Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" follows Mathilde Loisel, a woman unhappy with her middle-class status who dreams of wealth and luxury. When loaned a diamond necklace by her wealthy friend to attend a ball, Mathilde loses the necklace. She and her husband work for years to replace it, only to discover the original was a fake worth nothing. The story examines the themes of pride, social status, and learning difficult life lessons.
Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" follows Mathilde Loisel, a woman unhappy with her middle-class status who dreams of wealth and luxury. When loaned a diamond necklace by her wealthy friend to attend a ball, Mathilde loses the necklace. She and her husband work for years to replace it, only to discover the original was a fake worth nothing. The story examines the themes of pride, social status, and learning difficult life lessons.
Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" follows Mathilde Loisel, a woman unhappy with her middle-class status who dreams of wealth and luxury. When loaned a diamond necklace by her wealthy friend to attend a ball, Mathilde loses the necklace. She and her husband work for years to replace it, only to discover the original was a fake worth nothing. The story examines the themes of pride, social status, and learning difficult life lessons.
Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" follows Mathilde Loisel, a woman unhappy with her middle-class status who dreams of wealth and luxury. When loaned a diamond necklace by her wealthy friend to attend a ball, Mathilde loses the necklace. She and her husband work for years to replace it, only to discover the original was a fake worth nothing. The story examines the themes of pride, social status, and learning difficult life lessons.
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Henri René Guy de Maupassant, French writer, is the writer of such an amazing short story ‘’The Necklace’’. He was born in Dieppe, France, on August 5, 1850, and died in Paris on July 6, 1893. Widely regarded as the ‘Father of Modern Short Story’ writing, Guy de Maupassant was one of the greatest French writers in the 19th century. His stories strikingly captured various aspects of day-to-day life in France during that time. Many of his stories were based on the Franco-Prussian War and the lives of innocent people who were caught in it. His writing belonged to the genre of naturalism. Additionally, after graduation, Maupassant served as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War, after which he pursued a career as a civil servant working in the Navy Department and the Ministry of Public Instruction. He also wrote under various pen names - Guy de Valmont and Joseph Prunier. Between 1880 and 1890, Maupassant published nearly 300 short stories as well as six novels, three travel books, and a volume of verse. Moreover, Maupassant also gained a promiscuous reputation for spending a lot of time with prostitutes. In his early 20s, he found out he had syphilis, believed to be congenital as his younger brother, Herve, also suffered from the disease. The physical and emotional impacts of syphilis would affect him for the rest of his life. His experiences with women of both lower and upper classes as well as his experiences with war allowed Maupassant to write pieces that had many angles and perspectives.
Guy de Maupassant, an acceptable expert on human souls, wrote this novella at the end of the 19th century. “The Necklace” is a tragic and philosophical work. The author tells the life story of an elegant and charming girl, Mathilde Loiselle. She is from a clerk’s middle-class family who could not afford a dowry. That is why she has no hopes of becoming a part of the upper class. In despair, she marries a petty official from the Ministry of Education. Mathilde dreams about spacious salons, shining silver, fine dinners, and other ordinary things of the privileged. She dreams of being sought after. In reality, everything around brings her misery, starting with the poorness of her home, plain clothes, and food. One night her husband gives her a surprise. He gifts her a large envelope with an invitation to the ball. The entire higher officials, and the minister himself, are to attend that ball. M. Loisel got the invitation through a lot of effort. However, instead of getting excited, she grudgingly throws the invitation on the table. The problem is she has nothing proper to wear. She buys a pretty dress but still is unhappy. She consents and goes to her friend’s house to borrow a piece of jewelry for the ball. Mathilde spends a long time trying on each piece of jewelry until she finds the perfect one. She decides on a diamond necklace in a black satin case. By the end of the night, she realizes it is all over for her. M. Loiselle, in turn, has to be back at his office at ten o’clock. One day Mathilde suddenly bumps into still pretty-looking Mme. Forestier. Due to drastic changes, Jeanne hardly recognizes her charming old friend. Mathilde dares to tell her story of the life-changing debt. Being shocked, Mme. Forestier informs her that all the torment was for nothing. The plot in the Necklace,the poet describe a Woman who craved wealth loses a borrowed diamond necklace at a ball,and she and her husband are reduced to a life Of poverty to Pay for its replacement.She then finds out the necklace was worthles.
The Main characters in the necklace are:Mathilde Loisel who dreams of being rich and is selfconscious about her middle-Classic status,Monsieur Loisel who is mathilde’s husband and a goverment clerk and Madame Forestier who is mathilde’s wealthy friend.
The Short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant shows a common message throughout the entire story which is Pride. Pride is the satisfaction from one’s possessions that are widely admired, which is shown multiple times through the main character, Mathilde Loisel. The reader can easily find that the theme of the short story is Pride because of the details the author uses from the beginning of the story, to the end. Mathilde is a proud woman who cares mainly of her wants of expensive things.In Guy De Mauspassant's `The Necklace," the author examines the theme of how learning a difficult lesson about honesty can impact someone for the rest of their life. The author also examines the theme through the use of his title, the characters who act out the events, and the plot.
Literary devices in the necklace:
1- Symbol:The Necklace An example of symbolism in this story would be the fake diamond necklace itself because it symbolized Madame Loisel’s Luxury life as being fake because she was really poor and borrowed the fake necklace from Madame Forestier. 2- Motif: Clothing Maupassant often mentions the clothing of people as a representation of their social status. Mme. Loisel is described early in the story as "not being able to adorn herself… Her greatest fear when attending the party is that she will not have an appropriate dress and jewelry; even at the party, she is embarrassed by her cheap wrap. The Necklace's Worth (Dramatic Irony) The main irony in the story is that the Loisels go into massive debt in order to replace an apparently expensive necklace that was actually a cheap imitation.
The Rise and Fall of Mme. Loisel (Situational Irony)
She is dissatisfied with her place in society at the beginning of "The Necklace." In her efforts to pretend to be higher class by borrowing a beautiful necklace, she and her husband end up even lower in society.
Mme. Loisel's Response to the Invitation (Situational Irony)
Messie. Loisel expects that Mme. Loisel will be excited by an invitation to a fancy party. However, she becomes even more distressed by the prospect of the party because she feels she does not own the clothing and jewelry necessary to attend properly
3- Metaphor: the necklace (Mathilde’s pride)
The necklace in this story is a metaphor for Loisel’s pride. She refused to go to the party unless she had a necklace and dress worthy of her high opinion of herself. This is why she borrowed a necklace from her friend. 4- Hyperbole: “It wasn't easy for us, we had very little” An example of this one would be when madame Loisel explains that she bought a new necklace, “It wasn't easy for us, we had very little.” This is a hyperbole because she obviously didn’t have anything, especially to buy a new, real, diamond necklace. 5- Simile: “dressed like a commoner.” In this third quotation the simile is, “dressed like a commoner.” Comparing Mathilde’s clothes to those of a commoner helps to emphasize how much poorer Mathilde has become, and how that poverty is now reflected in her physical appearance.
6- Personification: Fate & furniture and curtains
We can see different examples of personification. One is in the very first sentence of the story when the narrator tells us that fate blundered Mathilde’s life. Another example is when the furniture and curtains in Mathilde’s house are described as tormenting and insulting her.
In conclusion this storytecahes us that we should avoid living a materialistic lifestyle because it might lead to despair and misery. Another thing is that we should not judge people on appearances because they may appear to be rich and successful and they may not be. The moral of the story explains to readers the importance of accepting what one has in life and being happy with it. The story teaches us be contented in life and not to be greedy to want everything.
