The Necklace

A detailed Summary of The Necklace

In Guy De Maupassant's story "The Necklace", the main character Mathilde is portrayed to be a very unhappy, manipulative and selfish person. I chose this character to be worthy of studying; because her actions can be compared to the way things are done in society today.

Throughout the story, Mathilde is shown to be a very sad character. Her character is written in a way that compares her happiness to materialistic objects. "She had no decent dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but these; she believed herself born only for these. She burned with the desire to please, to be envied, to be attractive and sought after." (Page 6, Paragraph 5) It is as if she gave up before she was born. The object, that in her mind would cause her happiness, would be to be attractive and to be envied by all. It was the little things in her surroundings that tormented her each day. She was ashamed of who she was, which made her very unhappy with her life in general. "She suffered because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly curtains. All such things, which most other women in her situation would not

even noticed, tortured her and filled her with despair". (Page 5, Intro Paragraph) These words show that things in her surroundings, that others may take for granted, make her very unhappy.

Throughout the story "The Necklace," Maupassant shows that Mathilde has many different traits. He shows how Mathilde can be very unhappy, manipulative and very selfish in her actions. Even in today's society, these traits can be a person's downfall, which can cost you 5,000 dollars for a 50-dollar necklace.

Mathilde's manipulation is apparent in the way that she treats her husband when he confronts her about the party. Her husband thought that she would be happy to have the opportunity to go out to an event. She responded to him by saying that she had nothing to wear. "Nothing, except I have nothing to wear and therefore can't go to the party. Give your invitation to someone else at the office whose wife will have nicer clothes than mine." (Page 7, Paragraph 20) This shows that she is trying to make him feel bad for her and manipulate him into buying her new clothes. He then volunteers to pay for a new dress and without delay she was calculating the price in he

Some common words found in the essay are:
Intro Paragraph, De Maupassant's, Maupassant Mathilde, hunting trip, seeing friend, throughout story, page 8 paragraph, story necklace, unhappy manipulative selfish, unhappy manipulative, manipulative selfish, 8 paragraph, jewelry party, page 8,

Approximate Word count = 785
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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The Necklace

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