Lost Necklace example essay topic

The Necklace", written by Guy de Maupassant and published in 1884 is a story of an underprivileged woman named Mathilde who dreams of being rich, even if only for an evening. She borrows an ornate necklace for a special party, which she subsequently loses. She and her husband decide to take out loans and do whatever it takes for them to find the money to replace the lost necklace instead of just being honest with her friend about what happened. Her conscience effort to try to be something she is not, combined with her decision not to directly confront her friend with an explanation of her carelessness, results in her and her husband spending the next ten years of their lives trying to pay off the necklace they bought as a replacement. Various themes prevail throughout this story, including anger at the inability to determine one's own fate, pride, and deceit and despair. Mathilde is an example how women's roles were imposed upon them by the men of society and how women of the 19th century were governed by this fate.

She views the necklace as a symbol of the rich and famous lifestyle she longs for. As a result, Mathilde becomes a victim of her environment while trying to reject the role that has been imposed upon her. She sees the necklace as her way of becoming the woman she longs to be, even if for just one night. Even though she longed for a more gracious life, she was destined for misery of a poor pheasant. Having been "born into a family of clerks", Mathilde fit the description of everything it meant to be discriminated against by the ruling men of society. Without the help of a man, women could not establish a lavish lifestyle such as the one Mathilde longed for.

"She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, or wedded by any rich and distinguished man... ". In other words, she had nothing to offer having been raised poor. Her fate was sealed when she "let herself be married to a little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instructions".

Women of her time were expected to keep up the household and take care of the children. It was taboo for a woman to work outside of the home. De Maupassant reiterates how women of the time are viewed in his passage. ".. since with women there is neither caste nor rank: and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and birth". He goes on to say, "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries". Thus, Mathilde found herself to be in a hopeless situation, that in which she could not control her own fate. No matter how much she felt she deserved a distinguished rank among people, she was destined to be subservient to the role into which she was born: a poor woman.

Because she was thrown into this uninvited role, Mathilde became obsessed with trying to elevate her status in the community. As a result, pride came to dominate her personality. She wouldn't dare show up at this spectacular event in her theatre dress. Her pride shows through in her statement "There is nothing more humiliating than to look poor among women who are rich". She needed the dress to define who she was however, even when presented with the opportunity to have it she still was dissatisfied because she had no jewels.

She wanted this borrowed necklace to fulfill this fantasy role and to enact this superficial lifestyle. The necklace had aroused the vanity she had tried to hide. De Maupassant writes: "she fastened it around her throat, outside her high necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself". It was as if she had finally become the woman she felt she was meant to be. Unfortunately, Mathilde did not realize that her precious necklace soon would become a millstone around her neck Sometimes what seems like a life preserver turns out to be a millstone that drags you under. This is just what happened to Mathilde.

Her joy was shortened when she found that she had lost the precious jewels that were loaned to her. What follows is a tale of deceit and despair. In a desperate attempt to avoid embarrassment, Mathilde's husband states, "You must write to your friend that you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. That will give us time to turn around".

They went from jeweler to jeweler searching for a replacement. When they finally came upon one that matched, they realized it was far more money than they could afford. Their pride would not allow them to go to Mme. Forestier and simply admit that they had lost the necklace. Instead, Loisel felt compelled to borrow funds he did not know if he could pay back and replace the coveted necklace, so, thus continued the deception. "He compromised all the rest of his life, risked his signature without even knowing if he could meet it; and, frightened by the pains of yet to come, by the black misery which was about to fall upon him, by the prospect of all the physical privation and of all the moral tortures which he was about to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, putting down upon the merchant's counter thirty-six thousand francs". Mathilde and Loisel now had a "dreadful debt" that had to be repaid.

Mathilde was forced to perform heavy housework and Loisel worked long into the night in an effort to repay the debt. Mathilde fell into anguish as she now looked old and "had become the woman of impoverished households-strong and hard and rough". But at times, Mathilde's despondency would turn to thoughts of a night long ago when she danced and wiled away the evening in a gown fit for royalty and a necklace that would forever change her life. A stand of glistening "diamonds" that had the ability to render not only joy but also despair.