The Necklace Essay

Guy de Maupassant’s short story called “The Necklace” follows the life of Mathilde Loisel, a woman who desired to embody the presence and life of the upper class. An invitation meant for a night of fun and fantasy at a ball, ended up leading her to years of hard-work and stress. Searching for a piece jewelry to complete her look for the exciting night, Mathilde approached her friend Madame Forestier for the finishing touch. What filled up her eager heart was a diamond necklace. Eagerness turned into fear as Mathilde lost the necklace and was now faced with a dilemma; to be upfront and honest or fabricate a lie and be dishonest. Despite the lack of a happy ending, “The Necklace” is a brilliant short story that depicts the consequences of not
telling the truth, how being ungrateful ruins a person and gender roles in the past.
Dishonesty hit Mathilde and her husband hard as they faced the consequences for not telling the truth about the necklace.
“How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us!” (Maupassant 6). Pondering whether or not to tell her dearest friend Madame Forestier the truth, desperation took control which lead Mathilde to lie. Which, for a decade, resulted in a troublesome time period for the Loisel’s. Her adequate life transitioned into something gloomy. Their effort and time put into deceiving Madame Forestier costed them a fruitful life. Honesty would’ve saved Mathilde and her husband years of agony and labor had she simply told the
truth.
Mathilde lacked something significant; gratitude.
“Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste! It was worth at most only five hundred francs!” (Maupassant 7). What Mathilde yearned and valued so much, turned out to be faux jewelry that Madame Forestier wore. Mathilde deceived her friend, as did Madame Forestier. Mathilde chose to be deceitful rather than being grateful towards her friend who aided her in a time of need. Consequently she was struck by karma and ended up paying for her shallow actions as she aged poorly and appeared to be worn out, Madame Forestier aged smoothly. In addition to being ungrateful about her friends’ help, she took her husband’s love for granted. “Her husband had been sleeping since midnight in a little deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were enjoying the ball.” (Maupassant 7). Loisel was a hard-working man and put his love for his wife before anything else. He went out of his way to get an invitation to the ball to appease his wife. Furthermore, he intended to buy a gun to go shooting with his friends but was selfless when he chose to give his four hundred francs to his wife so she could buy a gown. His actions were trivial in the eyes of Mathilde. Mathilde even went as far as to leave him in a room alone so she wouldn’t be seen with someone that didn’t look wealthy. Even when Mathilde lost her necklace, her husband searched everywhere and tried his best to fix the situation. Despite her husband giving her everything
he could and trying to appease her, she was never thankful.
Even in the past, gender roles were quite evident. Mathilde yearned to be glamorous and feel beautiful. She aspired to live a life as a higher class women. “She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after.” (Maupassant 1). In society’s eyes, women had to dress in high quality and elegant clothes. Unconsciously knowing this, Mathilde tried her best to prepare for the ball. Her number one priority became her appearance as she tried to piece together the perfect look. She viewed the necklace as something so vital. Perfectly shown through the character Mathilde, gender roles can lead to unhappy individuals. Quite tragic how highly the importance of appearances, especially for women, has been in history.