False Identities in "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield
When I think of false identities, two stories come to mind. "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "Miss Brill" by Katherine Mansfield. Both these stories deal with women who are nearly obsessed with lives that aren't their own. Both stories illustrate a woman who has entered into this `false reality.' By comparing and contrasting the characters and setting, we are able to take a look at the similarities and differences. Although these both deal with similar women, they also have great differences. Miss Brill is content with leading this false life once a week but Mathilde in "The Necklace" refuses to be happy unless she is given all the riches in the world.
In both of the short stories we begin to picture a woman who is less than satisfied with the way her life is. For example, in "The Necklace" we read: "She sat down to dinner, before the round table covered with a tablecloth three days old, opposite her husband, who uncovered the soup tureen and declared with an enchanted air, `Ah, the good pot-au-fue! I don't know anything better than that,' she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry" (Maupassant 108). This quote gives us an insight to, most likely, Mathilde's daily thoughts. She's unhappy with what she is given. Things like a healthy life, a happy husband, and a home. I found it peculiar that her husband seemed to be much more upbeat and happy with his lifestyle. I don't think that she has always had this attitude. Something must have made her like this.
Secondly, in "Miss Brill" we read: "She sat there for a long time. The box that the fur came out of was on the bed. She un...
... middle of paper ...
...d look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry" (107). This shows that Mathilde doesn't live in the best conditions but she is still certainly middle class. Towards the end of the story we read about her having things taken away from her. Their housekeeper is laid off and they move out of their house. This is a good indication that she didn't have such a bad life in the beginning of the story. Mathilde definitely dramatized the situation. She almost `imagined' her living situation to be worse than it actually was.
In conclusion, with both stories we go on a journey with these women to what they wish they had. Everyone uses their imagination in their own way to what they think is their benefit.
To start off with, Mathilde had many conflicts she had to face during the story. First, she was poor and low in the social class. In the textbook it says, “she dressed plainly because she could not afford fine clothes.” She does not have money to buy new clothes because she is poor. Secondly, she got invited to the ball but had no evening clothes. “Only I don’t have an evening dress and therefore I can’t go to the affair.” Mathilde is poor and does not own an evening dress and can’t afford a dress she thinks she can’t go to the ball. Next, she has no jewelry to wear. . “It’s embarrassing not to have a jewel or gem-nothing to wear on my dress. I’ll look pauper.” She has no jewels or gems to go with her dress. Finally, she overcame many conflicts
In “The Necklace”, Mathilde feels she has been born into a family of unfavorable economic status. She’s so focused on what she doesn’t have. She forgets about her husband who treats her good. She gets too carried away being someone someone
In his Enigmas of Identity, Peter Brooks describes the “transactional nature of the self,” where individual identity is created through its relationship with others (Brooks 23). Identity is forged through “transpersonal networks”, moving beyond the individual or the personal (23). Identity is not static, but a continuous “project,” asking in what ways one stays the same, changes and grows (15). In Arthur Conan Doyle’ “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Wilkie Collins’ The Woman in White, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” identity and its transactional, malleable nature play a significant role. In each narrative, the identities of those protagonists hold shape shifting capabilities, and mistaken or lost individual identities are major themes.
Mathilde creates her own reality in which: “She let her mind dwell on the quiet vestibules, hung with Oriental tapestries, lighted by tall lamps of bronze, and on the two tall footmen in knee breeches who dozed in the large armchairs, made drowsy by the heat of the furnace. She let her mind dwell on the large parlors, decked with old silk, with their delicate furniture, supporting precious bric-a-brac, and on the coquettish little rooms, perfumed, prepared for the five o'clock chat with the most intimate friends, men well known and sought after, whose attentions all women envied and desired”(Maupassant 1). She hungers for the feeling of being rich and being noticed by other people, men in particular. This is one of the passages where her greed is brought to the attention of the
In “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant uses setting to reflect the character and development of the main character, Mathilde Loisel. As a result, his setting is not particularly vivid or detailed. He does not even describe the ill-fated necklace—the central object in the story—but states only that it is “superb” (7 ). In fact, he includes descriptions of setting only if they illuminate qualities about Mathilde. Her changing character can be connected to the first apartment, the dream-life mansion rooms, the attic flat, and a fashionable public street. [This is a well-defined thesis statement.]
