The Necklace Story Analysis

‘The Necklace’ is a dark fairy tale woven carefully with realism, where every detail contributes to the composition of the story. The story is about a woman of great physical beauty and charm named Mathilde Loisel, who is married to a ‘little clerk’ with no dowry and no social position. The story echoes Maupassant’s philosophy about the unpredictability and the absurd nature of life. The story is built on a plot and irony to depict the illogical catastrophes of life. The present essay intends to explore the question of ‘who is to blame for the unfortunate events of ‘The Necklace’. The story of Mathilde Loisel is a tragedy where a reversal of fortune happens because the illusory is taken to be real in the story and acts as hamartia. Is Mathilde Loisel responsible for her fall, or are there other characters or larger forces that participated in her demise? These are the questions which will be answered in the course of this paper.

The story opens with the detailed characterization of Mathilde Loisel, Maupassant’s follow social Darwinism wrapped in realism. According to the details about Mathilde Loisel, we know very insightful traits of the character, such as her obsession with material, as the following lines suggest:
“She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after.” (“Short Stories: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant”, 2018)

Maupassant pretty much sketches the character in these paragraphs: what she wants out of the life she does not have; it is very unsettling; she is a dreamer, and she thinks magically. At this point in the story, fate enters the scene when they are invited to a ball, but this idea of the ball does not make her happy; instead, it makes her sad because she does not have anything to wear for this special occasion. Her husband gave her his savings to buy a dress, but the same night, she despairs wearing jewels at the ball. She remarks that ‘there’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich.’ Her husband suggests he lend some jewels from her girlhood friend Madame Forestier. Hence, she borrowed the ‘superb Necklace’, dressed way above her social status and became the bell of the ball, admired by the men of the high station as her ‘lowly clerk’ husband. Her tortured dreams and the magic she idealizes became true for a moment; for this ephemeral moment, she is going to sacrifice her whole life. Furthermore, the moment is illusory, as well as the moment of triumph against the dark reality that she has to suffer afterwards when she loses her necklace. They would have endured what Maupassant calls the ‘black misery’ to repay the debt. She started work like a peasant, like a ‘woman of the people’, says Maupassant in this graphic detail:

“She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans.” (“Short Stories: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant”, 2018)

Nevertheless, Maupassant refers to the transformation happening in Mathilde Liosel through this destitution; she starts to know the ‘horrible existence’ of the needy in the course of this moral obligation of returning the money. Mathilde Loisel has transformed into a rough, old, and strong woman; she also wonders about that ephemeral moment of happiness when she was admired at the ball. She has started wondering about the invisible forces of nature, such as chance and fate, as the lines state:

“What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How strange and changeful is life! How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us!” (“Short Stories: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant”, 2018)

Here is Maupassant’s philosophy about life expressed in the above lines, which is about the mysterious nature of life and the workings of this world where human beings seem mere objects controlled by the irrevocable nature of time. Up till now, we have set solid ground to bring in the argument of who is to blame for the catastrophic events that happened in the story. First, it was fate as the invitation to the ball was a mere chance that led to the tragic end of the story, as I have already referred to the philosophy of Maupassant behind this story. Second, as we have seen through the text, Mathilde’s dreams are attached to vanity and materialism, and she has an urge to move to another class because she hates her present status as part of the working class. This obsession with switching to the upper class is because she thinks that her birth in the working class is a mistake of destiny, as she believes that she is made for dresses, jewels, and balls, not for her class. When she attends the ball she appears to be in a class that she does not belong to, hence, reality is distorted. Therefore, the ten years of plight are exchanged for one moment of triumph because Mathilde takes the illusion as real.

Even at one point in the story, her husband accused her of being stupid. There is another dimension of the story that can be brought to light to understand the reason for Mathilde’s plight. This point is about gap of communication between Mathilde and her friend Madame Forestier, what If they should have met and she should have told Mathilde about the fakeness of the Necklace, hence, one can argue that Madame Forestier is partly responsible for Mathilde’s endurance. The point that I made about the material fixation about Mathilde can also be challenged accordingly as by the end of the story Maupassant seems to make another point, we see that Madame Forestier is as beautiful as she was before but Mathilde has get ‘old and rough’. Hence, wealth can maintain one’s beauty, and if Mathilde finds happiness in material or wealth, it is not ‘stupid’ as happiness seems to be associated with wealth. Anyone can be deceived by its charms, while, on the other hand, poverty brings bareness and harshness. It is very difficult to simply put blame on any of the characters in the story. Fate, chance, class consciousness and the mysterious attraction of wealth and luxury are all factors contributing to the development of the unfortunate events that happened in the story.