character analysis essay the necklace

A Summary and Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s ‘The Necklace’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Necklace’ is an 1884 short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant (1850-93), first published in Le Gaulois as ‘La parure’ in February of that year. If you’re unfamiliar with Maupassant’s work, ‘The Necklace’ is his most famous tale, and worth taking the time to read. If you’re a fan of stories with twist endings , you’ll probably love it.

Plot summary

Mathilde Loisel is a pretty woman who is married to a clerk who works in the Ministry of Education. They do not have much money, and Mathilde spends her days fantasising that her life is more glamorous and upmarket than it actually is.

When her husband is invited to a ball hosted by the minister for whom he works, he is keen for them both to attend, but Mathilde tells him she has nothing to wear to such a high-class social occasion. He tells her he will buy her a nice dress, even though it will mean sacrificing his own pleasure.

Then, Mathilde becomes worried that she has no jewels to wear with the dress. Loisel, her husband, suggests she ask her friend, Madame Forestier, if she has something she will lend to Mathilde for the night. Madame Forestier is happy for her friend to borrow whatever she wants, and Mathilde chooses a diamond necklace.

Mathilde enjoys the ball, and especially likes all of the attention she attracts from the men in attendance. When they are due to leave, at four in the morning, they go outside and try to find a cab to take them home. When they arrive home, however, Mathilde is horrified to discover she has lost the necklace!

Loisel retraces their steps but cannot find the lost necklace anywhere. They realise that they will have to replace the necklace, whatever the cost. To buy them some time, they compose a letter to Madame Forestier, claiming that they are having the necklace repaired. They then try to find out where the necklace was made, and have to buy the clasp and the diamonds from separate jewellers.

Loisel racks up thousands of francs in debt, borrowing from friends and from professional moneylenders to raise the cash. They finally have the necklace, which is returned to Madame Forestier, but now they have to pay back the money to all of their creditors.

This takes them ten long years. They dismiss their servant girl and Mathilde has to perform all of the housework, which ages her rapidly. Loisel, meanwhile, takes on a second job, working for a merchant in the evenings. Finally, though, their debts are cleared.

One day, Mathilde bumps into Madame Forestier, who doesn’t recognise her at first because her friend looks so poor and haggard. Now the debt is paid off, Mathilde feels she can tell her friend the truth, and confesses that she lost her friend’s necklace and she and her husband had to buy a replacement.

In a twist, Madame Forestier tells her friend that the necklace she lent Mathilde was made of imitation diamonds, and was virtually worthless. Mathilde and her husband had spent ten years toiling away for no reason.

In ‘The Necklace’, Guy de Maupassant explores the relationship between appearance and reality. The necklace, of course, is the most explicit example of this: it looks like a genuine diamond necklace but is actually an imitation or fake. And this final twist in the tale leads us to think more carefully about the other details of the story.

But ‘The Necklace’ is more specifically about the dangers of not being happy with what one has, and always wanting more. The nineteenth century saw a rise in the prevalance of consumerism, with many middle-class people seeking to improve their lot and keep up with their friends and neighbours in terms of their possessions, clothes, and social status.

Although Maupassant’s story is hardly searing social satire, the fate of the female protagonist does act as a cautionary tale about the dangers of chasing consumerist gratification in order to impress and be admired by others. The Loisels have a perfectly comfortable lower-middle-class life, and Mathilde has one servant to help around the house.

But this isn’t enough. She dreams of having more. Her food is not enough for her and she wants to dine on finer dishes. One would think she was living a life of poverty from how dissatisfied she is.

This constant desire for more is her undoing, of course – and her husband’s. Her insistence that she have some jewels to wear to the ball is what leads her to find out what real poverty is like, when she and her husband have to downsize from a modest flat to a small garret, and Mathilde has to learn how to work as a servant in her own house. She also loses the natural beauty she had as she has to work so hard at scrubbing the floors.

The critic Rachel Mesch, in her book Having It All in the Belle Epoque , has pointed out that ‘The Necklace’, among other stories, is a kind of Cinderella-story gone awry: whereas Cinderella begins by scrubbing floors and ends up going to the ball in all her finery, Mathilde goes to the ball and, as a result of losing her necklace (not her glass slipper), is reduced to a life of scrubbing floors.

Because she longed for more than she had, she ended up with less than she had to begin with. But the delicious ironic twist at the end of the story shows that her reduction to a life of poverty was all for nothing: just like the admiration she was foolishly and vainly chasing, the necklace she was working to replace was, after all, a sham.

