The Necklace
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The necklace
Written by :
Guy De maupassant in 1884s
i. Critical analysis of "The Necklace" Short Story:
This Story "The Necklace" Follows the life of a woman and her husband living in France in 1880s.
The Woman is called Madame Mathilde Loisel and she is materialistic, discontent and selfish woman. Her husband is humble man and clerk in the ministry of education. He is not a rich man but he enjoys the simpler things. Yet, his wife is never content with any thing of her life or her environment. Mathilde's selfishness, materialistic and un satisfaction are evident in these events:
1. Her attitudes towards the material things in her home environment and in the way she treats her husband.
2. Madame Mathild's flaws are primarily shown by how unhappy she is with her surroundings and her home environment in general.
3. As what happened from towards her husband when he brings the invitation, from the ministry , to the dinner party and which is refused by his wife until he bring to her a new dress , then some Jewels.
4. She doesn't appreciate her husband tiresome to bring this invitation and his desire to go to the party.
5. She is unhappy about her darkened rooms and her home and its furniture.
6. Mathilde's materialistic and selfishness is shown another time in her behavior after the party had finished, when her husband wants to cover her shoulders with a modest clothe and said to her to stop at the house until he brings a cab , but she ignores him and get out.
7. She treats her husband as if he is a slave. Who exists for no other object, but to be blamed for things gone wrong in her life and for her to order around .
8. She gives her husband no love, praise or thanks for any of the sacrifices he makes for her. He has adjusted himself to plain the life for her, gives her the money to buy a new dress , forbidden himself from entertainment by gun hunting which he would like to buy by these francs he had saved.
9. She displays her materialistic by losing the necklace, making her husband go to look for it at Four O'clock in the morning, and he looks for the necklace For Four hours without benefit.
10. Because of Mathild's materialistic, ambition, envy, selfishness, stubbornness and greediness, she and her husband have to live abject poverty to save the 36.000 francs to buy a similar necklace to the orginal to give it back to her old friend Jeane Frostier.
ii. False Pride in the borrowed Necklace:
Mathilde borrowed the necklace from her old rich friend frostier, so that she wouldn't appear in usual appearance in the midst of rich woman.
She loses the necklace ; however , she refuses to admit that . She and her husband don't realize that the necklace is fake.
They bought a similar one to return it to Madame Frostier so that they wouldn't face the shame . She prefers to live in tiresome ten years and abject poverty to confess of losing it to her friend, so that she can be proud continuously. But true pride comes in fact, from self-respect or satisfaction in achievement.
Madame loisel's pride only came from her physical appearance. She also had always wanted to gain pride through having material possessions.
Her sense of self-importance at the ball was essentially claimed without right, since it stemmed only from her outfit.
This Feeling lasted for one evening, but the consequence of that night continued for ten years. Because of her false pride, she doesn't think of the different ways to solve here problem and doesn’t weigh the effect of her decision.
The best solution is to be honest with her friend and she will be genuine even if the necklace is real, especially, her friend knew that she is poor woman.
Madam Loisel's thoughts of grandeur before the loss of the necklace don't seem to coincide with her actions afterwards.
She and her husband live in abject poverty. Working hard for ten year to save the price of the necklace; however, Mrs. Loisel does her part completely heroically. She was still trying to maintain this false dignity by telling her friend that she, Madam Loisel, worked for ten year to save the big debts for the price of Madame Frostier's necklace.
iii. A valuable lesson from this story :
Guy De maupassant wants the reader to realize that envy and greediness only brings unhappiness, and feeling sorry for oneself will only lead to downfall. The necklace is a story that teaches an audience to be honest, no matter what the consequences will be.
i. Plot of The Necklace Story :
Plot is the organized series of events involving the characters . It presents conflicts of opposing persons or aims.
The necklace tells the of 19c middle class French couple Monsieur and Madame Mathilde Loisel . Monsieur is a clerk in the ministry of education.
Madam Loisel is beautiful young lady, who might have been married to a richer man, if her family isn't poor.
The couple are invited to dinner party by the ministry, but the wife refuses to go without a new dress, so her husband gives her 400 Francs to buy a new dress, but she refuses another time to go without Jewels, then her husband suggested borrowing some Jewels from her old friend Madame Loisel , then she borrows the necklace from her friend Madame Frostier. This necklace somehow is lost in the party in which she can be noticed clearly. She dances with many people and is very happy.
