Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The necklace story
The necklace by moupassant,character' analysis
Theme of the necklace by guy de maupassant
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The necklace story
Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” has a strong feature of the materialistic behavior in a person. The story is about a rapacious woman, named Mathilde, who wanted everything she could not have. Monsieur Loisel, Mathilde’s husband, worked as a clerk and constantly tried to please Mathilde’s unrealistic wishes. He worked hard to pull some strings and receive tickets to the ball, but Mathilde was not pleased because she did not have the “proper” dress. Throughout the story Guy de Maupassant showed a great amount of characterization and irony. Mathilde Loisel, the protagonist in “The Necklace”, has often been viewed as a greedy woman because she was never pleased; she experienced such a huge conflict, which she became selfless shortly after, and …show more content…
Guy De Maupassant points out how, “Matilda works so hard that she loses her beauty” (Explanation of). The ten years of hard labor made her question herself about the selfish ways she used to perform. If Mathilde would of acted selfless in the beginning she wouldn’t be in the situation she caused by her greediness. The transition from such a greedy girl to a selfless woman proved how Mathilde was a dynamic character in “The Necklace”. Mathilde chose not to have a social life after the necklace incident, because she worked hard to pay the new necklace off. Maupassant proved Mathilde changed by showing, “both he and Mathilde expend a great deal of energy in repaying their debt; Monsieur Loisel is even forced to take on extra work in his free time” (Overview). By the end of the ten years, Mathilde realized that being rich was not everything; she changed for the better. Guy De Maupassant showed all different types of literary terms in a brilliant and creative way; characterization is a huge on that stuck out. Readers were able to follow the system Mathilde was changed throughout the story. She was shown as the protagonist, and was viewed as a greedy woman. Due to her never being pleased, she experienced a life changing conflict. Eventually, she became selfless and proved how she is a dynamic
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
Guy de Maupassant expresses his theme through the use of situational irony. Guy de Maupassant says, “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of her house. All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her.”(De Maupassant). She is poor and thinks of herself too much and then he says "but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class.”(De Maupassant). She wants more than she can get which will ruin her later in the story. When she lost the necklace by the end of the week they had lost all hope to find it. Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:
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.
In the story, Guy de Maupassant clearly and effectively proves that people come before materialistic items. Such literary devices such as symbolism, situational irony, and juxtaposition are used to prove the theory. Symbolism was expressed through the necklace having a greater meaning within itself. The situational irony was expressed in three different ways. Mme. Loisels’ beauty, her judgment of character, and that her old life she hated, turned out to be greater than what was to come her way. The juxtaposition was shown through her and her husband marriage and values. In conclusion, people always have values that can change, or stay the same. Sometimes people’s values are poor and misleading, but it doesn’t mean they are not a good person at heart.
Ten years of suffering is the cost of having pleasure for only one night! In “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant presents Mathilde Loisel, an attractive, charming but vacuous and selfish middle class lady transforms to selfness, poor, satisfied and hard-working lady. Even though, Mathidle owns a comfortable home and married to a faithful and kind husband, Monsieur Loisel, who seeks her happiness and satisfaction; she was ungrateful to the things that she had been given, because her greed and desire of wealth had captured her thoughts and blurred the real meaning of happiness in her perspective. Mathidle spends most of her time surfing in her day dreams of being wealthy and suffering from accepting the reality, because her imagination was more than she could not afford. One day Mathidle’s husband brought his wife an invitation for a fancy party, but as a result of their low income, Mathidle’s was ashamed to wear flowers as decoration, so she decided to borrow an expensive looking necklace from a friend of her, Madame Forestier. After attending the fabulous party and spending a memorable great time looking stunningly beautiful, Mathidle discovers that she had lost the expensive necklace that she borrowed, so she decides to buy a similar copy of the necklace to her friend after loaning an enormous amount of money and narrowing the house outcome. The author surprises his readers with a perfectly detailed twist at the end of the story. Losing the necklace was a turning point in Mathidle’s life and the best thing that ever happened to her.