Modern consumerism, then, is a con, with anyone able to afford a cheap imitation necklace able to pass themselves off as a member of the upper classes. Maupassant seems to be suggesting that the ‘finer things’ in life which tempt us are often, at their core, hollow and worthless.

At the same time, however, even when she is reduced to a life of grinding poverty, Mathilde still remembers that one night at the ball when she was admired. It is almost as if she thinks it was worth it, despite what happened next. She wonders what would have happened if she’d never lost the necklace.

Of course, at this stage of the narrative she hasn’t learned that the diamonds she was wearing that night were fakes; perhaps that revelation would make her revise her opinion. And yet, knowing they were imitation diamonds raises further ‘what if’ questions.

If they cost five hundred francs at the most, as Madame Forestier reveals at the end, Loisel’s husband could have easily bought her a cheap necklace and nobody – except for the Loisels themselves – would have been any the wiser. After all, Mathilde was admired at the ball even though she was, it turns out, wearing fake diamonds.

‘The Necklace’ is narrated in the third person by an omniscient narrator. The style is broadly realist, with Maupassant’s narrative voice relating the main details of the story in crisp, concise prose. We don’t get – as we would in the work of later modernist writers – detailed insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings, although we are given occasional details about Mathilde’s feelings towards her situation.

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Essay on Character Analysis of “The Necklace”

This is an example essay on character analysis of “The Necklace” : Guy de Maupassant’ narrative of “ The Necklace ” is chilly and has a cruel irony effect. The suffering set forth in the story seems to have been needless, due to the fact of misunderstanding and petty pride in Mr. and Mrs. Loisel. The craftsmanship of the story had been masterfully manipulated to where the revelation was held until the very end of the story.

Characters in a story can be classified as “dynamic” or “static”. Dynamic characters are characters that change as the story progresses. That is, they recognize, change with, or adjust to circumstances. Static characters, which can also be described as “flat”, are characters that are not well developed and remain fairly unchanged throughout the story. Usually static characters have minor roles in a story (e.g. co-workers, friends, policeman, etc.).

Mathilde Loisel, the main character in “The Necklace” seems to be a very dynamic character, although some of her moods appear to stay with her longer than others. Many of the things she had imagined often were not considered by other women of her social rank, such as worn-out chairs, curtains, and boiled beef for dinner, tortured and filled her with despair. (3) Feeling as though she had once deserved to marry better, but was unable to obtain a well to do husband she settled for a marriage with a minor clerk in the Ministry of Education. She is described as to have suffered ceaselessly, according to her daily description of her lifestyle. She would often ease her suffering of being in a drab house by visiting with her rich friend, Mrs. Forrestier. Mrs. Loisel had often dwelt upon her fantasies of a more elaborate life. Her desire to be of a higher status and to possess nice valuable trinkets seemed to poison her very nature.

Mr. Loisel notice that his wife is not satisfied with her lifestyle. Seeing how she daydreams of living in luxury they cannot afford. He becomes excited as he carries an invitation to go too a formal dinner with the Ministry of Education. He had worked hard to get recognized for his efforts. Not too many clerks were invited to such an occasion. (6) Mrs. Loisel becomes upset because she has nothing elegant to wear for such an occasion. By forcing a few tears and sadly confronting her husband about her misfortunate state, she is able to convince him that she needs an expensive dress for a once in a lifetime event. Mrs. Loisel tells her husband she will need about 400 francs to purchase a dress worthy enough to get the attention of the other people at the dinner. The price was slightly more the he expected but gave her the money to purchase it from his next summer’s vacation fund. Continuing with the emotion of self-pity, she develops into a greedy individual. The dress is not enough on its own, she will need an elaborate necklace to draw attention to herself. Mathilde is able to obtain a rather lovely necklace from Mrs. Forrestier who has large amount jewelry.

The night of the party, Mrs. Loisel was prettier than anyone else, stylish, graceful, smiling, and wild with joy. (53) She enjoys the immense amount of attention she is receiving. Mrs. Loisel is so caught up in her own self-centeredness that she totally forgets about her husband. She cares for nothing, but the moment she is in. The party ends in the early morning hours and Mrs. Loisel wants to leave in a hurry. She wants the people she met at the party to remember her as was. She conceals her true identity because she is embarrassed for who she really is.

