Literature
In The Necklace written by Guy De Maupassant, the character of Mathilde Loisel decided not to tell Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace of pearls that she borrowed from her for the ball at the Ministry. The result of her choice of hiding the truth caused her and her husband to work for 10 years to replace the necklace she borrowed from Madame Forestier, which she unfortunately lost. After 10 years of hard work and paying all her debt, the day came when she chanced upon Madame Forestier and finally revealed to her that she replaced the necklace that she lost, but only to find out that the necklace was a replica and not a real one. To her surprise, Madame Forestier felt sorry for her and told her the necklace was an imitation and only costs 500 hundred francs (Korba and de Maupassant 66).
The morale of the story is the emotional analysis of social pretension on the Mathilde, who wanted to belong in the upper class of society which ironically led to her downfall. Mathilde chose to replace the borrowed pearl necklace from Madame Forestier and not to tell her the truth that she lost the necklace at the ball. The life of Mathilde for the last decade would have been different if she came out straightforward and admitted her fault. Instead, her choice of action was to keep it a secret and worked all day and night to replace the necklace the she lost.
The climax of the story is how a young, beautiful and ambitious woman in the person of Mathilde wanted to escape her middle-class life and join the upper class even for just one night. Her plan backfired because she had to suffer for 10 years to be able to pay her debts just to replace the necklace. The mistake of Mathilde is when she did openly tell Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace and apologize for the incident. As a consequence, Mathilde’s decision not to be upfront caused her a lifetime suffering. The characteristics of being a social climber and discontented in life is common in society. The author wanted to impart to the audience the lesson of the tragic story of being simple and honest in all their dealings. Belonging to the world of the aristocrat is something that every person aspires. However, wanting more in life when one cannot afford can lead to more damage. Her choice to become accepted by society and pretend to be one of them even for one night meant dressing extravagantly and wearing borrowed jewelry gave her a sense of security to pursue her make believe world (Korba and de Maupassant 66).
Mathilde would have avoided 10 years of poverty if she did not become too ambitious and accepted her humble environment. She was full of anger, envy and jealousy of other women who lived in luxury. She promised herself that there will be a time that she will become one of them. She regarded the ball as the opportunity that will change her life even for one night. Pretending to be rich, she dressed herself in lavish wardrobe and borrowed a pearl necklace to serve as her ticket to the high society. In the end, all her dreams collapsed because she had to work for a decade to pay the cost of the necklace that she lost.
Therefore, in this story of the necklace, there are three lessons that were imparted to the audience in order to make the correct choices in life. The first lesson is the virtue of simplicity. Here, it was apparent that Mathilde wanted more in life and cannot accept that she does not belong to the upper class. The second lesson is the virtue of honesty. Mathilde could have saved herself from misery if she had been open and straightforward to admit to Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace. If she knew from the start that the pearl necklace was only a counterfeit, she will not have to work hard for 10 years to replace what she lost. Third lesson is learn ask for forgiveness and admit to your faults.
Bibliography
de Maupassant, Guy and Isak Dinesen. The Necklace/The Pearls. London: Pushkin Press, 1999.
Print.
de Maupassant, Guy and Joachim Neugroschel. The Necklace and Other Tales. New York:
Modern Library, 2003. Print.
Korba, Joanna and Guy de Maupassant. The Necklace. New York: Benchmark Education Company, 2007, Print.
