The Necklace

In Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” the main character, Mathilde, becomes someone engrossed with the world around her. Although she has many belongings to please her, she is never satisfied with what she has. Mathilde longs for the day when she does not have to imagine having the finer things in life. It takes years before she reaches that point in life; however, this feeling of peacefulness only last for a about a night. She is only able to see what she does not have in her life instead of the blessings that she does have in her life. As a result, Mathilde becomes a materialistic dreamer who cannot seem to grasp the reality of her own life. From the begging of the story, Mathilde constantly obsesses over the temporal aspects of her

After her husband generously gives her the money he was saving for himself, she uses that money to buy a new dress, yet it only pleases her for a moment of time. She selfishly worries that her new ensemble will look “distressed” because she does not have a “single stone” to coordinate with it (69). Nevertheless, once she borrows a perfect piece of jewelry from her friend, Madame Forestier, Mathilde never attempts to keep it safe, considering it was never hers. Throughout the night, she in no way attempts to worry the necklace will fall off. Instead, she takes pleasure in that night surrounded by people admiring how beautiful she is and how lovely she looked. In her mind, she conceitedly forms into this alternate reality where she never married into the lower class, yet as the time is coming for her to face reality, she still feels that her current public status could potentially ruin her new reputation created that night. She attempts to conceal her “current wraps of common life” from the other women enveloping in fur coats (70). She believes that the people will see her

Even though Mathilde only cares about worldly things and her social rank, she eventually learns to accept that this is the path that she chose for her life. She learns that although this life may not be rewarding at times, but it is definitely humbling. She learns not to let material goods of this life blind her from the more important things in life. Throughout the story, De Maupassant displays how emotions of pride and self-centeredness can ultimately destroy a person’s life because of the choices they make when in touch with those emotions. He also displays how the things we desire have no accurate meaning in the lifetime. Deep down, I think she knew that none of these riches meant anything, but it was the thrill of being someone well known in society that made the night so rewarding. However, it was just a matter of time before her choices began to affect her life. Although modesty may seem too simple, it can be the greatest rich someone