The
Necklace is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant in the 19th century.
The story starts with the narrator introducing the main character, Mathilde, who
is pretty and charming but unsatisfied with the life she has. Even though she has
a husband with a steady job, living in a flat with some functional furniture,
good foods, and a servant to do all the housework, she still wants more. She
believes that she deserves a better life over the one she already has. One day,
her husband surprise Mathilde with an invitation to a ball held by The Minister
of Public Instruction, but instead of being delighted as her husband had hoped,
she gets sad because she thinks she does not have a suitable gown to wear. Her
husband then gives her four hundred francs from his savings to buy a new gown
for the ball, but another problem comes
up because Mathilde has no jewelry to put on. Her husband suggests her to wear
natural flowers as an ornament but Mathilde thinks wearing flowers will only
make her look poor among other women.
Afterward, according to her
husband’s order, Mathilde decides to borrow some jewelry from her friend,
Madame Forestier. She tries many pieces of jewelries and ornaments but ended up
choosing a superb diamond necklace to borrow. Mathilde then attends the ball
with a great confident and a big smile on her face, she feels so happy because
many attaches of the cabinet wish to dance with her. She later comes home with
her husband and finds out that she lost the diamond necklace. Mathilde and her
husband try to search everywhere but they can not find it, so they quickly try
to replace it with a new one and find a similar necklace that costs thirty-six
thousand francs. They sell everything they own and file many loans at high-interest
rates to pay for the necklace.
The story ends as Mathilde meets
Madame Forestier, who barely recognize her, ten years later. Mathilde then
tells Madame Forestier how she works hard and lives in poverty in the past ten
years because she lost the diamond necklace and replaced it with a new one.
Madame Forestier then takes her hand and explains that the necklace was fake
and does not worth more than five hundred francs.
Intrinsic Elements
1.
Plot
a.
Introduction
The
story began with the introduction of the main character, Mathilde, and all of
her personality. The narrator described her as a “pretty and charming young
creature” who was unhappy with her life because she believed that she was born
to “enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries”. Even though she already lived in a
middle-class family and had everything she needs, she was still unsatisfied
with her condition and fancying about having luxury furniture, pretty gowns,
expensive jewelry, dainty dinner, and shining silverware.
b.
Raising
Action
Mathilde’s
personality later caused many conflicts in her life. Instead of being grateful
for being invited to the ball, she grieved and cried because she did not have a
proper gown to wear. After her husband gave her money to buy a new gown, another
problem arose when she said:
It annoys me not to have a single piece of jewelry,
not a single ornament, nothing to put on. I shall look poverty-stricken. I
would almost not go at all (Maupassant, 1884).
It
implies how dramatical Mathilde is, she will always find a little flaw in her
life to complain about. She believed that only luxury items will make her look
prettier and elegant. That is why she decided to borrow a necklace from her
friend, Madame Forestier.
c.
Climax
The
climax took place when Mathilde realized that “she no longer had the necklace
around her neck.” She and her husband had searched everywhere but the necklace
was nowhere to be found. They then decided to quickly replace the necklace with
a new one. It can be seen in the quotation below:
They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string
of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. It was
worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six (Maupassant,
1884).
Mathilde
and her husband had to dismiss their servant, sell everything they own and file
so many loans to pay the necklace. They spend the next ten years of their life
working day and night, living in poverty to pay off their debt.
d.
Falling
Action
The
conflict began to solved when Mathilde and her husband finally pay off all of
their debt, “they had paid everything... with the rates of usury and the
accumulations of the compound interest” and all of the hard work made Mathilde
looked old.
e.
Resolution
The
story ended as Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth about the necklace. She
said:
“Well, I lost it.”
“What do you mean? You brought it
back.”
“I brought you back another exactly like it. And it
has taken us ten years to pay for it. You can understand that it was not easy
for us, for us who had nothing. At last it is ended, and I am very glad” (Maupassant,
1884).
Madame
Forestier took Mathilde’s hands and told her that the necklace was fake and it
was worth not more than five hundred francs.
2. Characters
a. Mathilde
Loisel, the main character who lives a middle-class lifestyle but feels
unsatisfied with her life. She is obsessed to live a luxury life, including
glamourous gowns, expensive jewelry, fancy furniture, and shining silverware.
b. Monsieur
Loisel, is Mathilde’s husband who works as a clerk in the Ministry of Public
Instruction.
c. Madame
Forestier, she is Mathilde’s wealthy friend who lends her the diamond necklace.
