The Necklace Thematic Essay

503 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the theme of the necklace

The author of The Necklace, Guy Maupassant, relates the many settings of his story to the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, and her character development. The story begins in Mathilde’s apartment along the Rue des Martyrs, in Paris. Here, Mathilde lives with her husband, who works for the Ministry of Education, and the two live a comfortable life. Because Mathilde has a good sized apartment, a servant and many belongings, we could say she is a middle-class woman. However, instead of appreciating what she has, Mathilde spends her days dreaming of rich living and high society. Mathilde complains and wines, thinking she deserves to be superior and admired. Nothing was ever good enough for poor old Mathilde; not a loving husband, a beautiful city or even walks along the water. All that mattered to this spoiled narcissist was money. …show more content…

In the hopes to please his wife, Monsieur Loisel comes home with invitations to a ball at the ministry. In her grief, Mathilde immediately states that there is nothing worse than to look poverty-stricken among rich women. To attend the ball, she simply must purchase a new dress, which is exactly what she does. Then, Mathilde visits her friend and borrows a beautiful necklace. At the party, Mathilde is a huge success, the fairest of all the ladies. This setting represents the life of the wealthy; the life Mathilde lives in her wildest dreams. She remains an ingrate, but a rich one at

Show More
Related

  • Conflict In The Scarlet Ibis, The Most Dangerous Game

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Comparing 'The Necklace And King Midas'

    292 Words  | 1 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Examples Of Greed In The Necklace

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Use of Setting to Reflect Main Character in "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless

    446 Words  | 1 Pages

    In Joe Krakauer’s “Into The Wild”, many characters express their feelings/opinions in response to Chris McCandless’s decision to abandon his normal ideals and take a daring adventure into the Alaskan wild. Chris McCandless’s determination for his cause sprung up a lot of different emotions from all characters, such as sorrow, comprehension, inexperience, incompetence, etc. Overall, we will explore the mixture of emotions from the characters that Chris encounters and grew up with. Chris’s sister Carine conveys a mixture of understanding and sadness about her brother’s decision. She said, “I can’t seem to get through a day without crying”.

    Read More

  • Maupassant’s The Necklace

    1604 Words  | 4 Pages

    Mathilde lives in an illusive world where her desires do not meet up to the reality of her life. She yearns for the status of being upper class, and she believes that her beauty and charm are worthy of much more. Mathilde spends her life doing everything in her power to create the dream life she has always imagined, to be beautiful, rich, and admired. Her husband provided her with a well-off lifestyle that she neglected and treated poorly due to her selfishness and greediness, and took advantage of his hard work at the first chance possible. When presented with the invitation to the party, she immediately rejects the request due to her fear of others judging her “middle class appearance”. But her loving husband offers her the hard earned money he had been saving up so she can treat herself to a brand new dress for the party. Her actions are centered around the happiness of herself, and have no good intentions towards her husband or

    Read More

  • The Symbolism of the Necklace in The Necklace

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • 'Lamb To The Slaughter And Do You Speak English?'

    522 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mathilde Loisel, the protagonist, is shown to be very vain, arrogant, and stubborn. This is presented to the reader through her immature pouting when she is offered the invitation to the ball but does not own a fancy dress or expensive jewels. As the story progresses it is revealed that Mme Loisel is a hard worker and that she doesn’t give up; this is displayed through her hard work both to find another version of the necklace she lost and to pay off the necklace over ten years. “The Necklace” is an excellent example of a story where the main character has both strengths and

    Read More

  • Life Changing Power In Guy De Maupassant's 'The Necklace'

    1616 Words  | 4 Pages

    The associations Mathilda makes with people is one of the major sources that seal her fate. Mathilda clearly associates her household with being poor and worthless. She dreads her everyday dinner with her husband; scoffing at her home, the average meal, the clear normality of their lives. She thinks of herself too highly, too pretty to be in the home of a lowly store clerk. Mathilda associate her own husband as being the essence of lower life because he does not make the lots of money to feed her inner desires. Since this is the case Mathilda associates the best she can with her friend Madame Forestier. Forestier is the lady Mathilda would like to be, beautiful and rich. By befriending Madame Forestier, Mathilda thinks she can get closer to becoming a lady of stature, grace, and riches. Madame Forestier has box and boxes of jewelry and is where Mathilda barrows the necklace from. Though Mathilda sees Madame Forestier as key to evolving, in reality Madame Forestier can do little to help her. The little Madame Forestier did do was lend a necklace, she has no power over Mathilda’s life, only Mathilda does. Mathilda has similar views of going to the ball. Mathilda refuses to go to the ball without a dress and necklace because she thinks all the other ladies there are going to have these things. There would be only shame to Mathilda’s name if she were to attend with

    Read More

  • A Psychological Overview of Mathilde from The Necklace by Maupassant

    619 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is evident throughout the story that Mathilde is caught up in a dream world because she feels the need to have luxury on daily basis. “She imagined vast saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who were famous and sought after, whose homage roused every other woman's envious longings”(Maupassant). She never really seems happy, and her lack of luxurious things makes her feel even more worthless, kind of like a person with no purpose on earth. The main reason why Mathilde is so greedy for more things is because she feels like her life would be even more complete with glorious & fancy possessions. Mathilde may feel like by having clothes, jewels, and money, her life will be fulfilled. Mathilde may even feel that by Mr. Loisel not attending to her needs with showers of gifts she truly wants is because maybe he does not love and appreciate he...

    Read More

  • The Necklace

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Greed In The Necklace

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    When she introduced herself for the first time in years Madame Forestier was in shock of how rugged and different she looked. “I’ve been through some pretty hard times since I last saw you and I’ve had plenty of trouble- and all because of you! (301) “ After saying this Madame Forestier was confused, and Madame Loisel decided to tell her about all the pain her family has been through because of the necklace. “ Oh, my poor, poor Mathilde!

    Read More

  • Mathilde's Life of Unhappiness in The Necklace

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mathilde allows her life to be miserable because of her dreams of great wealth. She is also disappointed in her husband who always supports her and caters to her every desire. If she would have accepted her life for what it was and would have been happy for what she was given, then a great deal of her unhappiness would have never existed.

    Read More

  • The Role Of Destiny In Guy De Maupassant's The Necklace

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the introduction of the story, Mathilde is described as “one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born into a family of clerks” (Maupassant). This statement symbolizes the potential Mathilde possesses; however, her placement in life was not one considered high-class. From reading the previous statement, it is to be assumed she is not truly meant to be a woman of a high standing. The text describes the desire and need she has for items other women possess. While she and her husband are

    Read More

  • The Conflict in Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”

    424 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about The Necklace Thematic Essay

Open Document