The couple decide to buy another similar necklace which costs 36,000 francs to return to her friend other wise they will inform Madame Frostier with the losing of this necklace and will face the shame from her friend.
So they have to work hard for ten years and live in object poverty a during this period. Madame Loisel's beauty is disappeared utterly. After ten years of hard working, Madame Loisel sees Madame Frostier suddenly on one path, so she informs her about this subject therefore Madame Frostier becomes shocked . Her friend informs Mathilde that her original necklace is only an imitation.
The steps of an ordinary plot include:
1. Introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and conclusion.
Introduction: through it we met all the characters the couple Loisel and Madame Frostier and the general situation.
2. Rising action:
When she refused to go to the party without new dress, then other complications such as she refused to go to the party without Jewels and the conflict appeared between her and her husband and between her aim and her financial situation.
3. Climax:
The climax appeared apparently when the necklace was lost.
4. Falling action
The problem is settled by the payment of the debts for ten hard working years.
5. Conclusion:
It is open end or twist end. Her Friend Madame Frostier said that the original necklace was imitation.
i. The plot will be arranged according to some basic view of life"
1. Realism, romanticism, idealism and symbolism,
Realism: This story was taken from our real life because these problems, between the couple take place in many houses in all societies.
2. Romanticism:
Mathilde imagined being noticed, richer and live in palace with many servants, married with richer man with richer furniture.
3. Idealism:
This passage made me imagine about how strange ones life can be, what would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows ? How life is strange and changeful? How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved?
4. Symbolism:
There is symbolism to the aspects of the Mathilde's life and her husband. But the primary symbolic object is a diamond necklace. In general sense a diamond is thought of as a stone of commitment, faithful and promise between the couple. A parallel can be drawn with Monsieur Loisl's values because he shows his commitment to his wife when he stand by her faithful, although it means giving up his inheritance going into debt, and living in hardship for ten years. A diamond also represents treasure and richness .
ii. Setting :
The time, place, circumstances, atmosphere and the mood which are back ground to the action.
Time: 1880s during ten years.
Place: France.
The couple finally saves by debts and his savings 36,000 francs to make up the cost, instead of saying the truth to the necklace's owner. The author used themes like stubbornness, obsession and ambition to show us how a character can become a lineated from their surroundings.
The thought of not looking as wealthy as the other women at the ball is unacceptable for her.
iii. Characterization:
Guy De Maupassant used indirect way in his characterization to make us know the kind of the character ourselves.
Through the view of the narrator the woman character. Is described as needy and develops as story moves on . The way the plot is developed shows how the main character is changing.
The point of view shown in the story is third person narrative. Mrs. Loisel's change characterizes in her personality from being needy to being benevolent. When she is able to receive what she wanted, she went to the ball, and got noticed by everyone. From this description, the reader is able to understand how the Madame Loisel's Feel about what she wants in the life through the narrator.
As the plot develops in the necklace. Madame loisel shows a change in nature towards the end of the story. A sacrifice that Madame Loisel made was that she got ride of her servant and started working to save money to buy a necklace to replace the original.
Mathilde in the necklace is the protagonist, a central character in literary work. Her character is round, one who is portrayed in greater depth or detail but static (Mathilde remains selfish and unhappy).
The other personality to the same main character doesn't change significantly or at all throughout the story.
She is beautiful girl who doesn't accept her poor situation and suffers endlessly from her lower life style.
She plays the role of flat but dynamic character.
iv. Reality :
When Mathilde looks at herself in the mirror and sees a woman, standing before her ' with frowsty hair , skirt askew and red hands"
v. Theme:
Stubbornness, obsession, ambition are themes revealed by character, setting and plot. Stubbornness is revealed by her objection to go to the party without dress. Then without Jewels. The cause of the characters' struggle is an ambition.
vi. Guy De Maupassant used the exposition, Fore-showing and symbolism to emphasize the destructive nature of greed:
i. Exposition:
The protagonist, mathilde, is described as an unsatisfied person as can be seen in this statement "she suffered _ ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and all luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs and from the ugliness of the curtain.
ii. Foreshadowing:
An attentive reader could have guessed that the fancy box was just holding a fake necklace. The title of the story has some importance for the readers, showing that they should focus on what is going to happen with necklace. Other writers pointed out some different instances of foreshadowing that contribute to the understanding of the story.