In the midst of a returning home after a grand evening she notices she has lost a costly possession…the necklace!! Mr. and Mrs. Loisel look through her dress, shawl, pockets, and retraced all their steps from the party. (65) They worried and fretted about the lost necklace offering a reward for its return.

They realize the inevitable situation they are in and have to replace the necklace. They went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for an indistinguishable replacement. (90) The replacement would cost 36,000 francs. Mr. Loisel had 18,000 francs left to him by his father. The other half would take three days to acquire from various loan companies and friends. Mrs. Loisel returns the necklace and does not tell Mrs. Forrestier that it’s not the same one that she borrowed.

Mrs. Loisel now has to work, along with her husband working late hours. She takes a job as a servant, cleaning house, washing dishes, and other heavy housework. (99) She rents out a servant’s quarter and learns what its like to be among the working class. During this time she becomes somewhat practical. Now she has experienced what is really like to be the wife of a clerk. The debt would take 10 years to pay back.

After the 10 years she finds Mrs. Forrestier walking with her child. She notices that she is youthful and attractive. Mrs. Forrestier hardly recognizes her and regards her as a lowly working class woman. (110) She tells Mrs. Forrestier that she has just finished paying off the necklace that she had borrowed for the dinner. Sadly, in the end after all she has put herself and her husband through, she finds out that it was really in vain. Mrs. Forrestier tells her if she had only told her years ago, she would have only paid about five hundred francs because it was only costume jewelry.

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The Necklace

By guy de maupassant, the necklace summary and analysis of the necklace.

A young woman, Mathilde, is born to a low class family. With no money for a dowry, she is married to Monsieur Loisel , a clerk from the Board of Education. Mathilde always felt like she should have been born to the upper class and is unhappy in her married life, hating their home, their food, and her lack of fine clothing and jewelry. One evening, her husband presents her excitedly with an invitation to attend an event at the Minister of Public Instruction’s home. To the surprise of M. Loisel, Mathilde–now Mme. Loisel–throws the invitation down in dismay, weeping and complaining that she has nothing to wear to such an event. Her husband offers to give her the money for something suitable, and she calculates the maximum amount she could request without him refusing her immediately. When she requests this amount, her husband pales, thinking of the hunting gun for which he has been saving that exact amount; nonetheless, he agrees.

The day of the ball approaches and Mme. Loisel’s dress is made ready, but she is still dismayed. When asked why, she replies that she is embarrassed to attend the ball without any jewels. Her husband, after being chastised for suggesting she wear flowers in her hair instead, suggests that she ask to borrow some jewels from her rich friend, Mme. Forestier. Mme Loisel agrees and goes to see her friend the next day, greedily choosing one of Mme. Forestier’s finest necklaces.

At the ball, Madame Loisel is a hit - elegant, joyful, and desired for waltzes. She and M. Loisel return home at nearly 4 o’clock in the morning. Once they are home, Mme. Loisel realizes that she lost the necklace. She and her husband discuss the situation frantically; Mme. Loisel that she felt it on her after leaving the ball, so it must be in the road somewhere. Her husband goes back out to look on the ground the entire way they just walked, though he must be at work in only a few hours. He returns empty-handed hours later.

The couple places a notice with the police department and, at the suggestion of her husband, Madame Loisel writes a note to her friend saying the clasp of the necklace has broken and they are having it repaired. After a week with no news, M. Loisel proclaims that they must replace it, and the couple finds a replacement for 36,000 francs. M. Loisel had 18,000 francs from his father’s will and borrows the remaining sum, making “ruinous promises”(p.36) in the process. After all this, Madame Loisel puts the new necklace in the case belonging to the original necklace; she returns it without arousing suspicion.

To pay off the debt, both Monsieur and Madame Loisel must work tirelessly. They rent rooms and Madame Loisel learns to cook, clean for many, be “clothed like a woman of the people”(p.36) and haggle at the market. Her husband works evenings and takes on side jobs bookkeeping and copying. After ten years, they are finally able to pay off all of their debts. Sitting at home, a hardened, old woman, Madame Loisel thinks back on how her life might have been, had she not lost the necklace.

One day, while taking a walk, Mme. Loisel runs into Mme. Forestier. She approaches her old friend, and Mme. Forestier almost doesn’t recognize her. In a sudden burst of emotion, Madame Loisel reveals her entire story of losing the necklace, replacing it, and working off the cost of the replacement ever since. In response, Madame Forestier replies that the original necklace did not contain actual diamonds but rather fake diamonds, meaning the original necklace cost no more than 500 francs.

