Greed in The Necklace
Greed. The desire for more and the one thing that keeps the economies of today running. We are constantly being bombarded with images of things that we can attain that once we possess them we are supposed to make us feel happier and more fulfilled than ever before. Greed is an insatiable need for more, where more is never enough. Greed can never be satisfied, once you attain your hearts desire another desire takes it's place. Greed is self-serving and destructive. Neighbours are no longer friends but rivals in a competition. Family members are no longer loved ones but obstacles in the quest for the newest, brightest and best.. Greed is like a whirlpool, it keeps drawing victims nearer it's center and in due time as the center is reached the force pulls victims under and destroys them. The story "The Necklace" written by Guy De Maupassant clearly illustrates the destructive capacity of greed. He uses character, setting and irony to paint a picture of the consequences that result as greed infiltrates the very soul of a being.The author Guy De Maupassant, uses the character of Mathilde Loisel to depict the many characteristics of greed. He describes her as being a "pretty and charming girl...that fate had blundered ove
poverty as she "comes to know the ghastly life of abject poverty"(696). De Maupassant's trust in life's cruel retribution is apparent as he describes Mathilde doing "hateful duties of the kitchen...wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery...clad like poor woman"(696). Mathilde's poverty stricken fate lasts 10 long years until the debt for replacing the necklace is finally repayed. The constrast between her life before and after the party supports the De Maupassant's subject with regards to the ruinous power of greed. De Maupassant takes Mathilde from the beauty and excitement of a french society party and thrusts her into the dreary and mundane world of the poverty stricken to illustrate the highs and lows that can be caused by greed. Greed turns the once pretty Mathilde into a woman with "badly done hair...[with] skirts awry...red hands...and a shrill voice"(696). As Mathilde returns to her plain apartment after the party and looks at herself "in all her glory before the mirror" she realizes the borrowed necklace is gone. This is the point where fate turns the tables on Mathilde Loisel and proceeds to reward her greed by sending her headlong into r her... [born] into a family of artisans"(691). Due to her families lack of position in society Mathilde Loisel lets herself be married off to a man she considers entirely beneath her. In her mind she has grandiose visions of how her life should be, surrounded by Oriental tapestries, vast salons, priceless ornaments and charming rooms created for parties with famous friends. In reality she lives with her husband in a modest and unpretentious home with "mean walls, worn chairs and ugly curtains"(691). Mathilde badly wants to be a part of the upper class and "suffers endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury"(691). Her greed causes her to be a lonely woman who has trouble maintaining friendships. She would "weep whole days, with grief, regret, despair and misery"(692) after visiting Madame Forrester a old school friend who has had better financial fortune that Mathilde. De Maupassant comments on her greed by stating that she loves only clothes and jewels and "feels that she is made for them"(692).
Some common words found in the essay are:
De Maupassant, Mathilde Loisel, Champs Elysees, De Maupassant's, , Mathilde Liosel, Monsieur Loisel, de maupassant, Madame Forrester, mathilde loisel, Madame Forestier, de maupassant's, greed de maupassant, guy de, greed de, late 1800's, poverty stricken, result greed, greed satisfied, Guy De, guy de maupassant, ironic mathilde,
Approximate Word count = 1514
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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