For example, one can suspect that something is not right when mathilde goes to the jewelry's store where she believes the necklace was made and consults the seller about the necklace, and his response is "IT wasn't I. Madam, who sold the necklace: I must simply have furnished the clasp".
vi- An analysis of the Irony :
Irony occurs when a reader predicts what will happen in a story, and then the story takes a turn and the complete opposite of the prediction, occurs. Authors use ironic situation in stories to retain their reader's interest and keep the readers wondering what will happen next.
Guy De Maupassant who wrote the "Necklace" using his main character to develop the types of irony that twist the story in a way to insure the attention of the reader.
The Mathilde personality in the necklace is round one and gathered between static and dynamic character.
Maupassant expresses his irony through Mathilde's selfishness and the necklace. She plays arole of flat but dynamic character.
The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant
Study questions
Literal:
1. What is the meaning of the following words in the context in which they appear:
a. Artisans حرفيو ن
b. Marriage portion مهر الزواج dowry
c. Gallantries نفاق – مجاملات , تودد ( النساء )
d. Inscrutable غامض ambiguous
e. Petulantly بوقاحة impolitely
f. Big الأغنياء وكبار المسؤولين riches and representatives.
g. Usurers المرابون money lenders
h. Abject شديد _ مدقع _ بائس strict
2. Why did M. Loisel expect his wife to be pleased to receive the invitation from the minister of education?
Because he knew well that she never goes out and this a great occasion for her to go out for entertainment.
3. Describe Mrs. Loisel's reaction on reading the invitation?
She looked to her husband angrily and flunked the invitation petulantly across the table saying ' what do you want me to do with this?"
4. Why had M. Loisel been saving 400 Francs?
To buy a gun to hunt with it in accompany of his friends.
5. Compare and contrast the live of Mme Lebrun before and after the disappearance of the necklace?
Before the disappearance of the necklace, Mathilde lived in a weak house in its base and in its beauty with servant and some old furniture but this is a usual life for middle class society. After the disappearance of the necklace she lived an abject poverty and everyday save money for reserved debts, her servant was got ridden , then Mathild became worked hard at her home on the roof without servant and her husband became worked in more than one job. In brief her life became as a hell.
6. Why was Mme losiel anxious to hurry a way from the ball?
Because she didn't want the rich women in the ball see her with a modest clothe which her husband put it on her shoulders and because of her vanity.
7. What efforts were made to find Mrs. Frostier's necklace?
The couple , firstly , searched the folds of their clothes, secondly the husband went out to car services, after that sent to the newspaper putting advertisement ,carrying a reward for whom finding the necklace, finally started gathering the money from all places and by all ways to buy another similar one.
8. Describe in your own words how the liosel life changed after they had paid for the new necklace ?
She became with frowsty hair, askew skirt , and red hands. The floor full with sand and water, her hand are rougher , her toes were cut by the pans she was washing.
9. How did Mrs. Forestier recognize Mrs. Loisel when they met in the champs – Elysees
Mrs. Froesteir didn't recognize her until Mrs. Loisel telling her name.
10. What was Mrs. Forestier's reaction when the necklace was returned?
She said to Mathilde" you must have brought it back sooner; I might have needed it ".
Inferential: Always give reasons for your answers
1. Do you think Mrs. Loisel recognized good quality jewellery ?
At the beginning, yes she recognized because she felt with self confidence when she was in the ball. So she danced delightly.
2. Why was Mathilde unhappy with her life at the opening of the story?
Because she was discontent woman, ambitions endlessly, materialistic ,selfish, and envy.
She wanted richer husband, richer house, furniture, new dresses and Jewels . She wanted more and more and she can't attain these things.
3. Do you think M. Loisel enjoyed the ball?
No, he didn't enjoy, because he sat in one closed room with some men for talking, waiting their danced wives.
4. Why were the Loisels allowed to buy the new necklace for less than the asking price?
I think the shop's owner felt with their disaster, and they bagged him, telling him their story, so he agreed to give it for them with 36,000 francs.
5. Before the last few lines of this story, are there any clues given by the author which hint at the true cause of the baby's appearance?
I think, yes. The clues are "she, Madame Loisel was conscious of some emotion" and she envy her friend because her friend not only still a young, beautiful and attractive but also has a child.
The novelist wanted to say for us that Mathilde was not change, she is still envy and Jealous . Mathilde proved that with their word which consisted of the pride of paying the debt, and working hard to pay this debt.
6. Do you think M. Loisel was content with his life before the ball took place?
I think so, because he was eating delightly , and brought the invitation delightly too.
7. How did M. Loisel contribute to the cost of the new necklace?
He paid his heritage from his father 18,000 francs, gathered the money from lenders, usurers and worked in three jobs day and night.