As writer in 19th-century France, Maupassant writes in a style called Literary Realism. The clearest example of this style comes in the final third of the story, when he describes the poor, working lives of the Loisels. Maupassant contrasts this with the almost romantic description of the party that the Loisels attend, at which Mathilde wore the titular necklace.

As gender played an important role in 19th-century French society, so too does it in " The Necklace ." Women of the middle and upper classes did not work, instead being taken care of by their husbands. Thus, many of the Loisels’ problems involve money. Not only is Mme. Loisel bitter about her inability to improve her social class, but the Loisels also value different things, with those values mapping along gender lines. When invited to the party, Mme. Loisel begins to weep, asking her husband to lend her the money for a new dress, as clothing and jewelry were especially important indicators of status for women. In contrast, M. Loisel thinks to himself that he had wanted to save that money to buy a new gun, a manly pursuit that he could have used to bond with male friends and relax from his busy work schedule.

Beauty is treated in "The Necklace" at times as objective and at times as quite subjective, dependent on social class. On one hand, Maupassant writes that beauty was the way women could advance their place in society. On the other hand, Mme. Loisel sees Mme. Forestier's necklace as beautiful largely because of its supposed worth and the social capital it provides. At the party, it is said that Mme. Loisel felt and looked quite beautiful, and that many men desired to dance with her. In this case, the reader must ask whether this is because of her natural beauty, the upper-class attire she was able to acquire for the event, or perhaps simply her confidence from her clothing.

Until the end of the story, Mme. Loisel is not presented as a particularly likeable or sympathetic character. One example of Mme. Loisel's flaws comes when the couple has just gotten home from the party: Mme. Loisel says, "I have--I have--I no longer have Mrs. Forestier's necklace."(p.35) In this moment, it seems that she is trying, even in her panicked state, not to take the blame of what has happened, refusing to admit that she lost the necklace.

In setting up the eventual irony in one of his classic twist endings, Maupassant is careful to write that the necklace "seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost"(p.36). This is not enough to alert the reader to the eventual irony, but it points to the couple's inability to tell the two necklaces apart precisely because they were not accustomed to lavish jewelry. This in turn raises the question of whether Mme. Forestier would have recognized the substitution; though she does not let on that she recognizes any difference upon seeing the replacement for the first time and seems genuinely surprised when she hears Mme. Loisel's tale after ten years, it is suspicious that a woman of a higher class would not be able to tell the difference.

Finally, the fact that the characters never find out what happened to the necklace points toward the randomness of life and importance of circumstance. As Maupassant writes, "How would it have been if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How singular is life, and how full of changes! How small a thing will ruin or save one!"(p.37) This moral of the story may be seen as a critique of the importance of social class, since the story demonstrates that a simple accident or circumstance forced upon a person (since the necklace could have been stolen purposefully) can doom a person to a completely different way of life. At the same time, Maupassant demonstrates that social class does not correlate to happiness, as Mme. Loisel seems more content in her life and her marriage when in the poor class than when behaving either as a middle- or upper-class woman.

The Necklace Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for The Necklace is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What does Mathilde spend much of her time fantasizing about in the beginning of the story? Why do you think de Maupassant describes these thoughts so thoroughly, as part of introducing Mathilde’s character

Mathilde fantacizes about all of the things she does not have and feels herself entitled to.... wealth, a large home, delicious foods, beautiful clothing, and exquisite jewelry. Though, I cannot speak for the author, I believe he wants his...

The necklace by Guy de Maupassant

In 'The Necklace', the author initiially uses slow pacing to amplify the tension. When Mathilde loses the necklace, the pace quickens as she hurriedly tries to repay her debt.

What does the word petulantly mean as it is used in paragraph 10?

The modern use of petulantly generally means moody or childish or overly stubborn.

Study Guide for The Necklace

The Necklace study guide contains a biography of Guy de Maupassant, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About The Necklace
• The Necklace Summary
• Character List

Essays for The Necklace

The Necklace literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant.

