The Necklace

“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.

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 her head. “I don’t know exactly, but it seems to me that I could get by on four hundred francs.” The price just so happened to be the exact amount set a side for a summer hunting trip he had planned to go on without her. In a way it was as if she was putting him on the spot by saying it was either the hunting trip or she. Only if he chose the hunting trip it appears to me that she would have been outraged.

Mathilde's selfishness is shown to be a major downfall in her character throughout the story. Her selfishness in her one true friendship is the true light of her character. She felt so bad about her