Matilde in the diamond necklace - Essay Example

21 February Assignment The Necklace is a short story that was first published in a French newspaper by the of ‘Le Gaulois’ and is one of the most popular stories written by Guy De Maupassant, in the year 1884. The story talks about the life of a couple where they live estranged lives within the same house. The author has tried to help the readers understand the kind of oppression a number of women at the time felt when they were forced to marry someone at a young age, with the aspect of deriving a loving emotion for someone being completely inconsequential in nature and not required at all.

Mathilde Loisel, the protagonist and wife of a low paid clerk always pictured herself bequeathed in luxury and comfort and often dreamed of living a high society lifestyle, with a platform to showcase her beauty and airs. However, the man she was married to was not able to provide her with the excitement of living such a life and lived a mundane and monotonous life instead. Thus, the story talks about how the husband realises his wife’s desires and tries to take her to a high society party; however Mathilde’s idea of dressing well and being the most noticed person at the party takes her to rid her conscience of being ethical to herself as she takes her friend’s necklace to wear and then loses it.

She was not able to bring herself to tell the truth to her friend about the lost necklace and thus transforms the life of the couple as they sell everything and take up various odd jobs which over the years turn them prematurely old, just so that they would be able to buy back the necklace for Mathilde’s friend. The story talks about the kind of strength and bond that the marriage of the two regains with time as Mathilde realises the importance of being there for the man that she has married and understanding the kind of sacrifices he has made for her.

The Necklace depicts the lives of most young girls who fall in love with things rather than people and have to eventually choose a lifestyle for themselves based on wealth. This is a message out to young women that it is not necessary for them to live in the midst of gold; they can live with and in a heart of gold and be happier than they ever thought they would be as well. She thus grows up and is able to gain maturity with respect to the kind of struggles that she went through to earn money and how the same taught her how to be stronger.

The style of writing in the story is a simple yet abstract form where the author has tried not to give the story away. A dramatic narration has been made use of with the help of a number of excellent analogies and picturesque situations which have been provided as examples full of description, making it easy for the readers to imagine the kind of life that Mathilde had been dreaming of all along. Marriage is a sacred union of two souls, however as per the views of Guy de Maupassant, as talked about within this paper, the very idea of being with someone else for the rest of Mathilde’s live proved to be a haunting concept for her in the beginning before she was truly able to understand the meaning of a marriage as a union, and not merely just a contract.

Works CitedRudden, Liam (15 August 2008). "Mathilde makes it to the stage". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 31 August 2011.