• Irony and Deception in “The Diamond Necklace”
• A Comparison of Dee and Mathilde
• Symbolic structures of the fairy tale: A Comparison of 'The Necklace' and 'The Son's Veto'
• A Necklace as a Symbol: An Intersection between Marxist, Feminist, Psychological, and Formalist Readings of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”
• Dynamic Characteristics of Madame Loisel

Lesson Plan for The Necklace

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to The Necklace
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• The Necklace Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for The Necklace

• Introduction
• Significance
• Bibliography

The Necklace

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Guy De Maupassant’s The Necklace: Character Analysis

• Guy De Maupassant’s The Necklace:…

In any literacy work, it is absolutely essential to have characters, whether major or minor. It is also necessary to develop these characters throughout the story. Character development gives the reader insight into the more important meanings or lessons of the story. These lessons are usually brought out by the events that take place within the story.

Looking at Guy De Maupassant’s piece “The Necklace”, we see a very clear development of the main character Mathilde. In the story, we see a change in her attitude about life. This change comes about when she has to learn one of life’s little lessons the hard way.

She and her husband are forced to live a life of hard work and struggle because of her own selfish desires. Mathilde changes from a woman who spends her time dreaming of all the riches and glory she doesn’t have, to realizing that she overlooked all the riches she did have. The story opens with the description of how miserable Mathilde is.

Maupassant describes her as “suffering constantly, feeling destined for all delicacies and luxuries.” (Pg 4) She sits dreaming of silent rooms nicely decorated and her own private room, scented with perfume to have intimate “tete- a-tetes” with her closest friends.

Then she is awakened, only to realize that she is in her own grim apartment. In her eyes, she lives a tortured and unfair life. Mathilde has a husband named Monsieur Loisel. He is much the opposite of his wife. He is completely content with his lifestyle. He seems to be a very passive person, who doesn’t let status or riches affect him.

Of course, if he had the chance to be rich he would, but he doesn’t dwell on the fact that he is part of the middle class. He seems to be a hard worker and does his best to provide for his wife. He demonstrates his simplicity the one night at dinner Monsieur Loisel and Mathilde sit down to eat. Mathilde is dreaming of fancy four-course meals, while he is ecstatic because they are eating boiled beef.

Monsieur Loisel is aware that his wife has not yet adjusted to her status. One night, he had come home from work very excited.  He had worked extra hard to get him and his wife invited to one of the biggest parties ever. Monsieur Loisel thought this would be please his wife, when in fact it only made her upset. Here was Monsieur Loisel trying to please his wife and she just started to cry.

This just goes to show how ungrateful she really is. When Monsieur Loisel had inquired about why she was upset, she had said it was because she had nothing to wear. She was hinting to her husband that she needed a dress. Then Monsieur Loisel, because he wanted his wife to be happy had willingly given up his vacation money so his wife could have a dress to wear. Still, that wasn’t good enough for her. Mathilde wanted more.

Luckily, Mathilde had a friend in the upper class. She had gone to her friend and had asked to borrow jewelry for the occasion. This just helped to prove her need to have more. When she arrived at her friend’s house she had many things to choose from. Mathilde had seen all kinds of things that delighted her but one thing, in particular, had caught her eye.

“In a black satin box, a superb diamond necklace, and her heart throbbed with desire for it. Her hands shook as she picked it up. She fastened it around her neck, watched it gleam at her throat, and looked at herself ecstatically.” (Pg 6) She had gotten all she wanted. Once again, Mathilde’s selfish desires had been fulfilled. After going to the ball and basically being the “life of the party”, she returned home to her drab apartment, only to remember the events of the evening where she was in the spotlight and people looked at her. It was at that moment that she had noticed that the necklace was missing.

She and her husband had searched everywhere for it yet, the necklace was nowhere to be found. For the next ten years, Monsieur Loisel and Mathilde worked their fingers to the bone to repay Mathilde’s friend for the necklace that Mathilde had carelessly lost. They had to move to a different apartment, this worse than the last. They also had to borrow money from the various people to pay some of the finance charges they had acquired from owing loan sharks. It was at this time, that Mathilde had begun to change.

Physically, “she had become the strong, hard, rude, woman of poor households. “ (pg 9) But also there was a change on the inside, too. Sometimes she still sat and thought about her moment of glory and then thought about what her life would have been like if she would have never lost the necklace. She realized that her selfishness and desire to be “on top” had caused her to experience the major downfall that she did. She also realized that she was at rock bottom now, her and her husband both, and she had put them there.

Monsieur Loisel in this time really didn’t change. He just did what had to be done in order to pay for his wife’s mistake. I don’t think he complained about it either. He saw that she was working hard to correct her mistake and indeed was learning from it. Once again, Monsieur Loisel was demonstrating his passiveness. Maupassant uses Mathilde as a round character.