3. Setting
a. Setting
of place
In general, the story
took place in Paris, France. The story is set in the Monsieur Loisel’s house,
Madame Forestier’s house, The Champs Elysees, etc. It can be seen in some
quotations below:
But one evening her husband reached home with a
triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.
The next day she went to her
friend and told her of her distress.
But one Sunday, having gone to take a walk in the
Champs Elysees to refresh herself after the labors of the week, she suddenly
perceived a woman who was leading a child. It was Madame Forestier, still
young, still beautiful, still charming (Maupassant, 1884).
b. Setting
of time
The setting of time was
not stated in the story but it can be concluded that the story represents life
in the 19th century because Mathilde and Madame Forestier were still
communicating through a letter. It can be seen in the quotation below:
“You must write to your friend”said he, “that you
have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will
give us time to turn round.”
She wrote at his dictation
(Maupassant, 1884).
c. Atmosphere
The story spreads gloomy
and miserable vibes to the reader. It illustrates the irony of how Mathilde and
her husband decided to replace the fake diamond necklace with a real one, which
later makes them have to work very hard and live in poverty for a decade before
successfully paying off all of their debt. Imagine how their life would be if only
Mathilde told Madame Forestier the truth; that she lost the necklace, and perhaps
Mathilde and her husband would not need to suffer for ten years of their life
just because of a single lie.
4. Point
of view
The author of the story uses a third-person
point of view or omniscient narrator, so the narrator knows everything that is happened
in the story, especially the thoughts and feelings of the main character,
Mathilde.
5. Theme
The theme of this short story is
symbolized by the title, the necklace. It represents everything that Mathilde
wants and does not have; all the material things of a finer life. For her, the diamond
necklace is the most wonderful piece of jewelry that she has ever seen and she
thinks if she wears it, the diamond necklace would give her the aura of wealth
that she is always wanted, but in reality, the necklace was fake. It reflects
how people should not judge something based on the looks nor by the cost of a
certain thing.
Extrinsic
Elements
In
my perspective, this story is trying to convey a moral value about being ungrateful.
Madame Mathilde Loisel believes that she deserves a better life over the one
she already has; “she feels like she had really fallen from a higher station”
and does not belong to this kind of lifestyle. She forgets to live her life,
too busy complaining about how miserable her life is, and suffering from the
fact that all of her dreams about luxurious life would not come true.
The
conflict of the story also causes by her inability to be thankful for
everything. She does not care about how hard, how difficult it was for her
husband to get an invitation to the ball at the palace, and instead of saying
“thank you”, she ended up throwing the invitation on the table and start
complaining, again, about how she does not have a suitable gown. She later got
the gown, but then she starts ranting about having no jewelry, no ornament to
put on. She could easily buy natural flowers like her husband’s recommendation,
but in her mind, everything is only valuable if it is expensive, so she finally
decided to borrow a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier.
A decision that made her lost a decade of her life trying to pay off a debt
that was originally unneeded.
The
author also implies the idea of true love in this story. Monsieur Loisel loves
Mathilde enough until he is willing to go through great trouble to get an
invitation to the ball, which Mathilde loves. He put his wife's will above his
own as seen in the quotation below:
He was laying aside just that amount to buy a gun
and treat himself to a little shooting...
But he said “Very well. I will give you four hundred
francs and try to have a pretty gown” (Maupassant, 1884).
Monsieur
Loisel’s knows that his wife loves fancy things and he tries his best to
provide what she needs because he loves her, even if it means he has to
postpone his wishes.
Another
issue reflected from the story is about natural beauty. At the ball, Mathilde
feels so happy and confident because she thinks that the necklace she borrows
from her friend is made of real diamonds. She believes that since Madame
Forestier is wealthy, she only buys the best.
Mathilde thinks all the men look at her, ask her name and “wish to waltz
with her” because she looks rich. She spends so much time convincing herself
that possesions only have value if they are expensive that she loses sight of
the real value of things. Mathilde fails to realize that beauty is not about
how much her gown costs, the price of the jewelry she wears or her social
status. She still looks beautiful and attractive even though she was wearing a
fake diamond necklace.
Last
but not least, the most important issue that can be concluded from this short
story is about honesty. Mathilde and her husband had to suffer because they
lied to Madame Forestier, they told her that “[Mathilde] have broken the clasp
of her necklace and that [Mathilde is] having it mended.” If only they tell
Madame Forestier the truth, they would only need to pay not more than five
hundreds francs, instead of thirty-six thousand francs, to replace the necklace.
(The analysis was written by me to be submitted as an assignment for Literary Appreciation Class, English Department, University of Pamulang)
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