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Necklace characterization essay
Guy De Maupassant Analysis Of Necklace
Setting , characters and conflict in the necklace
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In Guy De Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace,” the writer presents the main character Mathilde Loisel. Throughout the story, Madame Loisel, a beautiful women married to a clerk from the Ministry of Education, is preparing for the upcoming ball. With the event daunting on her mind, Mathilde asks her husband for money to buy a new dress. However, even with the new dress in hand she is still dissatisfied with the lack of jewels to match her outfit, and after a prompting from her husband, Mathilde asks her friend Madame Forestier to lend her a diamond necklace. On the day of the even, Madame Loisel, is declared the prize of the ball, and men and women alike shower her with affection as she steels their hearts with elegance and grace. Finally …show more content…
Most of the story revolves around the necklace she borrows and then loses, but there are several key examples that Maupassant expresses to the readers to develop her gluttonous nature. One example is the meticulous calculation of how much her new dress will cost. In her inner monologue, she thinks for several seconds “reckoning up prices”, and also “wondering for how large a sum she could ask without brining upon herself an immediate refusal”, then announcing it will cost four-hundred francs. The cruel thing about this statement is the readers come to find out this money is the exact amount her husband has been saving for a new gun; thus, showing how selfish of a person Mathilde is. Continuously, the writers solidifies her desirous character when she visits Madam Forestier to borrow jewelry. She passes up a Venetian cross in gold and gems, to ask her friend if she has “anything else” to offer her, making her displeasure know in her choice of selection until, finally, she comes across the diamond necklace. What is most concerning about her manner is Maupassant description of “her hands trembled as she lifted it” and “heart begin to beat covetously”. Throughout all these examples, the reader can conclude that Mathilde is a greedy and obsessive person who values material procession at her husband’s expense, and would even misuse her friends to advance her personal
In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant the character Madame Loisel was always longing for expensive possessions, larger
...only to find out years later that the necklace was not made of real diamonds but glass. This story shows the social pressure put on those of lower classes and how they wish to be a part of the better group. Maupassant uses Mathilde’s obsession to drive her into poverty and shame. For the time, this story analyzes how hard one had to work to even attain any bit of fortune.
Other details in the story also have a similar bearing on Mathilde’s character. For example, the story presents little detail about the party scene beyond the statement that Mathilde is a great “success” (7)—a judgment that shows her ability to shine if given the chance. After she and Loisel accept the fact that the necklace cannot be found, Maupassant includes details about the Parisian streets, about the visits to loan sharks, and about the jewelry shop in order to bring out Mathilde’s sense of honesty and pride as she “heroically” prepares to live her new life of poverty. Thus, in “The Necklace,” Maupassant uses setting to highlight Mathilde’s maladjustment, her needless misfortune, her loss of youth and beauty, and finally her growth as a responsible human being.
Throughout those 10 years, Mathilde saw what it was like to really struggle in life. She realizes that her life before wasn’t all that bad. One day, old and worn down Mathilde sees Madame Forestier in the street. She says hello to her friend and tells her about all the hardships she went through because of the lost necklace. Madame Forestier responds that her necklace was only worth 500 francs at most.
In “The Necklace,” Maupassant uses irony to help amplify the mood and theme of the story. After getting a ticket to a gorgeous ball, Mathilde claims she needs a pretty dress and expensive jewelry. Living with a poor husband however causes her to have to borrow from a friend. Her friend presented her with some fine jewelry, but even that wasn’t enough for her, as she wanted something nicer, “All at once, in a box lined with black satin, she came upon a superb diamond necklace, and her
As the day drew near Mathilde’s envy overtook her once more and she became distraught. She decided that she could not go. When Mr. Loisel asked why, she replied that she had no jewelry to wear and that she would look l...
From the beginning of the story Mathilde seems to have a chip on her shoulder as if she has been done an injustice because of who she is married to. The time period, in which this story was set, the only way a women could move up the class scale was to marry a man who came from wealth. Ironically, Mme. Loisel’s husband is a clerk just like her father was. She longs to be rich. Her mind is concentrated on being in the social circle and living a life surrounded by everything that is fine and exclusive. She is greedy and unhappy with her modest but still quite tolerable lifestyle. It is illustrated beautifully in the passage where she describes her intolerable “worn out chairs” and “ugly curtains.” In the very next breath she speaks of her “little Breton peasant who does her humble house work” (Maupassant 178). When her husband comes upon the opportunity to go out for an evening to a ball, he assumes his wife would be overjoyed. Instead, she relishes in thoughts of looking poor among the rich. Try as he might there is no pleasing his deprived wife.
Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she misplaces the closest thing she has to the life she dreams of and not telling her friend about the mishap, she could have set herself aside from ten years of work. Through many literary devices, de Maupassant sends a message to value less substance articles so life can be spent wisely.
Maupassant, Guy De, and Joachim Neugroschel. The Necklace and Other Tales. New York: Modern Library, 2003. Print.
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.
She is constantly whining about how plain and uninteresting her life is, even though she has a comfortable home and loving husband. Having what most would kill for, she still dreams of a world of gold and wealth; a reality of extravagance and luxury that is chalk-full of rich, exciting people and parties. Fundamentally restated, she is a vain, thankless woman who possesses the steadfast credence she was born to live a better life. Monsieur Loisel, her husband, on the other hand, is a hardworking, modest man who enjoys the unpretentious simplicity of his life, completely satisfied with the food that is cooked for him as well as his routine job at the Ministry of Education. When invited to a formal ball, Mathilde borrows a necklace seemingly expensive and misplaces it.
Mathilde Loisel, the protagonist, in "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant does not like her circumstances. Mathilde is a young, attractive woman who daydreams about living a stylish life. She dreams of serving tea on beautiful china and wearing fashionable clothing. Unfortunately, that is not Mathilde's life.The Loisels were not poor but middle class. They did have one servant which obviously Mathilde did not appreciate. While Mathilde might have been enjoying her life, instead she choose to be miserable and whine away her time wishing for more and better things.Mathilde describes her husband as a "little" clerk in the Ministry of Education. His personality is bright and pleasant. He loves his wife and knows that she is unhappy with her circumstances.
The moral of Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” seems to be suggested by the line, “What would have happened if Mathilde had not lost the necklace?” If Mathilde had not lost the necklace, or in fact, even asked to borrow the necklace, she and Mr. Loisel would not of been in debt ten long years. Because Mathilde had to borrow the necklace to make herself and others like her better her and Mr. Loisel’s economic situation had become worse than it already was. I think that the moral of the story is that people need to be happy with what they have and not be so greedy.
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.