She is the one who changes or evolves with the events of the story. She learns that “one should be content with what one has” and “it’s ok to dream, but not to let your dreams keep you from seeing reality. “ Monsieur Loisel then is a flat character. He remains the same or is constant.  With all the commotion in the story, Monsieur Loisel manages to keep the same character traits. His life is affected yet, he’s still the same person. Another example of a flat character is Mrs. Forriester. Even though her necklace is lost, it really doesn’t have an impact on her character.

She too remains constant. Mathilde dreams of unattainable wealth and comfort yet, fails to see that her dream life ends up harming her real life. Maupassant does an excellent job of showing the transformation of Mathilde’s character from a person who is selfish and ungrateful to a person who realizes that her mistakes and pays for it the rest of her life.

Even though the story is fiction, Maupassant has made it believable and lifelike. Someone reading this story could benefit greatly from it. We all must deal with selfishness at some point in our lives. Why not learn from other people’s mistakes, fiction or not.

Bibliography

De Maupassant, Guy. “The Necklace.” Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Edgar V. Roberts and Henry E. Jacobs. Upper Saddle River, NJ. Prentice Hall, 1995. 3-10.

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Guy de Maupassant: “The Necklace” Essay

The necklace: introduction, deceptiveness of appearance, the necklace: conclusion, works cited.

Written by Guy de Maupassant in 1881, The Necklace is a captivating short story that ends in a surprise. It is the most eye-catching work of Maupassant with all words contributing to the events that the narrative unfolds. It has garnered him a lot of acknowledgment.

The tale is set in Paris, France specifically covering Loisel’s home and the neighborhoods, ministry of education inclusive. Employing the elements of literature, Maupassant has used characters like monsieur Loisel, a clerk in the ministry of education, Mathilde, Loisel’s wife, Madame Jeanne Forestier, Mathilde’s neighbor and friend, Housemaid, Mathilde’s house servant, among others.

The writer takes the reader through the life of these characters and in particular, the poor family of Loisel and the rich family of Forestier. It unfolds that the kind of life depicted by these two categories of people is far from the reality. This illustration builds up the prevailing theme of the narrative ‘the deceptiveness of appearance’, which the writer employs to show how people are deceived by the appearance of others.

Mathilde is a reasonably attractive girl regardless of her unfortunate family backgrounds. She regrets much owing to this poverty because she always compares herself with the other girls from well up homes. For instance, Forestier’s family is rich. She gets married to a mere government clerk. The ministry of education organizes a party for all its staff members, giving them a chance to invite their wives or husbands.

Ironically, thinking that this would thrill his wife, Loisel on delivering the invitation, realizes that it is more of a stress than joy to her. “Instead of being delighted, she threw the invitation on the table with disdain murmuring…” (Maupassant 39). The reason behind this is that she lacks elegant dresses and necklaces like other women, a case that makes her imagine how odd she can be if she attends the occasion.

They end up borrowing these from Forestier, but unfortunately the necklace gets lost after the event, an incidence that costs Loisel’s family virtually everything as they toil for ten years looking the money to purchase another one. They finally buy 36000 francs worthy necklace but on returning it to Forestier; she reveals its cost as just 500 francs. They are now in a severe financial crisis, though had they realized the truth, this would not be the case.

A major problem that the writer fails to clarify is whether Forestier resells the necklace to refund the extra money in order to reduce the debt incurred or not. This paves way to criticisms of his story, though he has managed to develop the dominant theme of the story. Mathilde stands out in the party as a rich and a high class wife owing to the diamond-appearing necklace that the people fail to realize that it was borrowed.

Still on this theme, Forestier’s family is depicted as financially stable. It can afford some of the expensive things that poor families imagine of. Forestier has, not only one but many of them, unlike her counterpart Mathilde.

She wears them when attending great occasions, a case that earns her a good deal of recognition from other people. This is what Mathilde is yearning for. She wants to appear like her friend. She wants people to view her as rich. The writer shows how she longs for a recognized family name as well as an expensive dowry. By this she feels that she will appear like other rich families.

She is pictured as one, who is ever working towards achieving this reality, though what she publicizes is not what is on the ground. For instance, in the party, she appears the most elegant, a situation that makes all people want to chat with her, owing to what they are seeing, an expensive looking dress and a diamond necklace, but little do they know about the truth of the matter.

Following the issue behind Forestier’s necklace, it stands out that it is not made of diamond as people perceive. Though what appears in their eyes is the diamond look on the necklace, the story ends when Forestier reveals that it is just a mere coating. To strengthen his theme, the writer wants to show how the rich end up deceiving other people through their possessions.

