The Necklace Analyze main character - Essay Example

A Character Analysis on Mathilde Loisel Guy De Maupassant's "The Necklace," the defining moment of Mathilde's life arrived when she looked at the mirror and found out that the diamond necklace was missing. In an instant, after the greatest night of her life at the ball Mathilde's life and being was totally transformed. In the story, Guy de Maupassant portrayed a huge contrast between Mathilde and her destiny. Though Mathilde was pretty and charming, she was born "by a blunder of destiny (de Maupassant 1)" in a poor family.

Behind her beautiful face is a bitter predestination of having "no dowry, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a rich man, and distinguished (de Maupassant 1)." Her whole life was determined by her social status-she was just married to a young clerk who could not give her the things that she thought was meant for her and she longed so much to have. With her pretty face, Mathilde felt that she was born for "every delicacy and luxury." Mathilde, as a young woman expected to be pampered and provided all the luxury in life.

She longed for a beautiful house, delicious and festive dinners, expensive clothes and jewelries and all the comfort life can offer. This perception of Mathilde of what her life should be is strongly influenced by the society where she belongs to and from her interactions with the people in the higher social classes like her friend Jeanne Forester. During her days, she believed that a young, pretty woman should not be made to suffer from poverty. Going beyond the looks of Mathilde and examining her inner being, we can see that Guy de Maupassant painted a young woman with distinctive characteristics.

At the beginning of the story we can see that Mathilde is unhappy and unsatisfied with her condition because in contrast to her lowly state "she would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive and sought after." This discontentment was even emphasized when the story recounts that everyday Mathilde daydreams o the luxury she should have. As the story progressed, Mathilde's vanity is further exposed. This can be seen when her husband came from office with an invitation for the ball.

He expected that Mathilde would be glad but instead she "threw the invitation on the table with annoyance (de Maupassant 11)" because she has nothing to wear. She wept when her husband suggested that she wear her theater dress. When the dress issue was resolved, Mathilde felt that she "would almost rather not go (de Maupassant 33)" because she has no jewelry. All throughout the story, the selfishness of Mathilde is shown. At the shining moment of her life at the ball, she enjoyed the night not even minding her husband who was sleeping in the little anteroom.

All in all, the story painted a young woman who is discontented, vain, selfish, jealous, and very much obsessed with wealth. All this characteristics of Mathilde made her life seemingly rude and empty. Her traits also made her to long for things that she doesn't have while making her unable to appreciate the precious things that she has like the love and support of his husband. Guy de Maupassant used the character of Mathilde to show how a young woman deal with poverty and how she tried to struggle between her dreams of luxury and bitter reality.

Through the main character, the author addressed the issues of greed, desperation, dishonesty, and poverty. Works CitedDe Maupassant, Guy. The Necklace. Title of Book. Date Published: Pages