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Digvijay Pandya, Lovely Professional University Unit 2: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Unit 2: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Notes

CONTENTS
Objectives

Introduction
2.1 Detailed Study—The Necklace

2.2 Plot Overview
2.3 Major Characters
2.4 Analysis of Major Characters
2.5 Themes, Motifs and Symbols

2.6 Important Explanations from the Text
2.7 Summary
2.8 Keywords

2.9 Review Questions
2.10 Further Readings

Objectives

After reading this unit, you will be able to:
• Know about the story ‘The Necklace’;
• Discuss the plot and themes of the story;

• Make analysis of the major characters;
• Answer the discussion questions which follow after the text.

Introduction

Guy de Maupassant was a French author of short stories and novels. Although much of his
work was humorous, he is most famous for his horror story The Monkey’s Paw. The story The
Necklace opens with the description of how miserable Mathilde is. Maupassant describes her
as “suffering constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries.” She sits
dreaming of silent rooms nicely decorated and her own private room, scented with perfume
to have intimate “tete-a-tetes” with her closest friends. Then she is awakened, only to realize
that she is in her own grim apartment.

Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850, to an affluent family at
the Chateau de Miromesnil, in France. As a child, Guy adored his mother and loathed his
absent father. His mother was very literary and passed on her love of books to her son, Guy,
and his brother, Herve. Much of Guy’s childhood was spent in the countryside playing sports
or simply spending time outdoors.
The Franco-Prussian War erupted shortly after Maupassant finished college. Maupassant enlisted
as a volunteer and then, in 1871, left the army to work as a clerk in the navy for the next ten

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