Most of them appear costly before the eyes of people but rarely are they in their real senses. The value attached to some items, owing to their appearance, turns out to be many times different from their real values. For instance, the necklace appears 72 times expensive. The writer succeeds in showing how people mistake the rich people.

They have been portrayed as just appearing as if they are rich, which is not the case. Worthy noting is that the writer does not clarify about the child who appears to walk with Forestier. It is not clear whether he is intending to elaborate his theme further by introducing images of people who are not real characters, or not. This again welcomes criticisms to his works.

Though dead and forgotten, Maupassant works speak volumes of his existence. The ideas behind his Necklace narrative stands out clear today. The issue of appearance is now everywhere with people struggling to hide their real selves in order to mislead others. Items have been manufactured bearing a false identity of others only to trick people. This is the kind of life that the writer was prophesying through the use of his major theme ‘the deceptiveness of appearance’ that he develops through the different characters.

Maupassant, Guy. “The Necklace” France: Word Press, 1881. P. 38-44.

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IvyPanda . "Guy de Maupassant: "The Necklace" Essay." October 29, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-necklace/.

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Literary Analysis of The Necklace: Essay Example

The necklace: introduction of the essay, the necklace by guy de maupassant: characterization, the necklace essay: conflict and narration, the necklace by guy de maupassant: setting and atmosphere, the necklace essay: tone, language, and major theme, the necklace essay: critical perspective, the necklace: conclusion of the essay.

The Necklace (La Parure) is one of the most famous short stories by Guy De Maupassant. It tells a story about a middle-class French couple in the 19th century. The wife is longing for a luxurious life, unappreciative of her husband, and a relatively happy life the couple is leading. Madame Loisel spends her time dreaming about all the luxuries they cannot afford to purchase while experiencing a feeling of shame for their actual life. The events described in the story reveal the features of the character of the heroine, which eventually leads her to live a life far poorer than she used to lead. An unexpected and ironic outcome provides a complex moral lesson that the readers are supposed to learn along with Madame Loisel. In the end, she learns that her image of high society was not real; the lack of appreciation for her moderate but sufficient fortune led to a disastrous outcome, and her husband’s efforts to provide for her went undeservingly unnoticed. The deceptiveness of appearances is the major theme of the story.

The main heroine, Madame Loisel, comes from a family of clerks. With no dowry and no hopes of being married to a wealthy man, she becomes the wife of a clerk from the Ministry of Education. Mathilde does not enjoy her life, as it is far too modest. She believes she was born to lead a lavish lifestyle and spends her time imagining the rich and luxurious surroundings she deserves (Maupassant 789). The emotions she experiences because of her poor lifestyle are rather strong, as she regards it as a misfortune and even an insult. Mathilde does not appreciate her husband’s efforts to provide for her at all costs. Upon receiving an invitation to a high society soirée, she is miserable due to the lack of clothing and jewelry worthy of a well-off and distinguished person.

Monsieur Loisel is a generous and loving husband. To please his wife, he denies himself the pleasure of buying a gun, giving up the money for Mathilde’s gown for the ball. Monsieur Loisel is attentive to his wife’s changing moods and gives her valuable advice on how to get the jewelry they cannot afford. During the soirée, he does not attempt to tarnish his wife’s delight at being appreciated and admired and sleeps in a waiting room until four o’clock in the morning, even though he must be at work four hours later. Monsieur Loisel displays the qualities of a loving and attentive husband, striving to please his wife. Madame Loisel, however, does not appreciate his attention, as she regards him as an unimportant figure in society, unable to afford to lead a luxurious lifestyle.

There is a third-person narration in the story, with an omniscient point of view, providing us with the innermost thoughts and feelings of the main characters. The conflict described by Maupassant in this short story revolves around Mathilde and the lost necklace. Striving to fit in with the members of high society, Madame Loisel is willing to borrow a diamond necklace from a friend, which she loses after the soirée. Due to her pride, she is unable to tell the truth. She is ashamed that they cannot afford to replace such expensive jewelry. Therefore, the conflict of the story is tied to the lost necklace and the couple’s desperate struggles to repay the debt, which leads them, in the end, to life in poverty, a complete opposite of what Mathilde has always wanted.

