, the couple wins their battle and manages to pay of their debt (Smith 2). The couple had to dismiss their servant, change their lodging, and rent a garret under the roof. When Mathilde finally approached her friend in the end, Madame Forestier didn’t recognize her. She was deceived by appearance and felt sympathy for her friend Mathilde Madame Forestier felt sympathy for her because she has poverty written all over her.
The author Guy De Maupassant uses irony to achieve the surprise ending in the short story. According to Pierce, “The story was necessary for Maupassant to attain his goal” (2). In the end, Maupassant teaches readers many different lessons. One lesson is that materialistic objects have the power to change a person’s life for the worse. He shows how Mathilde

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