THE NECKLACE Guy de Maupassant Type of Work The Necklace, published in 1881, is a short storyamong the finest surprise-ending
stories in any language. It is a compact, neat little package with just the right amount of character and plot development and nary a wasted word. It is one of many of Maupassants short stories that earned him recognition as a master of the genre. Setting The action takes place in Paris, France, in the second half of the nineteenth century. Specific locales include the residence of the Loisels, the home of Madame Jeanne Forestier, the palace of the Ministry of Education, Paris shops, and the streets of Paris, including the Rue des Martyrs and the Champs Elyses. Characters Mathilde: Pretty young woman born into a common, middle-class family. She yearns for the wealth, privileges, and fashions of highborn young ladies. Monsieur Loisel: Government clerk whom Mathilde marries. Madame Jeanne Forestier: Friend of Mathilde. She allows Mathilde to borrow a necklace to wear to a gala social event. Housemaid: Girl from Brittany who does the Loisels' housework. Her presence reminds Mathilde of her own status as a commoner. Jeweler: Dealer who provides a replacement necklace. Monsieur and Madame Georges Rampouneau: Minister of Education and his wife, who invite the Loisels to a party. Child With Madame Forestier Style In "The Necklace," Maupassant makes every word count, each one contributing to the overall effectiveness of the story. He provides only minimal details to further the plot and describe the important characters. The result is a simple, easy-to-understand story that moves smoothly and swiftly from beginning to end. Details that he leaves out allow the reader to interpret the events and the characters in his or her own way. One may compare "The Necklace" to a painting with subtle shades of meaning. Maupassant himself remains aloof from his characters, passing no judgments on them, neither praising nor condemning them. For example, it is up to the reader to decide whether Mathilde is a victim of bad luck (or fate) or of her own warped perception of the world as a place where success and recognition result from wealth and status. Fate vs Free Will
also points out early on that Mathilde longed to live like the highborn. Fashionable clothes, jewels, a home with spacious rooms and tapestriesall were badges of success, according to Mathilde's distorted view of the world. In further developing this ideathat it was perhaps Mathilde's own yearnings, not fate, that got her into trouble, the narrator says, She had so much desire to please, to be envied, to be enticing, to be sought after. In the end, the reader is left to decide for himself whether Mathilde's downfall was of her own making or fate'sor a combination of both. Climax The climax of a literary work, such as a short story or a novel, can be defined as (1) the turning point at which the conflict begins to resolve itself for better or worse, or as (2) the final and most exciting event in a series of events. The climax of "The Necklace" occurs, according to the first definition, when Mathilde discovers that she has lost the necklace. According to the second definition, the climax occurs at the end of the story, when Madame Forestier informs Mathilde that the lost necklace was a fake.
Themes False Values People should evaluate themselves and others on who they are intrinsically (that is, on their character and moral fiber), not on what they possess or where they stand in society. Mathilde Loisel learns this lesson the hard way. Real Values Honesty, humility, and hard work are what shape character, not the clothes or jewels that a person wears or the high station into which he or she is born. Appearances Are Deceiving Mathilde Loisel believed the necklace genuine the moment she saw it. Likewise, she believed that all the people at the party were real, genuine human beings because of their social standing and their possessions. The necklace, of course, was a fake. And, Maupassant implies, so were the people at the party who judge Mathilde on her outward appearance. Guide Questions 1.
Is Mathilde a hapless victim of fate or a victim of her own desires and the choices she makes to fulfill them? In the opening sentence of the story, Maupassant introduces the notion of fate as a controlling force: 2. She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, by a mistake of destiny, into a family of employees (common middle-class workers). 3. He expands on this idea when Mathilde borrows a necklace of imitation diamonds in the mistaken belief that they are real. Finally, comes the coup de grce: She loses the necklace and replaces it with a lookalike necklace made of genuine diamonds. She and her husband work ten years to pay for it only to discover that the original necklace was fake in the first place. All of these developments suggest that Mathilde is the plaything of fate. However, Maupassant
After paying off her debt, Mathilde wonders what her life would have been like if she had not lost the necklace. What do you think would have happened to her? Do you think Madame Forestier will sell the diamond necklace and return the Loisels' money? If Madame Forestier does return the money, will Mathilde save her share of it? Or will she spend it to fulfill her old longings? At the end of the story, the narrator tells us that Madame Forestier is walking with a small child? Why does Maupassant introduce a new character, about whom he tells the reader nothing, at this point in the story? Is it possible that the child is supposed is to represent a new generation
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of Parisians who will go on pursuing false values? Or does the child's presence at the end suggest something else?