The Necklace is set in 19th-century Paris, the Belle Époque. It includes descriptions of middle-class interiors, as well as of high society’s lavish lifestyle. Material things are described through Mathilde’s daydreaming about the luxurious life she was meant to lead. Her actual surroundings are described as ugly and poor, making her suffer greatly. The atmosphere of the story could be seen as dynamic since it changes as the plot evolves. Before losing the necklace, the atmosphere seems rather light and ironic. The reader follows Mathilde’s “sorrows” with a hint of a smile, perceiving her capriciousness and the lack of appreciation for her husband’s affection as typical qualities in a vain young wife. However, after the necklace is lost, there is a substantial shift in the atmosphere. Superficial vanity gives way to the pride that drives the couple to the brink of poverty. The light atmosphere of the first part is followed by the gloomy atmosphere of the last part, with an ironic twist at the end, meant to stress the moral lesson.

The tone is the attitude the author conveys by presenting the events and characters in a certain way. Some aspects of linguistic features indicate the author’s ironic attitude towards the main heroine. For instance, his use of the words “suffer,” “insult,” “torment,” “despair,” and “misery” shows Mathilde’s vainness and her inability to appreciate her life. The husband’s rhetorical question at dinner, “What could be better?” contrasts with her dreams about a luxurious lifestyle. The second part of the story, where the couple is forced to work hard to pay off their debt, indicates the pride of the main heroine: “She played her part heroically” (Maupassant 793).

Aside from irony, Maupassant uses symbolism as a way to convey the central theme of the story. The necklace symbolizes the high society Mathilde is so eager to join. However, as the necklace turns out to be a mere imitation, it symbolizes the superficial nature of the upper class’ appeal. The fake necklace symbolizes the illusion that Madame Loisel is captivated by, eventually leading to a disastrous outcome. Thus, the story’s major theme lies in the idea that notions such as beauty, wealth, poorness, and happiness depend on an individual’s perception. The appearances of upper-class lifestyles were deceptive, just like Mathilde’s appearance at the soirée, where she was such a success. However, neither the necklace nor Mathilde’s seemingly luxurious appearance was genuine. This leads us to believe that Maupassant wanted to stress the importance of the illusory nature of appearances, in which the 19th-century French bourgeoisie was so immersed.

From a sociological/Marxist criticism standpoint, Madame Loisel is a member of the middle class, an aspiring member of the upper class, and, ultimately, a lower-class member. The inability to accept her position in society and a constant yearning for a wealthier life lead the couple to find themselves at the bottom of the social structure. The amount of expensive material possessions indicates the class the people belong to, as well as their social status. Mathilde is deceived by the superficial signs of wealth, leading to her becoming a servant class member.

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of a woman preoccupied with her desire to be wealthy and to belong to the upper class. The ironic twist at the end of the story renders her perception inconsistent with reality. As the plot unravels, the deceptiveness of appearances turns out to be the main reason for the disastrous outcome. 

Maupassant, Guy De. “The Necklace.” Short Fiction. Classic and Contemporary. Ed. Charles Bohner and Lyman Grant. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. 789-795. Print.

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The Necklace

Guy de maupassant, everything you need for every book you read., m. loisel quotes in the necklace.

Whenever she sat down for supper at the circular table covered with the same tablecloth for three days, she faced her husband, who, removing the lid from the tureen, ecstatically declared: “Ah! A good stew! I don’t know of anything better!”

But she fantasized about elegant dinners, about shiny silverware, about tapestries filling the walls with ancient figures and exotic birds in the midst of a magic forest; she fantasized about exquisite courses served in wondrous vessels, about gallantries whispered and listened to with sphinxlike smiles, while the diners consumed the rosy flesh of a trout or the wings of a grouse.

The night of the ball was approaching, and Madame Loisel appeared sad, worried, anxious. Still, her gown was ready.

One evening, her husband said to her: “Listen, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting funny for three days now.”

And she replied: “I’m annoyed that I don’t have any jewelry—not a single gem, nothing to put on. I’ll look downright poverty-stricken. I’d almost rather not go to the ball.”

Monsieur Loisel, bringing the wraps for their exit, tossed them over her shoulders: they were the modest garments of ordinary life, their poverty clashing with the elegance of the ball gown. She sensed the discord and wanted to flee, to avoid being noticed by the other women, who were bundling up in expensive furs.

[The carriage] brought them to their front door on Rue des Martyrs, and they sadly trudged up to their apartment. It was all over for her. And as for him, he knew he had to be at the Ministry by ten a.m.