The Misfortune of a Woman

One simple mistake can often bring people great misfortune. In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant Madame Loisel loses a valuable piece of jewelry borrowed from her kind, upper class friend. After about a week she cannot find the necklace, so she buys an exact replica for 34,000 francs, a price her family could not afford. Madame Loisel is a perfect example of a character that undergoes significant change due to financial and personal problems in her life. The beginning of the story describes Madame Loisel as discontent yet visually appealing, but throughout the story she transitions from a satisfied and eminent woman into an appreciative, hardworking, and aged woman. Before Madame Loisel attends the lavish party, her attitude towards her financial situation and social status can be described as discontent and ungrateful. Madame Loisel owned,”no evening clothes, no jewels, nothing. But those were the things she wanted; she felt that was the kind of life for her,” (Maupassant Lines 35-36). Since she was a middle class woman she only has enough money to afford necessities like food and water, not novelties like fine linen or gold. This inconvenience caused Madame Loisel to beg her poor husband for money and made him believe she should be pampered like the wealthier women. She then dedicated her life to raising her social status equal to or above that of the wealthier women in the city. During the extravagant party Madame Loisel is commemorated as an eminent woman praised by the upperclassmen and upperclasswomen and finally content with her life for the first time. At the party she, “She danced madly, ecstatically, drunk with pleasure, with no thought for anything, in the triumph of her beauty, in the pride of her success, in a cloud of happiness made up of this universal homage and admiration, of the desires she had aroused, of the completeness of a victory so dear to her feminine heart,” (Lines ). Madame Loisel was so proud of herself that she disregarded every aspect of her life other than the party. She didn't care what was going on with her husband, rather fooling around with the other guests, particularly men. She finally felt that this exciting, expensive, care-free lifestyle is the one she was destined to live in. Once Madame Loisel carelessly misplaces the diamond necklace, her whole life flips upside down and she comes to grips with reality. Madame Loisel,”waited all day long, in the same state of bewilderment at this fearful catastrophe. [Mr.] Loisel came home at night, his face lined and pale; he had discovered nothing,” (Lines ). Madame Loisel finally began to develop a sense of what a real life is like, one with trials, mistakes, and disadvantages. At this point she drops all of the glamor of the nights previous, and worries that she may disappoint her friend and is no longer proud and full of herself. This realization of the truth pushes Madame Loisel on her journey into a transforming personality aimed at gratitude and fulfillment. Before Madame Loisel attends the party she feels downcast about her social class, while she is at the party she feels satisfied and loved, and after losing the valuable necklace she transitions into a humble and content middle class housewife. In the beginning of the story Madame Loisel is only worried about materials such as gold and fine linen, and her social status among the many wealthy people of the city. At the party she is the center of attention and blissfully accepts all of the compliments about her 400 franc dress and expensive borrowed jewelry. Finally she loses the necklace and all of her pride and carelessness along with it, her attitude had changed for the better. Readers should take this as a lesson to appreciate what you have while you still have it, because one simple mistake can mess up everything. Gratitude and humbleness can take a person farther than blind greed and pride.