Page 31 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes intensifies. She undertakes the hard work with grim determination, behaving more like a
martyr than ever before. Her beauty is once again being wasted; this work eventually erases
it completely. Her lot in life has gotten worse, and Mathilde continues to believe she has
gotten less than she deserves, never acknowledging the fact that she is responsible for her own
fate. Her belief in her martyrdom is, in a way, the only thing she has left. When Madame
Forestier reveals that the necklace was worthless, Mathilde’s sacrifices also become worthless,
and her status as a martyr—however dubious—is taken away entirely. At the end of the story,
Mathilde is left with nothing.

Notes You can read “The Necklace” as a story about greed, but you can also read it as
a story about pride. Mathilde Loisel is a proud woman. She feels far above the
humble circumstances (and the husband)...

Whereas Mathilde sees herself as a martyr but is actually very far from it, Monsieur Loisel
himself is truly a martyr, constantly sacrificing his desires and, ultimately, his well-being for
Mathilde’s sake. He gives up his desire for a gun so that Mathilde can buy a dress, and he
uncomplainingly mortgages his future to replace the necklace Mathilde loses. Forced to sacrifice
his happiness and years of his life to accommodate Mathilde’s selfish desires, he is the one
who truly becomes a martyr.
The Perceived Power of Objects
Mathilde believes that objects have the power to change her life, but when she finally gets two
of the objects she desires most, the dress and necklace, her happiness is fleeting at best. At the
beginning of “The Necklace,” we get a laundry list of all the objects she does not have but that
she feels she deserves. The beautiful objects in other women’s homes and absence of such
objects in her own home make her feel like an outsider, fated to envy other women. The things
she does have—a comfortable home, hot soup, a loving husband—she disdains. Mathilde
effectively relinquishes control of her happiness to objects that she does not even possess, and
her obsession with the trappings of the wealthy leads to her perpetual discontent. When she
finally acquires the dress and necklace, those objects seem to have a transformative power. She
is finally the woman she believes she was meant to be—happy, admired, and envied. She has
gotten what she wanted, and her life has changed accordingly. However, when she loses the
necklace, the dream dissolves instantly, and her life becomes even worse than before. In
reality, the power does not lie with the objects but within herself.
In contrast to Mathilde, Madame Forestier infuses objects with little power. Her wealth enables
her to purchase what she likes, but more important, it also affords her the vantage point to
realize that these objects are not the most important things in the world. She seems casual
about, and even careless with her possessions: when Mathilde brazenly requests to borrow her
striking diamond necklace, she agrees. And later, when Mathilde informs her that the necklace
in her possession is actually extremely valuable, she seems more rattled by the idea that
Mathilde has sacrificed her life unnecessarily. The fact that Madame Forestier owned fake
jewels in the first place suggests that she understands that objects are only as powerful as
people perceive them to be. For her, fake jewels can be just as beautiful and striking as real
diamonds if one sees them as such.
Motifs

Coveting
Throughout “The Necklace,” Mathilde covets everything that other people have and she does
not. Whereas Monsieur Loisel happily looks forward to have hot soup for dinner, Mathilde

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