Page 29 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes Monsieur Loisel—Mathilde’s husband. Monsieur Loisel is content with the small pleasures of
his life but does his best to appease Mathilde’s demands and assuage her complaints. He loves
Mathilde immensely but does not truly understand her, and he seems to underestimate the
depth of her unhappiness. When Mathilde loses the necklace, Monsieur Loisel sacrifices his
own future to help her repay the debt. He pays dearly for something he had never wanted in
the first place.
Madame Forestier—Mathilde’s wealthy friend. Madame Forestier treats Mathilde kindly, but
Mathilde is bitterly jealous of Madame Forestier’s wealth, and the kindness pains her. Madame
Forestier lends Mathilde the necklace for the party and does not inspect it when Mathilde
returns it. She is horrified to realize that Mathilde has wasted her life trying to pay for a
replacement necklace, when the original necklace had actually been worth nothing.

2.4 Analysis of Major Characters

Mathilde Loisel
Beautiful Mathilde Loisel was born into a family of clerks, and her utter conviction that her
station in life is a mistake of destiny leads her to live her life in a constant rebellion against
her circumstances. Although she has a comfortable home and loving husband, she is so unsatisfied
that she is virtually oblivious of everything but the wealth she does not have. Her desire for
wealth is a constant pain and turmoil. She cannot visit her wealthy friend Madame Forestier
without being overcome with jealousy, and the idea of going to a party without expensive
clothes drives her to tears. Mathilde is a raging, jealous woman who will do anything in her
power to reverse the “mistake of destiny” that has plunged her into what she perceives as a
wholly inappropriate and inadequate life.
Mathilde is happy at only one point in “The Necklace”: on the night of the party, when her
new dress and borrowed jewels give her the appearance of belonging to the wealthy world she
aspires to. Fully at ease among the wealthy people at the party, Mathilde feels that this is
exactly where she was meant to be—if it hadn’t been for the mistake of destiny. She forgets
her old life completely (her husband dozes in an empty room for most of the night) and
immerses herself in the illusion of a new one. Her moment of happiness, of course, is fleeting,
and she must spend the next ten years paying for the pleasure of this night. However, her joy
was so acute—and her satisfaction, for once, so complete—that even the ten arduous years and
her compromised beauty do not dull the party’s memory. Just as Mathilde was oblivious to
the small pleasures that her life once afforded her, she is oblivious to the fact that her greed
and deception are what finally sealed her fate.
Monsieur Loisel

Monsieur Loisel’s acceptance and contentment differ considerably from Mathilde’s emotional
outbursts and constant dissatisfaction, and although he never fully understands his wife, he
does his best to please her. When he comes home bearing the invitation to the party, he
expects Mathilde to be excited and is shocked when she is devastated. He cannot understand
why Mathilde will not wear flowers to the party in lieu of expensive jewellery—in his view,
that they cannot afford expensive jewellery is simply a fact of their life, not something to be
railed against. When Monsieur Loisel tries to appease Mathilde, he does so blindly, wanting
only to make her happy. When she declares that she cannot attend the party because she has
nothing to wear, he gives her money to purchase a dress. While she complains she has no
proper jewelry, he urges her to visit Madame Forestier to borrow some. When she dances all
night at the party, he dozes in a coat room and allows her to enjoy herself.

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