Summary:
Analyzes the theme of false values in the short story The Necklace by French author Guy De Maupassant. Also discusses the ingratitude of main character Mathilda toward her husband.
Theme: the contrast between true values and false values .Mathilda was born into a family of clerks but she was not satisfied with her position in life. She wanted to be a wealthy lady. She complained constantly over the simple life her husband provided for her. She felt she was born to be sought after and should have the luxuries of life.
She is ungrateful to her husband although he provides her with a furnished apartment, sufficient food and even a maid. This ingratitude is highlighted when her husband goes through a lot of trouble to get her an invitation to the evening reception (party) at the ministry .instead of throws the invitation on the table and complains that she has nothing to wear. Her husband, concerned only for her happiness, gives her his small savings to buy an evening address .However even after she has bought herself a beautiful dress, Mathilde is still not satisfied. She desires more and more and more .she complains that she has no jewelery.
This is where we come to the TURNING POINT of the story for after she borrows the necklace from her friend there is a turn of events which leads to the FALLING ACTION .Her greed causes her to suffer unnecessarily. She loses the necklace and thinking it is a diamond necklace, she goes through a lot of trouble to repay Mrs. forestire. She moves to a cheaper, shabbier apartment than the comfortable one she had. She gives up her maid and does all the hard work herself and ends up looking like an old woman. The bigger irony of the story is that the necklace is not real and Mathilda suffers so much because thinks it is a diamond necklace and buys a necklace worth 36 thousand francs to replace it. In doing that she changes from having adequate possession or living a comfortable life to a life of misery. It was here greed that made her believe it was a diamond necklace. She would have settled for nothing less.
This is the complete article, containing 340 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