Evaluation
1. Do you agree with the author that "women have no caste or class". Today, surely, the same applies to men.
The same applies to men.
2. Write a different end to the story, assuming that either Mrs. Loisel never lost the Necklace or that she found the necklace.
After she found the necklace at the same moment it was lost, she took it in the morning and gave it to her friend.
Her friend told her that there is a very rich business man had seen at the party and ask forestier about her. This man wanted to marry Mathilde and when he knew that she is married , the anger seemed on his face . Mathilde turned making many problems to her husband because her self- confidence increased after her visit to her friend and after she knew that she is very requested by men. Especially what appeared in the ball, and then she asked her husband to divorce her. After she became divorced, she didn't find any one wanted to marry her so she felt with sorrow during her rest life until she died.
3. How far do you think force of character affects our lives? Do you think it would be easier for a young, married a women to fulfill her dreams today?
Yes, I think so, but the marriage from a woman by young to fulfill her dreams may be right sometimes.
4. Discuss whether the Loisels chose the right course step of action when they found the necklace was missing? What other choices were open to them and why were these not chosen?
It is not the right step.
They must inform madam frostier with this action because Madam frostier as she seemed through out the story innocent, rich, simple and content women, so according to these features she won't take any franc ; even if the necklace is real.
They didn’t choose this course because of the shame, especially Mathilde was proud of herself very much.
5. Do you think there is amoral to this story?
Surly, Guy De Maupassant wants to learn us to be faithful, honest and telling the truth always and don't be envy, materialistic, selfish, ambitious so much and more than our abilities and we must be satisfied people to live in happiness.
رائد حلمي الفرا
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Another comment on ' the Necklace' short story which is written by
Guy De Maupassant.
As a matter of fact, this is my opinion which may be wrong, but it has been tiring me much, so I decided to express of it
I think the problem which took place to Mathilde was because of some reasons which didn't relate only with her. Her husband is also a part of this problem.
He is stingy and doesn't give her some of her rights as not only a woman but also a beautiful lady.
• He has 18,000 Francs as a heritance from his father; however, he doesn't buy some dresses or Jewelry for her.
• Their house is awfully wretched.
• He doesn't give her chances to go out for entertaining.
• He is childless, so he doesn't need more money for life.
• If he wants to entertain himself by gun, he must give her this chance, he is a clerk in ministry of education, so he must be taken some money after finishing his work.
• His salary is enough to live a complete family and not only a couple.
• Some critics considered the free time is blessing, but I think this is the opposite of the truth.
Some times the free time is flow and killer for human.
• I think he has been interesting in his work, and doesn't interest in his wife at all.
• I think, this woman is not prophet, she is a woman who is created by God with little mind and little religion.
• As all human are interested in their appearance, so it is not wrong for her to interest in her outfit.
• I think, her husband is interested in social appearance by his hard attempt to get the invitation, may be he didn’t want to please her.
• Sometimes woman tears are crocodile tears, but at this situation, I think her tears are because of injustice. And I may be a passionate.
• I think she is a faithful woman; otherwise she demands him the divorce after losing the necklace.
• She proved that she is a heroic patient and she loves him that obviously appears by her working hard to help him to pay the loans, so she has the right to be proud of her work.
• All of us can be wrong in something, so why we wanted her not to be wrong or to be angel. We are human.
• I think she didn't belong to a middle class; although, she has a maid; because her home is very old, she hasn't any dress or Jewelry or some tours for entertaining.
• The fact is that the appearance is very important in all societies to make us respected in our society, and our eyes are which eat and not our mouths. So our home and its furniture must be acceptable especially, if we capable.
• People don't search in our bodies, but watch our outfit. I think this is not forbidden by our God.
• I think she is ambitious; because, she knew that her husband is capable to attain her wishes, why not, and he has inheritance and a little Job.
• I think that writer was not be just with her, I think he has some problem with some lady.
• Let's be fair, and Judge on her with Justice.
• Another thing may be lost for us for a moment, is that the writer give us much description for her awful life. This awful life doesn't explain at all that she live in middle class.
• I think her husband's finance situation proved their middle class, but he doesn't apply this finance situation in his wife situation, because, he is stingy.
Some people think he is content, I object this opinion.
Some people think she is discontent or ambitious regardless to her abilities
I object also of this.
I think she is ambitious according to husband's abilities and finance case.
رائد حلمي الفرا
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