The Necklace Essay, Research Paper

Guy De Maussapant?s story "The Necklace" focuses on Mathilde Loisel, a character consumed by pride. Guy De Maussapant has successful describing Mathilde as a young, poor, and proud woman that live in France during seventeenth century. In this story "The Necklace," Mathilde?s character is revealed by what she hopes, what she says, and what she does.

Mathilde?s character is revealed by what she hopes for in her life. In this story "The Necklace," Mathilde is being describes as a young and beautiful woman that was born in a poor family. She is married to a minor clerk in the Ministry of Education. Suffering from the poorness, she is wishing for better life style. Living in the small, old house with worn chairs, and ugly curtains, Mathilde imagines for "vast drawing rooms hung with antique skills, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who are famous and sough after" (696). In addition, in her daily meals, she imagines for "delicate food served in marvelous dishes, whispered gallantries, listened to with an inscrutable smile as one trifled with the pink flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail" (696). This has indicates that Mathilde is unhappy with the condition of life that she is having and hopping for a change in her life.

Mathilde?s character is revealed by what she says in expressing her pride. One evening mathilde?s husband came home with an invitation from Minister of Education and Madame Georges Ramponneau. Mathilde is not happy and not looking forward to go because she has no gown and jewels to wear. When ask by her husband, She replies "I have no jewels to wear, not a single stone, I shall look like a nobody. I would rather not go to the ball" (698). She has reveals herself not only as a pride person but also as a materialistic. She does not accept the reality that she is a poor woman. She wants to be recognized at the ball. She wants to dress as well and look as good as other rich woman could be. This pride in Mathilde is clearly defines in the following sentence: "No . . . there?s nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the company of rich women" (698).

Mathilde?s character is revealed by what she does to repay the missing necklace. Instead of telling her friends from the beginning that she lost the necklace and finding out how much the necklace cost, she decides to replace it with a diamond necklace. After ten years of hard work, Mathilde and her husband finally pay the debts incurred for the missing necklace. The cost was decimating for poor Mathilde: "Her hair was unkempt, her skirts were awry, her hands were red" (700). However, under all the toil and hardship that she has gone through, Mathlide is still thought back of the night that she looks so great and admired by many people at the ball. This pride, her beauty when she was young, is clearly expressing in the following sentence: "But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and thought of that evening long ago, of the ball at which she had been so beautiful and so much admired" (700).

Throughout the story "The Necklace," Guy De Maupassant has successful describing Mathilde as a character places pride prior to everything and has to pay a big price for it. The author has clearly expressed Mathilde?s pride by the way she hopes, the way she says, and the way she does in order to solve her problems. From this story "the Necklace," let us say, pride can be costly if we don?t use it wisely.