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While expressing, people use sentences containing grammatical structures and words, and they
perform actions via those utterances. Actions that are carried out through language are called
speech act. There are direct speech acts and also the indirect speech acts.
Among various types of speech acts some have received more attention, because they are used
4. Declarations – these speech acts bring about the state of affairs they name: blessings,
5. Expressives – these speech act indicate the speaker’s psychological state or attitude:
These theories can be applied to any piece of literary work. Here we will take into
consideration the short story with the help of these acts described above.
INTRODUCTION
The Diamond Necklace is the story written by French author, Guy de Maupassant.
The story is about the couple and their suffering because of the diamond necklace. Mathilde was
very pretty and one of the charming girls, but she was born in the poor family of clerks. She had
no expectations of being known, loved or wedded by any rich man. So she married a clerk at the
Ministry of Public Instruction. She was living in a condition like all poor women would live. She
suffered from poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls of her house, from
the worn-out chairs and also from the ugliness of the curtains. She dressed plainly because she
cannot afford to dress well and look pretty. Both she and her husband were living in poor
conditions. She neither had good dresses nor any jewels. As every woman she also liked to
please, to be envied, to be charming, and to be sought after. The sight of the little Breton peasant,
who did her humble house work aroused her regrets which were despairing, and distracted
dreams. She had a friend from her school, which was rich. Mathilde did not like to see her any
more because she felt insulted going to her and by looking at her dresses and jewels. Mathilde
had no dresses, no jewels, nothing and as every woman she loved only those things.
One evening, her husband returned home with a triumphant air, and holding a large envelope in
his hand. He said to her “here is something for you”. Here he performs the commissive act. We
can say this because he is committing her to give her something. She then opens the envelope
and finds the invitation at the palace. She then asks him “what do you want me do with that?”
and he answers “but, my dear, I thought you would be glad. Here he uses an indirect speech act.
He does not give the direct answer to her question so this becomes an indirect speech act. She
then agrees to the fact of going to the party with him. But she has no good clothes to put on. She
then asks her husband “And what do u want me to put on my back?” for which his answer is “the
dress you go to theatre in” this answer is the direct speech act because there is a direct
relationship between the question asked and the answer given. Mathilde does not find that dress
suitable to wear for the party and thus uses declarative act and says that “I have no dress and
therefore I can’t go to this ball”. Then her husband asks her to buy a new dress, but he does not
want to spend much on it. He asks her that “how much will the new dress cost?” there is a use of
direct speech act to answer this question where Mathilde says “ I don’t know exactly, but I think
I could manage it with four hundred Francs”. This sentence is also expressing her desire to buy
new dress, so here the expressive act is also followed. Her husband then commits her to give four
hundred Francs, for which he uses the commissive act. He says, “All right. I will give you four
hundred Francs”. But her demands do not stop. When she has a new dress, she also needs new
jewels to wear on it which will suit her new dress. But she knows that dress and jewels will not
cost four hundred, she will need more money for it. She then uses the perlocutionary act and
natural flowers. Its very stylish at this time of year. Yet she is not convinced with it. She declares
that she would look poor among all the other women who are rich. Her husband suddenly
realizes about Mathilde’s school friend who is rich. And he directs her to go to that friend and
borrow some of her jewelry. She becomes happy and, using expressive act she says “it’s true. I
never though of it”. Mathilde then visits her friend Mme. Forestier, and asks her whether she can
borrow Forestier’s jewels for a day or two. Forestier then uses directive act and asks Mathilde to
choose. “Choose, choose, my dear”. Mathilde then chooses one diamond necklace and asks
Forestier “Can you lend me that, only that?” for which Forestier answers in commissive act “yes,
certainly”.
Finally Mathilde goes for the ball wearing her new dress and the jewels borrowed from her
friend. She was really very happy at the day of the ball, because she was the woman who got the
most attention that night. Every man wanted to dance with her, she was looking very pretty.
After the ball was over mathilde and her husband were waiting for the taxi outside the palace. It
was cold outside and her husband told her to wait while he goes and takes the taxi. He used
expressive act to say it. He said “Wait a bit. You will catch cold outside. I will go and call a
cab”. This is expressive act. After going home Mathilde realizes that she has lost the diamond
necklace which she had borrowed from Forestier. Using expressive act she says in shock, “I
have- I have - I’ve lost Mme. Forestier’s necklace”. When she tells this to her husband he asks
her “You’re sure you had it on when you left the ball?” to which she gives an answer
“yes, I felt it in the vestibule of the palace”. Then again he says,
“ But if you had lost it in the street we should have heard it fall. It must be in the cab”.
She says, “Yes. Probably. Did you take his number?” he says,
“No” this all conversation in in the direct speech act. Because, there is no reference to any other
thing but, a simple and plain conversation about the necklace. There is also use of expressive act
by Mathilde when she says “I felt it in the vestibule of the palace”. She is expressing that she had
Her husband then says, “I shall go back on foot over the whole route which we have taken to see
if I can find it”. Here he uses the commissive act. He is giving her hope that if he goes on foot
there are chances of finding the necklace. Thus this is a commissive act used by husband. But
when he does not find it in any way then he suggests Mathilde to write to her friend about it. He
directs how to write. He says, “You must write to your friend that you have broken the clasp of
her necklace. That will give us time to turn round”. Here he has made use of directive speech act
he is giving her the direction about what she should do. Then they start searching for the man
who had made the necklace. They go from shop to shop asking each jeweler about the necklace.
There they find the answer in an expressive act that “It was not I, Madame, who sold the
necklace”.
After looking for so many days and not finding it they take loan from many people to collect the
money and buy just the same necklace that she had lost. To repay the loans they had live in very
bad conditions. For ten years they were trying to repay the loans taken from all the people. For
these ten years they lived in very critical conditions. Her husband worked in the evening making
a fair copy of some tradesman’s accounts, and late at night he often copied manuscripts for five
sous a page. She came to know what heavy housework meant. She washed the dishes, dirty linen,
the shirts and the dish clothes, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slopes down to the
street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. She dressed
like a woman of the people, she went to the fruitier, the grocer, the butcherputting her basket on
her arms, bargaining, getting insulted, defending her money sou by sou. At the end of the ten
One Sunday having gone to take a walk, Mathilde met her friend who still looked young
Mathilde takes this opportunity to clear and confess about the earlier misrepresented fact about
However, Forestier doesn’t recognize Mathilde and says “Oh my poor Mathilde! How are you
changed!”
“Yes I have had days hard enough, since I have seen you- and that because of you.”
“Do you remember the diamond necklace which you lent me to wear at the ball?”
“Yes. Well?”
understand that it was not easy for us, who had nothing. At least it is ended, and I am very glad.”
In this conversation, only direct and indirect speech act can be seen to have been used. We can
say this in the light of their conversation. The answers which are given to the questions asked are
the direct answers. They do not share any other context but talk in the same context. There are
three sentences which have made use of expressive act. These sentences are “No. I am
Mathilde.” In this sentence Mathilde is expressing herself. Because, Forestier have not
recognized her due to so much change in Mathilde. The second sentence is uttered by mathilde
when she says “Well, I lost it”. Again in this sentence she is using the expressive act. Here
Mathilde is explaining Forestier that the diamond necklace which she gave to Mathilde had lost
by her. Then Forestier expresses herself by saying that Mathilde had brought it back. The e were
going through is now ended, and she is glad about the fact that it is ended.