The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant - Essay Example

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Set in the olden France, this story [Last] is about a woman who belonged to the middle class and wanted to be one of the elites. Her husband was a mere government clerk but she was ambitious and greedy. Her gathering of rich friends ended up destroying her life and savings. The story has presented itself as a social satire through the symbolism of diamond necklace, which itself holds many subliminal themes including deceptive appearances, high social statuses, wealth and unnecessary ambitions. Elements of Symbolism through Diamond Necklace The author cleverly represents a lot of elements through the diamond necklace, most prominent of which are the high social statuses and wealth. While a diamond necklace represents beauty in real world, within the novel it is representing the evils of the society. The satirical reference is clearly visible during the story as Madame Loisel is not content with her dress which is worth 400 francs, but would rather have the necklace too. She considers it unruly and humiliating for herself to go amidst rich women with a dress but no expensive jewelry. When she is asked to select between the different jewelry items by her friend, she skips on the Venetian cross, pearl necklace and bracelets, and selects a diamond necklace instead. This shows her thirst for wealth and need to belong in the upper class. She clarifies it herself when she states that the party will be attended by many riches and she doesn’t want to feel left out because of her social status. Maupassant’s Inspiration In the late 1800s, wealth was a factor that many people cared about, and social class even more. Maupassant uses situational irony and the social satire to deliver his message that money is not always wealth. Maupassant learned from his seniors about observation and reporting of daily life occurrences in a biting way. Very rarely would he show, the sympathy for his characters. The Necklace was also inspired by his clerical work experience in the Public Instructions Ministry. Theme of the Story The story itself is framed around his observations about the cost of pride. He delivers his message ironically, when the main character in the story Mathilde Loisel pays a figurative as well as literal price for her vanity. Although he does not show within the conclusion that Mathilde took responsibility for her actions in the end and changed for the better. By emphasizing on the structure of Parisian classes, the story works its way seamlessly at the Marxist criticism. The story highlights how Mathilde lacks any expectations, a dowry, cannot perform any service and belongs to a family of clerks. Her situation destines her to remain forever bound in the middle class structure. She is however shown with a wish for otherwise. She pretends to role-play as an upper class member, daydreams about material things and fantasizes upon the elite class through the accounts which she heard from other friends around her. Criticism at Power Structures The short story is a harsh depiction of the criticism on the power structures and how one group can control the other simply through material possessions. Due to the limit in the class structure, the income of Monsieur Loisel is limited, the happiness of Mathilde is limited. While Monsieur is comfortable in his social standings, Mathilde is not. The third prominent character of the story Madame Forestier also displays the reserved attitude towards Mathilde because she considers herself superior to her. Ironical Elements of Satire Mathilde was never honest with her own self, nor comfortable in her own skin. She refused to accept her existence in the middle class, and would give and do anything to move onwards to an aesthetically pleasing life. The diamond necklace which she borrows from her friend has been used by the author to represent her ambitions, vanity and greed and how it led to her downfall. Loisel considers herself “born for every delicacy and luxury”, displaying greed to be sought after, charmed and praised. In order to satisfy her ambitions and self-thoughts of being “made for” the luxurious clothes and jewels, she borrows the necklace. However, she loses the precious necklace and has to be subjected to poverty instead in order to pay back the debt for the necklace showing how her lust led to her downfall. The Perils of Inferiority Complex Mathilde suffers from an inferiority complex, and her complex leads her to take the self-serving and unwise actions. Mathilde feels trapped, thinking she does not deserve to suffer the life she has been living in. She does not appreciate any aspect of her life, thinking that her charm and beauty is being wasted. When she loses the necklace and has to suffer the years of misery, her inferiority complex increases, she hates her life in the process. She believes that she is unlucky for never getting the life she had deserved, instead of understanding that everything was her own doing. The true martyr within the story is her husband Monsieur Loisel who sacrifices his desires continuously for his wife by mortgaging his future for replacement of his wife’s mistake. The Motif of Coveting Mathilde has been shown coveting everything that she does not have and other people have. The remarkable difference between Mathilde and Monsieur is apparent, as he looks forward to a soup for dinner, she looks forward to lavish table settings and grandeur. She covets a new dress, jewelry, fur coats, almost everything she comes across. Her coveting has been shown as the most prominent part of her personality within the story. Materialism and Perceived Power The story gives an illusion that materials have the power to change the life of the person. When Mathilde gets the necklace and the dress, she finds herself the happiest. She hates the blessed life that she has and would rather have other things and materialistic objects which other rich people have. As soon as she retreats to misery due to loss of a necklace, her life becomes worse and it becomes clear that the power to change her life laid with her, not the objects. On the other hand, it is shown that Madame Forestier knew that the objects were as people perceived them to be. If she can use her wealth to buy things which look like the original, she can leave the room with the same impression of her being wealthy, while no one notices the authenticity of her materialistic possessions. To her, even fake jewels can be diamonds if people perceive them as so. The Necklace and Social Realism The author believed that stories should always be as real and accurate as possible. Instead of searching for romantic descriptions and psychological exploration, he strived for objectivity. He structured his stories around observable and specific details and clearly defined plot lines. The Necklace also delivers the similar context. Instead of exploring the character’s unhappiness with life and yearning for wealth, Maupassant simply states her desires and unhappiness. Even during the end of the story, he does not provide any explanation or commentary for the reaction of Mathilde to shocking revelation of Madame Forestier. He does not artifices, idealizes or pretenses his characters or prose. The Irony and Surprise at the End of the Story The story is highly commendable for the twisted ending it delivers to its readers in the end. The premise of the story is unhinged surprisingly in the ending itself. While the readers are busy in the story, they believe that the poverty which Mathilde had to face was the penance for her crimes. However, this illusion is completely shattered within the ending when it is revealed that had Mathilde been honest with Madame Forestier, she could’ve saved herself and her husband from the ten years of misery. The irony of the fact is that ten years were wasted by the Loisels over a trinket which was actually worthless. Moreover, the only valued asset of Mathilde, her beauty, also disappears due to the labor work she puts in for payback of the necklace. She wanted to be beautiful by wearing the necklace, and she ended up losing her true beauty in the process. Most bitter of all was the irony that by losing the necklace, Mathilde comes to live a life that was far worse than her current one. She loses everything she has, her looks and her money, all over an unnecessary and fake trinket. Social Satire – Lessons Learned The story is also classified as the social satire as the author does not want the readers to feel sorry for Mathilde, or be amused at her materialism. He has written the story to show how the woman got what she deserved. He wants us to learn from the disadvantages of greed, pretension, materialism, vanity and futility and understand that these elements can suck the happiness out of a person’s life and lead to an unbearable loss. Loisel suffers from the misery because she was first materialistic about the necklace and then proud enough to not admit that she had lost it. References Last: , (De Maupassant), Read More