Page 30 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Unit 2: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

Monsieur Loisel’s eagerness and willingness to please Mathilde becomes his downfall when Notes
she loses the necklace. He is the one to venture back into the cold night to search for the
necklace in the streets, even though he is already undressed and has to be at work in a few
short hours. He is the one who devises a plan for purchasing a replacement necklace and
orchestrates the loans and mortgages that help them pay for it. Although this decision costs
him ten years of hard work, he does not complain or imagine an alternate fate. It is as though
his desires do not even exist—or, at the very least, his desires are meaningless if they stand
in the way of Mathilde’s. The money he gives her for a dress had been earmarked for a gun,
but he sacrifices this desire without a word—just as he mutely sacrifices any hope of happiness
after he buys the necklace. Rather than force Mathilde to be accountable for her actions, he
protects her, ultimately giving up his life so that she can relish her one moment of well-
dressed happiness.

2.5 Themes, Motifs and Symbols

Themes

The Deceptiveness of Appearances
The reality of Mathilde’s situation is that she is neither wealthy nor part of the social class of
which she feels she is a deserving member, but Mathilde does everything in her power to
make her life appear different from how it is. She lives in an illusory world where her actual
life does not match the ideal life she has in her head—she believes that her beauty and charm
make her worthy of greater things. The party is a triumph because for the first time, her
appearance matches the reality of her life. She is prettier than the other women, sought after
by the men, and generally admired and flattered by all. Her life, in the few short hours of the
party, is as she feels it should be. However, beneath this rightness and seeming match of
appearances and reality is the truth that her appearance took a great deal of scheming and
work. The bliss of her evening was not achieved without angst, and the reality of her appearance
is much different than it seems. Her wealth and class are simply illusions, and other people
are easily deceived.
The deceptiveness of appearances is highlighted by Madame Forestier’s necklace, which appears
to be made of diamonds but is actually nothing more than costume jewellery. The fact that it
comes from Madame Forestier’s jewellery box gives it the illusion of richness and value; had
Monsieur Loisel suggested that Mathilde wear fake jewels, she surely would have scoffed at
the idea, just as she scoffed at his suggestion to wear flowers. Furthermore, the fact that
Madame Forestier—in Mathilde’s view, the epitome of class and wealth—has a necklace made
of fake jewels suggests that even the wealthiest members of society pretend to have more
wealth than they actually have. Both women are ultimately deceived by appearances: Madame
Forestier does not tell Mathilde that the diamonds are fake, and Mathilde does not tell Madame
Forestier that she has replaced the necklace. The fact that the necklace changes—unnoticed—
from worthless to precious suggests that true value is ultimately dependent on perception and
that appearances can easily deceive.
The Danger of Martyrdom
Mathilde’s perception of herself as a martyr leads her to take unwise, self-serving actions. The
Loisels live, appropriately, on the Rue des Martyrs, and Mathilde feels she must suffer through
a life that is well beneath what she deserves. Unable to appreciate any aspect of her life,
including her devoted husband, she is pained by her feeling that her beauty and charm are
being wasted. When Mathilde loses the necklace and sacrifices the next ten years of her life
to pay back the debts she incurred from buying a replacement, her feeling of being a martyr

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 25