In “The Necklace,” a female character, Mathilde, is living in Paris during the 19th century. She is poor, yet undyingly wishes she was wealthy. One day the woman is invited to a prestigious ball within her city. She immediately she contacts a rich friend and borrows a fabulous necklace. Once the night is all said and done and she returns from the ball, she realizes that the borrowed necklace is lost. She reacts by lying about the necklace and buying her friend a new one. With her financial situation the way it is she goes spiraling into debt and never recovers. Later, once Mathilde admits to her friend that she lost and replaced the necklace, it is revealed that the borrowed necklace was a fake worth very little.…
At first he is very hesitant to return to the jewelry store to claim the money for the pearl necklace. M. Lantin felt embarrassed of how the necklace came into his possession and tried to enter the shop to claim the money multiple times but was stopped by his own shame. When he finally goes into the store, persuaded by hunger, the money gives him relief. “Then, as he was on the point of leaving, he turned to the ever-smiling merchant, and said, lowering his eyes: ‘…I have some other jewelry, which came to me in the same—from the same inheritance. Would you like to purchase them also from me?’ (Mays 94).” Lantin decides the money is what he wants to ease his pain. He sells all of his wife’s expensive jewelry, quits his job, and begins to spend money like a rich man. He turns from being a man ashamed of selling his dead wife’s false jewelry for money in a time of need to a man that finds happiness in the misfortunes of his marriage.…
Greed is a bottomless pit which drains the person in an endless effort to satisfy their needs without ever reaching fulfillment. Various authors such as GUY DE MAUPASSANT (use lower case as needed), James Joyce, Isabel Allende and John Steinbeck believe that greed creates a strong and intense selfish desire within you in which you will never be able to achieve satisfaction.…
Then one day her husband, Mr. Loisel, was invited to the Minister of Public Instruction’s dinner ball. Her husband thought this would make his wife so very delighted since this is what she spent all of her time dreaming of. Here it was, the thing that consumed her finally at her feet, but she still was not content. In fact, Matilda was even more distraught because it brought to her attention that she had nothing formal enough for the ball. Mr. Loisel sympathized with his wife and knowing he had money set aside for a new shot gun, he gave her the 400 francs she so desperately needed. This was enough money for a pretty dress, not too fancy, but pretty because he knew for sure this would be a rare occasion.…
Both “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” have plots that depend in large measure on the use of situational irony to create a surprise ending. “The Necklace” tells the story of Madame Mathilde Loise, a lowly clerk’s wife, who, in an effort to appear more debonaire than she is, borrows expensive jewels from Madame Jeanne Forestier, a wealthy friend. After the inevitable loss of the jewels, Madame Loisel and her husband secretly replace the jewels. Years later, Madame Loise, now impoverished, encounters Madame Forestier on the streets of Paris and admits to the secret. Madame Forestier, shocked by the change in Loise, explains that the necklace was merely costume jewelry. The situational irony that both the reader and Madame Loise experience…
In “The Necklace” Madame Loisel lost a necklace of her friends and bought another that looked just like it and gave to her friend that she borrowed it from Madame Forestier. Because Madame Loisel lied she was afraid that Madame Forestier would see that the necklace was not the same. It took her ten years to pay off the debt that she created and right after she had finished paying the debt it is ironic that she ran into Madame Forestier. Later Madame Loisel finds out that the jewels on the necklace were false and didn’t cost more than a thousand francs. If she had told her the truth she would not have wasted ten years of her life living in fear that Madame Forestier would figure that it is not the same necklace.…
In Guy de Maupassant's, "The Necklace", Madame Loisel's ungrateful, materialistic, and jealous behavior completely shapes her entire life. Her admiration of the glitz and glam of the rich led to her greatest downfall. Because of her desires she is unable to appreciate the life she had and unable to live the full life of a woman which she had always desired…
Like many of Maupassant's short stories, "The Necklace" is told by a third-person narrator, who avoids judging the characters or their actions. The narrator does have access to the characters' thoughts, and mentions that Madame Loisel is unhappy because she feels that she married beneath her. But for the most part, the author simply describes the events of the story, leaving it up to the reader to determine the nature of the characters through their actions. Most of all, the narrator is concerned with Madame Loisel. Though most of the story concerns the events surrounding the ball, the narrator recounts her birth into a humble family, her marriage, and also the many years of poverty they suffer afterward as a result of losing the necklace.…
Mathilde Loisel is an unappreciative, materialistic, vain woman who lives life depressed about the simplicity of her surroundings, so she spends much of her time daydreaming about the glamorous life she was born for. "She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries." Mathilde's husband, Mr. Loisel, is a respectable man who prefers a simple life. He loves his wife very much; her happiness is his primary concern. In her desperate attempt to appear anything but simple, Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend to wear to a formal banquet. When the necklace turns up missing, Mathilde replaces it and dooms herself as well as her husband into ten years of misfortune. In the end, Mathilde finds that the hardships of her and her husband were all in vain.…
They went to the ball and danced the night away when they got home she realized she didn't have the necklace anymore. The next day she found out how much it was worth it was worth thirty six thousand francs…
Throughout “The Necklace,” Mathilde covets everything that other people have and she does not. Whereas Monsieur Loisel happily looks forward to having hot soup for dinner, Mathilde thinks only of the grandness of other homes and lavish table settings that she does not own. When Monsieur Loisel obtains an invitation for a party, she covets a new dress so that she can look as beautiful as the other wives as well as jewelry so that she does not look poor in comparison to them. She is so covetous of Madame Forestier’s wealth that she cannot bear to visit her, but she overcomes her angst when she needs to borrow jewelry for the party; there, her coveting is briefly sated because she gets to take one of the ornaments home with her. After the party, she covets the fur coats the other women are wearing, which highlight the shabbiness of her own wraps. This endless coveting ultimately leads to Mathilde’s downfall and, along the way, yields only fleeting happiness. It is so persistent, however, that it takes on a life of its own—Mathilde’s coveting is as much a part of her life as breathing.…
Now give me back my necklace!” She reached out and grabbed the necklace and pulled it off violently. It was painful, but Mathilde could not utter a single sound. Then, Madame Forestier slapped her, and walked…
In “The Necklace”, Mathilde is seen as a poor woman who had low self-esteem and was married to a clerk. In this story, she was invited to a ball and borrowed a friend’s necklace. After the ball, Mathilde discovers that the necklace was lost. As a result, she had to search for a similar necklace and had to take out loans to make a purchase. She was forced to work for ten years to pay off the debt until one day when she saw her friend. Little did Mathilde know that the necklace she lost was worth much less than the new necklace she paid for.…
Madame Loisel is unhappy because she is ashamed of her social standing. Madam Loisel has always dreamed of a luxurious life with servants and such, and is unhappy because she is not wealthy. She becomes even more upset when she is invited to a ball. It upsets her because she thinks she has nothing to wear which is appropriate for the occasion. Then she is upset because she doesn't have appropraite jewelry. However the base of both of those complaints is that she is unhappy in her social standing. She was a pretty and charming girl, who thought that she should have been born into a life of luxury. But instead, she was born with parents who were "employees."…
In The Necklace, Mathilde Loisel is presented as a hopeful ‘Glamour girl’. She finds the idea of glamour and the pretty and expensive gifts that come with it very appealing, however, unfortunately for her; she was not born into a life of wealth or money. Rather than living the life of her dreams, she gets married to a ‘little clerk’ husband in an upstairs apartment, which apparently brings tears to her eyes. Although her failure to reach her aspired dreams of money, wealth and glamour, should make the reader feel empathetic and sympathetic; the literal techniques and methods used (along with the general narcissistic…