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SPEECH ACTS

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.

Direct speech act –

Indirect speech act –

Among various types of speech acts some have received more attention, because they are used

in day to day life. They are

1. Representatives – these speech acts represent a state of affair: assertions, statements,

claims, hypothesis, descriptions and suggestions. Representatives are generally

categorized as true or false.

2. Commissives – these speech acts commit a speaker to a course of action: promises,

pledges, threats and vows.


3. Directives – these speech acts are intended to get the addressee to carry out an action:

commands, requests, challenges, invitations, and dares.

4. Declarations – these speech acts bring about the state of affairs they name: blessings,

firings, baptisms, arrests, marrying, declaring mistrials.

5. Expressives – these speech act indicate the speaker’s psychological state or attitude:

greetings, apologies, congratulations, condolences, and thanks giving.

6. Verdictives – these speech acts make assessments or judgments: ranking, assessing,

appraising, condoning. Some verdictive combine the characteristics od declarations and

representatives, they are called as representational declaritions.

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. and you, didn’t you notice it?” she 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

felt it and it was with her.

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

years they have paid everything.

One Sunday having gone to take a walk, Mathilde met her friend who still looked young

beautiful and charming as always.

Mathilde takes this opportunity to clear and confess about the earlier misrepresented fact about

diamond necklace of Mme. Forestier.

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.”

“Of me! How so?”

“Do you remember the diamond necklace which you lent me to wear at the ball?”

“Yes. Well?”

“Well, I lost it.”

“What do you mean? You brought it back.”


“I brought you back another just like it. And for this we have been ten years paying. You can

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.

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