Advika Shah

10/10/18

English 9

Mr. Hartwig

The Necklace ​Literary Analysis

‘Money is the root of all evil’ - King James II, this quote means that money starts all the evil

in the world. Money has become so important to human life that everything is based on the

amount of money a person has. Money is the cause of sorrow. Guy de Maupassant’s story ​The

Necklace ​is a story about Mathilde Loisel and her desires to achieve all the rich things she wishes

for, a high place in the social pyramid, beautiful jewelry, and lovely dresses. When attending a

ball with her husband she borrows a necklace from her friend Madame Forestier, which she loses

in the course of the ball. The rest of the story revolves around her paying back the debt of the

new necklace she has to buy to return to Madame Forestier in the place of the one she lost.

Mathilde now has to work for long hours along with her husband to pay the debt. The story ends

with Mathilde discovering that the necklace she had borrowed was actually a fake. Mathilde is

not hard-working and she only begins to work hard after she loses the necklace. Mathilde also

does not value what has been given to her and what she already possesses. Mathilde Loisel is

negligent of her surroundings and does not show concern to anyone including her husband.

Madame Mathilde Loisel is the saddest and most distressed protagonist.

Mathilde Loisel is not a hard-working character and is not willing to put in the effort to

achieve her dreams. Dreams and aspirations are essential to succeed but it is also important to

put hard work into achieving these dreams. Mathilde does dream of a lot, she wishes for a life
filled with balls and parties and servants at one call away, however, to put these dreams into

reality she takes no action. Throughout the beginning of the story, we see Mathilde complaining

the entire day at home and she doesn't even have a job. She keeps daydreaming and wastes a lot

of her time in the process. She even has a maid to take care of her basic chores at home and

instead of taking advantage of this time she saves (by having a maid do the household chores)

and finding a job she chooses stay at home. This makes her unhappy and thus Mathilde Loisel

from Guy de Maupassant's story ​The Necklace i​ s the saddest and most distressed protagonist.

Mathilde Loisel from Guy de Maupassant’s story ​The Necklace​ is not content with what she

already possess and throughout the story, she is always complaining about her lack of money,

good dresses or servants and maids. Along with her husband, she owns a little house and they

have a housekeeper, her husband works as a collector and earns sufficient money for them to

afford the basic necessities of food, clean water, clothing, and shelter. However, Mathilde is not

happy with this and keeps complaining. She does not realize how blessed she is in terms of

family, health, and beauty. She is a very good looking young lady and is not content. Mathilde

Loisel has a never-ending list of desires and this makes her depressed and dejected because she is

always thinking of what she does not have instead of realizing what she has. This makes her the

saddest and most distressed protagonist.

Mathilde Loisel is negligent of her surroundings does not show concern for her husband.

She is extremely selfish and only cares about materialistic things, like clothes and money. She

seems to always be her own world where she pretends to have a lot of money and her desires are

symbolic of this. She is always in her own world and she never thinks about her husband or the

sacrifices he makes to let her buy a dress. She is daydreaming and loses her happiness due to
negligence and self-pity. She keeps considering herself unlucky and wishes she led a better

lifestyle. As humans, it is essential to understand and realize each individual's position in the

world, and how it differs for various people. Mathilde Loisel from Guy de Maupassant's story

The Necklace ​only sees herself along with her desires, making her autistic. Thus she can be

viewed as the saddest and most distressed protagonist.

Thus concluding, Mathilde Loisel from Guy de Maupassant’s story ​The Necklace is​ the saddest

and most distressed protagonist. She is not hard-working, she also does not value what has been

given to her and what she already possesses and finally, Mathilde Loisel is negligent of her

surroundings and does not show concern to anyone including her husband. These are the

contributing factors that cause Mathilde Loisel to remain in this state of mind, and in the end,

make her the miserable and dispirited person she is.