... both had to work very hard to pay off their debt; this shows that it is essential to find a job to make a living. People have an ego that they do not want to be frowned on. We tend to have a desire to be accepted by the society because we do not want to look like an outcast. Mathilde did not want to be “humiliat[ed] by looking poor” (4). Instead, we should buy accessories that be are capable of affording because life is difficult when we run into major debts. She had an opportunity to “Wear a flower…For ten” (4) but she refused, which led her and her husband into ten years of hard work. It is important to live a lifestyle that we can survive in.
When faced with a danger that may mar our existence, as humans we have the instinct to defend ourselves against destruction. Miss Brill’s character illustrates this human trait. Mansfield's intent in this story was displayed through Brill. Miss Brill made no effort to communicate with others but instead observed them through a goggled imagination. She took no effort to accept what and who she is, but believed she was something different. And when she was faced to deal with the reality of the world her expectations set her on a path to disappointment. Her ideals and beliefs made her naive about the world, eventually causing her to be hurt making her realize the world is not at all a play.
Mathilde Loisel lived the life of a painfully distressed woman, who always believed herself worthy of living in the upper class. Although Mathilde was born into the average middle class family, she spent her time daydreaming of her destiny for more in life... especially when it came to her financial status. Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, tells a tale of a vain, narcissistic housewife who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she was creditable for. In describing Mathilde’s self-serving, unappreciative, broken and fake human behaviors, de Maupassant incorporates the tragic irony that ultimately concludes in ruining her.
Authors choose to use symbols for various reasons in short stories. It is a way for them to use on object or idea to convey many different meanings to the audience. In “The Necklace,” the author Guy de Maupassant uses a very lavish looking necklace as his main symbol. The necklace helps defining what type of woman Mme. Loisel is. It also acts as the central conflict of the story. The symbolism that is used throughout this story is crucial to revealing the theme and understanding the main character.
... to have a dual identity in Victorian society. Through Dr. Jekyll stevenson shows how a dual identity can become the tragedy of a person's life, while Wilde shows that it is not as opposite or far fetch from one's true identity. Perhaps, human nature is made up of two sides and restriction in one's life may trigger one to create a second identity, whether it is to escape the responsabilities of one's life or even to walk into the dark side and go as far as commiting a crime that will take over on'es true identity forever.
The author of "The Necklace", Guy de Maupassant, relates the setting to Mathilde throughout the story. The central character in "The Necklace" is Mathilde. She dreams many dreams of rich living and high society. Her dwellings throughout "The Necklace" show her mood towards the way she is forced to live.
...tory is basically based on the necklace itself. In fact it almost seems as if the theme of the story instead was related to the definition of “deceiving” or “lying.” It doesn’t become obvious until the end of the story when Mathilde is faced once again with Mme. Forestier and it’s then made clear that the fallacy that Mathilde had was all wrong. Guy De Maupassant makes Mathilde seem foolish when Mme. Forestier tells her the truth about the necklace price and Mathilde is somewhat seemed as a fool. All her traumas of being “poor” are almost as if it backfired on her, because she was unhappy and kept complaining of her life.
Guy de Maupassant is a realist whose claim to fame is the style in which he conveys political and socioeconomic themes in his literary publications. He achieves his writing style by putting small unfortunate life events under a spotlight. His literary performance is described in his biography from Cambridge, the writer says “He exposes with piercing clarity the small tragedies and pathetic incidents of everyday life, taking a clear-sighted though pessimistic view of humanity” (Halsey, par. 1). Guy de Maupassant’s story The Necklace is a great representation of the style he uses. In The Necklace the main character Mathilde Loisel a beautiful but impoverished woman married to a clerk is in conflict with her lack of wealth and desire to acquire
The short story “Miss Brill” is misleading and illusory. The author, Katherine Mansfield, uses third person limited to take readers along into Miss Brill, the protagonist’s, delusions. The story is set in the 1920’s France, on a nice Sunday afternoon. The tone starts out airy with anticipation as Miss. Brill gears up in her best fur for a day at the “Jardine Publiques”, as Mansfield calls it. Toward the end of the story, the façade brought on by Miss. Brills need to hide from her intolerable reality, breaks
In “The Necklace,” Mathilde’s internal struggle is with herself. She mentally battled with the physical and financial limitations placed on her, but more with her own soul. She was unhappy with her place in life and could not accept the simplicity of her station, believing it to be truly beneath her. “All those things… tortured her and made her angry. “ Her husband’s blatant acceptance of their place only fueled her frustrations further.