Greed In The Necklace

In a literary work, the theme is the central idea of the writing. To understand the message that the author is trying to portray, the reader must understand the theme of the work. In the short story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant the reader can interpret many themes, but one of the main themes is greed. The story is about a middle-class lady who is miserable with life and feels as if she were meant for more luxury things. The husband receives and invitation to a ball and the wife feels as if she is meant to have jewels for the ball to appear wealthy. She has a wealthy friend who allows her to borrow a necklace of hers, but she loses it. Mathilde and her husband spend the next ten years in poverty from replacing the expensive necklace. Come to find out, the necklace she borrowed and lost is fake and if only she was not so greedy, she would not be in this situation. The theme of greed can be seen in many places throughout the story from the use characters, dialogue, and symbolism.

The story’s main character is Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class lady who was married by her family to a clerk. Mathilde absolutely hates her life with her middle-class husband, and she is always

wishing for more. Greed can be seen through Mathilde’s personality. Instead of being content with the life she has, she spends her days forgetting about reality and focusses on all of the things she wishes she had instead. Mathilde’s unsatisfied behavior shows how greedy she truly is; nothing will make her happy except wealth.
Greed can also be seen in The Necklace through the use of dialogue.

In the beginning of the story, the husband brings home an invitation to an event, and he begins explaining how hard it was to get the invitation. Mathilde’s reaction was definitely not what the husband expected. Mathilde said, “What do you want me to do with that? And what do you want me to put on my back? I have no dress and therefore I can’t go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wide is better equipped than I.” Mathilde’s reaction shows how ungrateful she is. Even after her husband had gone through the trouble to get the invitation, she was still unsatisfied and left wanting more. She insists that what she has to wear to the ball is not beautiful enough and feels the need to go spend money on something

better.
The final instance of the theme of greed can be seen through symbolism. The main symbol of greed in the story is the diamond necklace that Mathilde borrows from a friend. The necklace is a symbol of beauty and wealth- everything that Mathilde wishes to be. The reader sees the story unfold and watches the main characters suffer immensely financially from Mathilde’s obsession with a lavish lifestyle. The necklace symbolizes Mathilde’s greedy nature and materialistic desires.
As one can see, being greedy and always wanting more can get a person into a heap of trouble. We must realize that material things and wealth are not all that matters in this life. Many messages can be found in a written work, but it is ultimately up to the reader to understand what the author is trying to tell him or her. The author of The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant, uses the theme of the story to get his message across. The message of greed from the short story, The Necklace, was presented through the use of characters, dialogue, and symbolism.