Ch 26The Necklace

The Necklace

Author: Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893), the great French master of the short story, famous for his surprise endings and sharp observation of human nature.

Introduction

"The Necklace" is one of the most famous short stories in world literature. It is the story of Matilda Loisel, a pretty young woman who is never content with what she has. Her vanity and her desire to appear rich for one single evening cost her ten years of grinding poverty — and the story's cruel twist at the end shows how one small act of pride, and the failure to speak the truth, can destroy a whole life.

Detailed Summary

Matilda is a pretty young lady born, "as if through an error of destiny", into a family of clerks. With no dowry and no expectations, she is married to M. Loisel, a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. Though her husband is caring and content, Matilda is perpetually unhappy. She feels she was born for all the delicacies and luxuries of life, and she suffers constantly from the poverty of her shabby apartment, its worn chairs and faded walls. She dreams of grand dinners, shining silver, elegant gowns and admirers, and she weeps for days out of chagrin, regret and despair. She even stops visiting her rich school friend, Mme Forestier, because she suffers so much on returning home.

One evening, her husband proudly brings home an invitation to a grand ball at the Minister's residence. He has obtained it with great difficulty, hoping to please his wife. But instead of being delighted, Matilda throws the invitation on the table in irritation — she has nothing suitable to wear. Her husband, sacrificing the four hundred francs he had saved to buy a gun for lark-shooting with his friends, gives her the money for a pretty new dress.

As the ball approaches, Matilda is still sad — she has no jewels to wear, and she would rather not go than look poor among rich women. Her husband suggests wearing natural flowers, but she refuses. He then suggests she borrow jewellery from her rich friend, Mme Forestier. Mme Forestier readily opens her jewel case, and Matilda, after trying several pieces, borrows a superb diamond necklace.

At the ball, Matilda is a grand success. She is the prettiest of all — elegant, gracious, smiling and full of joy. All the men notice her, ask her name and want to dance with her; even the Minister notices her. She dances with enthusiasm, intoxicated with pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty. The couple leave at about four o'clock in the morning and, ashamed of their modest wraps, hurry away in a shabby old cab.

Back home, Matilda has a terrible shock — the diamond necklace is gone. The couple search her dress, her cloak and her pockets in vain. M. Loisel goes back over the whole route on foot, then to the police and the cab offices, and puts an advertisement in the newspapers offering a reward. A week passes with no hope. To buy time, they write to Mme Forestier that the clasp of the necklace has broken and is being repaired.

In a shop of the Palais-Royal they find a similar diamond necklace priced at forty thousand francs, which they get for thirty-six thousand. M. Loisel has eighteen thousand francs left to him by his father; the rest he borrows in small sums from usurers, signing ruinous promissory notes and compromising his whole future. Matilda returns the replacement to Mme Forestier, who does not even open the case — a fateful detail, for she thus never discovers the exchange.

Then begins the horrible life of necessity. The Loisels send away the maid and move into cheap attic rooms. Matilda now does all the odious household work — washing dishes, laundering clothes, carrying water up the stairs, and bargaining sou by sou with the grocer and the butcher like a common woman. Her husband works in the evenings keeping a merchant's accounts and at night copying manuscripts at five sous a page. This life lasts ten long years, at the end of which every debt is repaid. Matilda now looks old — a strong, hard, crude woman of a poor household, with dishevelled hair and red hands.

One Sunday, walking in the Champs-Élysées, Matilda sees Mme Forestier, still young and beautiful. She decides to tell her everything. Mme Forestier barely recognises her, and is astonished to hear how the Loisels have spent ten years paying for a diamond necklace to replace the one that was lost. Then comes the crushing revelation: "Oh, my poor Matilda! Mine were false. They were not worth over five hundred francs!"

Themes

• Vanity and false pride: Matilda's desire to look rich for one evening ruins her real life.
• Discontentment: Unhappiness with what one has is the root of Matilda's tragedy.
• Honesty and courage to tell the truth: Had the Loisels confessed the loss at once, ten years of misery could have been avoided.
• The deceptiveness of appearances: The dazzling "diamond" necklace, like the glittering world Matilda craved, was fake.
• Irony of fate: One small moment of pleasure is paid for with a decade of suffering — for a worthless object.

Character Sketches

Matilda Loisel

Matilda is young, pretty and charming, but vain, discontented and over-ambitious. She believes destiny has wronged her by placing her in a clerk's family and constantly dreams of wealth, luxury and admiration. Her refusal to accept her reality makes her, and her husband, miserable. Yet she is not without virtues: once disaster strikes, she shows heroic courage, accepts a life of drudgery "all of a sudden", and works honestly for ten years to repay the debt. Suffering transforms her from a dreamy, delicate woman into a hardened but responsible one.

M. Loisel

M. Loisel is a simple, contented and devoted husband. He is happy with small pleasures — a good pot of soup pleases him as much as a feast would please his wife. He sacrifices his savings for her dress, spends nights searching for the necklace, and gives up his comfort, his inheritance and his future to repay the debt. He never blames Matilda. His quiet, uncomplaining sacrifice makes him the story's most sympathetic figure, though his readiness to hide the truth from Mme Forestier shares in the couple's ruin.

Mme Forestier

Mme Forestier is Matilda's rich and generous school friend. She lends her jewellery without hesitation and, at the end, honestly reveals that the necklace was false. Her kindness contrasts with Matilda's envy of her; ironically, the friend Matilda avoided out of jealousy was warm-hearted throughout.

Important Word Meanings