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Analysis. Mathilde Loisel is a pretty and charming woman who was born, “as if through some blunder of fate,” into a middle-class family. Without a dowry or a point of entry into high society, she is unable to find a wealthy husband, and so she marries M. Loisel, a clerk who works for the Ministry of Education.
- Themes
In the final section of “The Necklace,” Mathilde and her...
- Plot Summary
However, disaster strikes when she loses the necklace during...
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Need help on characters in Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace?...
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Analysis. In ‘The Necklace’, Guy de Maupassant explores the relationship between appearance and reality. The necklace, of course, is the most explicit example of this: it looks like a genuine diamond necklace but is actually an imitation or fake. And this final twist in the tale leads us to think more carefully about the other details of ...
Overview. “The Necklace” is a short story by French writer Guy de Maupassant, first published in 1884. It tells the story of Mathilde Loisel, a young woman who borrows a necklace from a wealthy friend to wear to a high-society event, only to lose it and spend the next ten years of her life in poverty trying to replace it. The story is a ...
In addition, “The Necklace” takes place in late-nineteenth century Paris, a highly unequal and class-based society. The upper classes were populated by wealthy and powerful capitalists, leaving very little room for the rest of the population. “The Necklace” faithfully depicts this extreme inequality as Mathilde Loisel moves between the ...
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The story centers on three characters: Mathilde Loisel, Monsieur Loisel, and Madame Forestier. Mathilde, the main character, is beautiful and social, and she wants expensive items to match her sophisticated taste. But she was born into a clerk's family and ends up marrying another clerk, so she can't afford the clothing, accessories, and household ...
Monsieur Loisel presents Mathilde with an invitation to the Ministry of Education's formal party, which he expects will make Mathilde happy because she will be able to mingle with high society. Mathilde is immediately upset, however, because she doesn't have a gown that she believes is nice enough to wear to the event. Mathilde's tears sway Monsieu...
Given its central role in the short story, the necklace is an important symbolof deception. Mathilde had dressed for the party in expensive clothes and a sparkling but borrowed accessory to briefly escape her humble life by pretending to a station she did not hold. Similarly, the jewelry represents the illusion of wealth in which Madame Forestier a...
The short story's themeinvolves the pitfalls of pride. Mathilde's pride in her beauty prompts her to buy an expensive dress and borrow seemingly expensive jewelry, which triggers her downfall. She fed her pride for one night but paid for it over the next 10 years of hardship, which destroyed her beauty. Pride also prevented her friend from acknowle...
- Esther Lombardi
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The Necklace Analysis. T he ending of "The Necklace" is an example of irony: Mathilde spends years working to pay back the debt she incurred to replace the necklace, only to find out too late that ...
The Necklace Summary and Analysis of The Necklace. Summary. A young woman, Mathilde, is born to a low class family. With no money for a dowry, she is married to Monsieur Loisel, a clerk from the Board of Education. Mathilde always felt like she should have been born to the upper class and is unhappy in her married life, hating their home, their ...
