The theme of Guy de Maupassant story “The Necklace” seems tosuggested by the line, “What would happened if Mathilde had not lost thenecklace?” During the Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace”, themain character, Mathilde Loisel, makes a number of ironic discoveries. Theironic elements were the results of her expectations and desires werecontrast to her reality and ability.
Throughout the story Guy de Maupassantcolor the irony by verbal, situational, attitude, and dramatic irony. Irony is a key element in our lives. It is also important inshort stories. Irony is when something happens that is completely oppositefrom what is expected. The Necklace of Guy de Maupassant focuses on theirony of appearances and reality. At the beginning of the story, MadameLoisel who “was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes,as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks.
She has nodowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved weddedby any rich and distinguished man; and she let herself be married to alittle clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction. ” In the opposite site,in the party held in the Palace of the Ministry, she was the most beautifulwoman. All the men admired her. And then, for which is called Heroism, shedecided to be a totally different woman. However, her expectations of beingbeautiful and belonging to high- class become the worst thing.
Or it can besaid that it was the consequence of her owned expectation, which were herbeauty, her charm and her pride. “Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman ofimpoverished households- strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair,skirts askew, and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floorwith great swished of water. But sometimes, when her husband was atoffice, she sat down near the window, and she thought of that gayevening of long ago, of the ball where she had been so beautiful andso feted. “Her desire to live a life of luxury consumes her and preventsher from finding satisfaction with any aspect of her life.
“What would havehappened if she had no lost that necklace? Who know? How life is strangeand changeful! How little thing is need for us to be lost or to be saved. “It is so hard to answer, but for sure that is so painful to experience, towork hard, to change one’s self to another completely different person. Because of that, after ten years, it is so ironic since Madame Loiselrealizes that the necklace is a paste one. It could have been different.
Itcould have been better if she had not been borrowed. And she could havebeen a Madame. She and her husband were deeply in debt. For ten years theyworked day in and day out until finally the debt was paid off.
She put thenew necklace in a box and gave it to her friend. Her friend never looked inthe box, so she did not know the necklace was not the same she let Loiselis borrow. That is the irony of the story. It is more dramatic irony whenMadame Loisel believes on getting admired appearance of her by society atthe ball one night. To some certain extant, it represents the society atthat time.
It is the society in which people thrive for the luxuries, wherethe value of a person was determined by her/his appearance rather thanhis/her ability. As de Maupassant explains, “Mr. Loisel possessed eighteen thousandfranks which his father had left him. He borrowed the rest. Heborrowed it, asking for a thousand francs of one, five hundred ofanother, five louts of this one, and three louis of that one.
He gavenotes, made ruinous promises, took money of usurers and the whole raceof lenders. He compromised his whole existence, in fact, risked hissignature without even knowing whether he could make it good or not,and, harassed by anxiety for the future, by the black misery whichsurrounded him, and by the prospect of all physical privations andmoral torture, he went to get the new necklace, depositing on themerchant’s counter thirty-six thousand francs. “When Mr. and Mrs.Loisel leave the jewelry store, the jeweler says,”You will have a lifetime to enjoy these diamonds.” This .
