The Necklace

“She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers.”

While Mathilde is portrayed as being vain and even shallow, de Maupassant illustrates that she suffers from her desire to be and have more. Her suffering is intensified by her belief that wealth and status are owed to her rather than something she must earn.

“She had no proper wardrobe, no jewels, nothing. And those were the only things that she loved—she felt she was made for them.”

Mathilde’s downfall is caused by her desire for beautiful clothes and jewelry, and de Maupassant goes so far as to say that these material things are her only love. She is driven by these symbols of wealth and greed, yet this desire for luxury leads her into poverty, a central irony of the story.

“No…there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poverty-stricken among a lot of rich women.”

Mathilde is driven by a desire to live a life of luxury and wealth and disgusted by her status and living situation. At the first mention of the ball, Mathilde refuses to attend because she cannot bear to be humiliated in front of those she envies and wants to become. This desire to fit in among the wealthy is another element of irony in the story, as her focus on assimilating into the elite only forces her further down the economic ladder.

“She tried on the jewelry before the mirror, hesitating, unable to bring herself to take them off, to give them back.”

De Maupassant’s focus on jewelry—especially the diamond necklace—symbolizes Mathilde’s need for what she cannot have but feels she deserves and is owed. Digging through Madame Forestier’s trinkets enflames Mathilde’s obsession with wealth and the emotional value she places on it as well as her attachment to it.

“She danced enraptured—carried away, intoxicated with pleasure, forgetting everything in this triumph of her beauty and the glory of her success, floating in a cloud of happiness formed by all this homage, all this admiration, all the desires she had stirred up—by this victory so complete and so sweet to the heart of a woman.”

The imagery of the ball serves to illustrate Mathilde in her ideal place and lifestyle. She is stunning in her dress and necklace, and she feels she has reached the pinnacle of her potential. The necklace quickly asserts itself as a symbol of both Mathilde’s source of power and her weakness.

“Finally, on the embankment, they found one of those ancient nocturnal broughams which are only to be seen in Paris at night, as if they were ashamed to show their shabbiness in daylight.”

The brougham symbolizes Mathilde’s shame about her lack of wealth and possessions. As the magic of the ball fades, she is reminded of her shabbiness and low social standing. She, like the brougham, must hide in the shadows to avoid showing who and what they really are.

“She took off her wraps before the mirror so that she could see herself in all her glory once more.”

As her delight in the evening begins to fade, Mathilde takes a moment to look at herself one more time in the mirror before returning to her normal clothing and life. The fact that she glories in her appearance illustrates her vanity and materialism, both of which lead her to ruin.

“She remained in her evening dress, too weak to go to bed, sitting crushed on a chair, lifeless and blank.”

A few hours before this scene, Mathilde was dancing and talking as gaily as the women and men she envies. Now, she is diminished to a woman too tired and weak to change her clothes. This feeling could be because of the loss of the necklace, but it also illustrates how unsatisfying her ordinary life is to her. She had a small taste of the life she wants only to be forced back into a reality she hates.

“He compromised his whole career, gave his signature even when he was not sure he would be able to honor it, and horrified by the anxieties with which his future would be filled.”

In stark contrast to Mathilde, Loisel is an honorable, easily pleased man who seeks to make his wife happy despite her lofty dreams and lack of contentment. Ironically, his obtaining an invitation to the ball for Mathilde is the source of their financial decline. Yet, he still seeks her happiness and success even once the necklace is lost.

“Madame Loisel came to know the awful life of the poverty-stricken. However, she resigned herself to it with unexpected fortitude.”

Despite the misfortune of losing the necklace and having to borrow 36,000 francs to replace it, Mathilde shows resolve and heart by accepting the situation and bracing herself to overcome it. Where she once felt shame in her economic class, she now feels pride in herself. She embraces her life of poverty and does all she can to survive in it.

“She had become the sort of strong woman, hard and coarse, that one finds in poor families.”

This passage marks the transformation in Mathilde. Previously, she valued only superficial and material things. Now, she has strength and character borne of hard work and humble living. She is now poor, but she also seems to be a better woman who values more than outward appearances.

“But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she would sit down by the window and muse over that party long ago when she had been so beautiful, the belle of the ball.”

The change Mathilde experiences is significant, yet she still daydreams about the one evening she felt like she was living the life that was meant for her. She reflects on her beauty and her success that evening, yet this reflection does nothing to change her resolve in the new life in which she finds herself.

“Yes, I’ve been through some pretty hard times since I last saw you and I’ve had plenty of trouble—and all because of you.”

Finally, Mathilde can accept her status in life. She acknowledges that she has had a difficult time overcoming the loss of the necklace, but now she has the power to articulate her struggle to Madame Forestier and even place blame on her friend.