“The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant, is set in old-age France, at that time wealth is very

important, and social class was even more. France that time was a city ruled by classicism, where
one had to be introduced into society no matter, their beauty, income, or grace. The story is about
a young and beautiful middle class woman who wanted to be a part of the upper-class society
through her husband and her rich friend but ends up destroying her life in vain. One day she
received an invitation to a ball, she buys a new dress and borrows a necklace from her friend, and
after the ball she found out that she had lost the necklace. She is not able to admit the error to the
friend who lent it, so she borrowed monies from friends, family and loan sharks to buy a
matching replacement. While spending 10 years in poverty, toiling to repay the debt of replacing
the necklace, she bumped into an old friend and found out that the necklace was costume
jewelry.
The plot begins with a description of the protagonist, Mathilde, a young lady born into a
family with little means, and who marries a gentleman who is employed as a clerk. The setting of
this story is late nineteenth century France. Maupassant employs the limited omniscient narrative
perspective and utilizes third-person narration in this short story that allows his readers an
intimate look into Mathilde’s life. Utilizing this point of view enables his readers to appreciate
the changes that take place in her character. The narrator’s tone in this piece is unsympathetic
towards the protagonist.
Maupassant masterfully portrays the depth of emotion of this character throughout this story
especially in the scene when her husband comes home with an invitation to the ball. Instead of
“being delighted” with the invitation, she throws it on the table “muttering”. Maupassant
continues to explain her reaction and how she becomes “irritated” and impatient with her
husband. When her husband suggests she wear her theater gown to the ball she begins to “weep”.
And then “by a violent effort” she is able to muster up the strength to “conquer her grief” and
replies to her husband in a “calm voice” . In describing Mathilde’s reaction to her husband,
Maupassant expertly portrays Mathilde as a woman who is disgusted that she would have to
wear an old dress to the ball. In doing so, Maupassant actually raises the level of disgust from his
reader towards this character.
In general, the story was really a good and interesting one. this story is a story cleverly planned
and superbly executed. I like the way the writer, Guy de Maupassant, gave and presented the
detail in the story. The plot has a throbbing quality, a sequenced rise and fall which successfully
retain the attention of the readers until the end. And, the reader will be surprised once he finished
reading it because it is unexpected that the ending will be like that. The ending was really
surprising and it is perfect. Also, you will realize some things in life by reading this.