Title of the story
The Necklace
The main action of the story arises out of the necklace that Matilda Loisel borrowed
from her friend for a party, She was the wife of a lower-middle-class clerk working in Paris.
Unfortunately, she lost the necklace while returning from the party with her husband. After
that, she led a very tragic life.
Destiny of human life
In the story, Maupassant has depicted realism in human life. In
this world, man is helpless in the hands of destiny. He is merely a puppet in
the hands of fate. The story is a true illustration of Shakespeare's saying that
"Men are to gods as flies are to wanton boys; they kill us for their sport". The irony of man is
that he makes many plans but cannot fulfill them because of the unexpected) turn in
his life. The story tells us that "how little is needed to ruin or to save" a person's life in this
temporary world. The story also teaches us the moral message of this world that all
things are temporary. We should not be over-ambitious in this world. Matilda
was ruined because of her pride and materialism. She must have enjoyed the
charm of life forever.
Reason for Matilda's tragedy
In this story, Matilda herself was responsible for her tragedy because she was over-ambitious and wanted to get what was beyond her resources. Her false sense of pride made
her suffer too much. But chance also played a negative role in her life and brought
disaster for her.
Moral lesson of the story
In the story, Maupassant has given us more than one moral lesson. Firstly,
unrealistic ambitions are the cause of our unhappiness. Man is generally misled by his
ambitions and commits blunders for which he has to suffer throughout his life.
Secondly, beauty is a temporary quality of human beings and it should not be
prided upon. Thirdly, the beauty of character is of far great value than the beauty of physical
features. A man can shine and set a good example to others by the beauty of character.
Fourthly, a man should face the circumstances and challenges of life heroically like Matilda
and her husband. Fifthly, life will pass, the beauty will vanish, but how you face
the challenges of life will become a poor or shining example for others. These are some moral
lessons that the writer wants to convey through this story.
Psychology of women
Maupassant has very beautifully depicted the psychology of women. They have
a natural desire to wear expensive clothes and rich jewelry to make themselves
attractive. They like to be sought by men. The greatness of women and their importance
is not determined by their caste and family but it is their beauty and charm that determines
their value in the world of men. Therefore, a beautiful woman thinks it is her fundamental
right to enjoy the luxuries of life by being the life partner of a man possessing riches
and status in society. Matilda suffered from the poverty of her apartment and shabby
dress because she thought her birthright to enjoy the luxuries of life.
criticism of Western society
The writer has criticized Western Society in this story where people led and valued showy life. Western society had rebelled against religion and their
only objective was to achieve material riches. Hence all men dreamt of material achievements
Matilda visually consoled herself by luxurious life. She thought for such achievement by
the force of her blind desire, with no other objective in life. It was the society of rich capitalists
and landlords that had presented an ideal standard of happiness which is not true. There was
great inequality in that society. The absence of religious and spiritual values
made people concentrate on material achievements.
Rich classes have not lost the goodness
Madame Forestier was the representative of the rich class. She was quite broad-minded and unprejudiced She offered full cooperation to her poor friend Matilda in producing all her ornaments to choose for herself. She was sympathetic to her. She was
also straightforward and not greedy or selfish. When she was told the tragedy of her
friend Matilda, she felt sorry for her and discloses that the necklace was only an imitation,
hardly worth five hundred francs. She was good by nature. It shows that all the rich people
were not bad but social differences naturally created a gulf between two individuals as
Forestier and Matilda could not meet for ten years.
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