The Consequences of One’s Own Dignity

SaRae Dueitt
English Composition II
Nov 5, 2012
Critical Analysis Essay
The Consequences of One’s Own Dignity “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is a short story of a middle-class couple, a prideful woman named Mathilde Loisel and her down-to-earth husband, Mr. Loisel, who live in Paris, France. Maupassant’s novels are commonly known by the simplicity of the title. (Organ) Maupassant likes to emphasize an element for the reader to view as significant. (Organ) Mathilde lives her life beyond the means of reality and fantasizes that her world is full of wealth and luxuries. She likes to buy and borrow unnecessary items to satisfy her excessive needs. She has no respect for her hard-working husband who does everything in his power to provide her with the material things she wants. The story explains how her self-centeredness forces her and her husband into debt for ten long years. The morals, characters, and setting are all very important features leading to this story’s distressed ending. Maupassant’s main moral lesson in “The Necklace” is that no one can predict what tomorrow will bring. When life changes unexpectedly, handling the situation in a careful and calm way and being offensive about changes in life may lead to greater challenges in the future. It is important to acknowledge the values that are needed to live and work because it will help prioritize the decisions in life, instead of always being focused on the desire to possess something. Materialistic items can bring happiness but only for a short period of time. Having values like love, honesty, respect, discipline, determination, and generosity helps to keep the happiness alive. She receives the necklace from Madame Forestier because she thinks it will make her look wealthy and important to others, and it does, but only for one night. Her sacrifice of borrowing a necklace for this one night forced her into a life of poverty. Poverty was the result caused by her lying and loss of hope. However, if Mathilde had been an honest friend to Madame Forestier, she would have only had to pay five hundred francs for the true value of the necklace instead of years of hard work to pay a total of thirty-six thousand francs. Since Mathilde had no values in life and only cared about what made her happy at that very second, she had to pay the price for being a self-centered person. The story begins by showing the antagonist, Mathilde, as a beautiful young woman, but a little further into the story, her flaws begin to show. When Mr. Loisel handed Mathilde an invitation to the Ministers ball that not many clerks can obtain, she started to weep. (Maupassant 39) When Mr. Loisel asked her what was wrong, she then replied “Nothing. Only I haven’t a frock, and so I can’t go to the reception. Give your invitation to some friend in your office whose wife is better dressed than I am.”(Maupassant 40) The previous quote shows that Mathilde is self-centered, unappreciative of her husband, and concerned by what others will think of her. As stated by another critic, “She does not worry about her husband, his feelings regarding the invitation, or how much fun they may have at the dinner party.” (Wak0III) She only cares about herself and what will make her look and feel happy.
She is very inconsiderate when she decides to borrow a necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, because it is an inconvenience to borrow an item to provoke a fantasy life. More importantly, on the night of the ball, Mathilde loses the necklace she borrowed and then must lie about the necklace being repaired. If Mathidle had adopted some personality traits from her husband, the situation may have ended better. Mr. Loisel cared so much for Mathilde to be happy; he was saving money for a gun but decided to buy his wife a new dress to address her needs. Consuming her husband personality traits would have made her a loving, caring, and responsible person; she would have never worried about what others think of her and she would have made others happy by considering their needs. Finally, Mathilde was nothing like Mr. Loisel; she had a totally different personality than he did. Mr. Loisel, the protagonist, can be described as a man of his word because he is very compassionate and accommodating towards his wife. “How silly you are!” exclaimed her husband. “Why don’t you ask your friend, Madame Forestier, to lend you some jewellery. You know her quite well enough to do that.”(Maupassant 40) This quote from Mr. Loisel show that he is very caring and loving towards his wife by suggesting ideas to satisfy her. He is a responsible man; unfortunately, he had no way of knowing that Mathilde would lose the necklace. The loss of the necklace was the beginning to a disastrous ten years of poverty. Once they realized the necklace was definitely lost, they searched all over town for a replacement necklace because Mathilde thinks too highly of herself to ever let Madame Forestier know the truth. They find a necklace similar to Madame Forestier’s and are shocked at the value of forty thousand francs, but they were able to purchase the necklace for thirty-six thousand francs.(Maupassant) Mathilde does nothing to help pay for the necklace while Mr. Loisel obtains eighteen thousand francs his father left him, works extra-long days, borrows money from many, takes ruinous obligations, and deals with usurers and all the race of lenders. (Maupassant 43-44) The debt will take ten stressful years to repay. In the end, Mathilde sees Madame Forestier walking with a child and decided to approach her to tell her about the necklace since the debt had been paid. Madame Forestier did not recognize her until she gave her name because Mathilde had aged quickly; she speaks loudly and is coarse. Mathilde told Madame Forestier about losing the diamond necklace and the poverty she had lived in for many years.
Madame Forestier stopped dead.
“You mean to say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?”
“Yes. And you never noticed it? They were certainly very much alike.”
She smiled with ingenuous pride and satisfaction.
Madame Forestier seized both her hands in great distress.
“Oh, my poor, dear Mathilde! Why, mine was only imitation. At the most it was worth five hundred francs!”(45-46)
This quote represents how the story ended quickly, showing no mercy or pity. The life of poverty and suffering changed the coarseness in Mathilde while at the same time bringing out her best qualities of dignity and honesty. (Aris)
Mathilde’s life may have not turned out differently if the story had taken place in another part of the world. The setting took place in the early nineteenth century in Paris, France during the great divide. The great divide was the separation of most upper and lower classes because the rise of a middle class was near. The society was controlled by the aristocracy where the middle class would fight for rights because it meant everything to their image. If the setting had taken place during the nineteenth century in the United States, Mathilde would not have even received a dime towards the gown because the husband was the head of the house. Any property a woman obtained belonged to the husband; furthermore, if the woman worked or received any money it would also be considered his. The woman was confined to the home to utilize the abilities of their expected roles such as housekeeping, cooking, raising children, and making the home safe, healthy, happy, and desirable.(MacKethan) As we see, Mathilde has an easier life than most others and still was not able to make the best of life because she let pride take over.
It is clear now that Maupassant’s morals in “The Necklace” are about how the consequences of one’s own dignity can cause damage to one’s self and also to another’s life. Also, Mathilde tried to live a dream life of wealth and luxuries, but the life of poverty changed her outlook on life. Lastly, the story could have been altered greatly if the setting had been changed to another country or perhaps another century.

Works Cited
Aris, Mafuzah. “The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant: summary of analysis.” Lingually Speaking. 21 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2012.
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MacKethan, Lucinda. “The Cult of Domesticity.” America in Class. National Humanities Center. 2010-2012. 8 Nov. 2012.
Maupassant, Guy de. “Short Stories.” E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc. New York USA. 1971. 8 Nov. 2012.
Organ, Emocide. “In the book The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant what are the themes?”.
Yahoo Answers. Yahoo Inc. 2008. 8 Nov. 2012.
Wak0III. “Critical Analysis of “The Necklace” Short Story. Essay Pedia. Essaypedia.com. 2010-
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