It is said that “everything that shines isn't gold.” A difficult situation can result a vast illusion that is not what one thought it would be, which leads to disappointment and despair. Just like Guy De Maupassant stories, “The Necklace” and “The Jewel.” In the first story, the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel’s need for materialistic fulfillment causes her hard labor which ends her natural beauty. In the second story, the husband Monsieur Latin ends up living a dreadful life due to the passing of his wife and her admiration for jewels. “The Necklace” and “The Jewel” both share many similarities such as the unconditional love each husband haves toward their wife, the necessity each wife haves towards materialistic greed, the beautiful allurement
Many people born into the middle to lower class of society come to accept their lot in life and make the best of it, Mathilde, the main character in Guy de Maupassant's short story, 'The Necklace', is not one of these people. Mathilde felt that she was attractive and that fate must have made a mistake in birthing her into a family that could not provide a suitable dowry for a proper marriage. This situation left her with no choice but to marry Mr. Loisel, a minor clerk. Although many would think that Mathilde would have come to accept her lot in life, she never did; as time passed she dreamed more about the things she lacked, became more discontent with the things that she did have, and she even became manipulative and inconsiderate towards her husband.
In the story, Guy de Maupassant clearly and effectively proves that people come before materialistic items. Such literary devices such as symbolism, situational irony, and juxtaposition are used to prove the theory. Symbolism was expressed through the necklace having a greater meaning within itself. The situational irony was expressed in three different ways. Mme. Loisels’ beauty, her judgment of character, and that her old life she hated, turned out to be greater than what was to come her way. The juxtaposition was shown through her and her husband marriage and values. People always have values that can change, or stay the same. Sometimes people’s values are poor and misleading, but it doesn’t mean they are not a good person at heart.
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.
In this story Mathilde tries to portray a certain social class of which she is not part. She says, “There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich” (de Maupassant1134). She thinks if she wears a pretty dress and the necklace that she will be seen as high class. Mathilde’s friend who lent her the necklace is of a higher social class. Based on her friend’s social status, Mathilde assumes the necklace is made of authentic diamonds. Many years later, Mathilde encounters her friend who lent her the necklace. While Mathilde is explaining everything, her friend exclaims, “Why my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!”(de Maupassant 1138) This shows that Mathilde and her friend are both hiding their true status, and trying to appear as if they live a wealthier life. Guy de Maupassant symbolizes people’s superficial
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
Loisel repaid the necklace together with their sweat and tears. Mathilde didn’t have a choice; she had to change from a vain, ungrateful, material, bored wife, into a hardworking proud and loving wife. She even says, right before she runs into Mme. Forestier, “What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!”(39) In that quote I saw 2 things, when she asked herself what would have happened if she didn’t lose the necklace, she doesn’t go into some fairytale about what life she could be living, she just accepts what she is now, even if it’s not the easiest life in the world. At the very end of that quote “How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!”(39) The fact that she added “or to be saved!” to her thought, tells me that she realizes that she was vain and unappreciated and that she lacked character, but now she is grateful, even though it was such a terrible thing, she was grateful that she was able to say that she was a better person now, even after everything that happened to her than she ever “dreamed” of being before. Guy de Maupassant certainly described a very difficult hardship for Mathilde in “The Necklace” but in the end, everything that happened to her, made her a much better and stronger woman inside and out. This story teaches a very important lesson, you have no idea what you can do and who you can become, until your chips are down and you’re put between a rock and a hard
...aits about Mathilde that have been established. Her materialistic, unappreciative, and egotistical tendencies make it apparent that if the readers knew Mathilde personally, they could instantly pick-on her stuck-up ways. Psychologically, it is clear to the audience what is uncovered when it comes to Mathilde. The readers gain the understanding that she has major issues not only with herself, but everyone that comes across her path. She feels as if people owe her something. It is relevant that the audience learn the kind of person Mathilde really is. The reader’s point of view of Mathilde is not very understanding of her inconsiderate ways, and that is what Maupassant wanted readers to leave feeling.
“She was one of those pretty and charming women, born, as if by an error of destiny, into a family of clerks and copyist. She had no dowry, no prospects, no way of getting known, courted, loved, married by a rich and distinguished man. She finally settled for marriage with a minor clerk in the Ministry of education.” Immediately the tone is set, and expectations are established. Mathilde’s journey encompasses both sections of The Necklace.
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.