In the short story “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant, the main character, Mathilde, exemplifies the overarching subject of greed over the entirety of the story. Mathilde covets both wealth and social prestige. Matilda believed she should have been born into a family with far greater money and position than the one she was born into. Mathilde continually desired luxuries such as the most expensive jewels, silk garments, and connections that could lead her far in life. She never believed she belonged in the middle class or lived an average lifestyle. Instead, Mathilde believed that she belonged in the upper class. She finds out the hard way that greed has its costs, and she winds up in even deeper poverty due to having to pay off an irresponsible debt that she racked up over ten years. This debt was incurred due to her spending beyond her means over a while. In this essay, we will examine how the main character of the novel, Mathilde, as well as the necklace, reflect the idea of greed.
The central idea of the story The Necklace is the theme of greed that manifests through Mathilde. It is the overarching concept that the writer emphasizes above all others. The author’s use of literary devices further conveys the story’s central theme. The Necklace, the party, and the expensive dress are symbolic as they illustrate the kind of lifestyle she desires, which is beyond her means. The author further illustrates how she cunningly convinces her husband to buy her the dress despite knowing well that it is beyond their ability.
The narrative demonstrates instances of greed and how one’s greed can ultimately lead to ruin. Mathilde’s actions demonstrate her greed as she struggles to paint an image of herself as being wealthier than she is. She further goes on to illustrate why she should not go to the party since being in a lower social class makes her feel worthless (Maupassant 1114). She is impressed by the wealth that people of higher social class enjoy. She had the impression that she was not a person devoid of a precious necklace. She required more than what her husband could offer her. This behavior can be characterized as greed since she sought something she could not buy and never appreciated her status.
Mathilde’s life was better before the incident, and she never lacked the necessities for a decent existence. In contrast, Mathilde tore her own life apart owing to her lack of contentment and feeling that Mathilde did not fit into the appropriate social class. She had the negative outlook that other people always had more than she did, which led her to believe that the jewel her friend wore was authentic when it was not (Ullah et al. 183). If she had been less consumed with the wealth of others and less preoccupied with constantly comparing herself to others, she would have been able to live comfortably. That would have saved her ten years of labor and regret over her decisions.
The story’s tone centers on Mathilde and her desire to be or seem wealthy. Since she is not wealthy, the mood of the book is sad. As the sentence suggests, the line “yet luxury was all she cared about” (Maupassant 1116) shows how much she wanted to be rich. He does not leave anything to chance and ensures the reader understands the message. When the narrator talks about Mathilde, how he or she describes her makes the reader feel like he or she knows her personally (Kapau et al. 106). Maupassant’s writing style is very detailed and vivid, which he uses to show the theme of greed in the story.
Mathilde’s ambition to seem wealthy drives her to act in a manner that ruins her family rather than achieve the better status she craves. Her desire for worldly prosperity causes her to lose sight of and appreciate all she has, which she loses when she incurs a debt that takes years to repay. Maupassant succeeds in precisely illustrating the issue of greed and its detrimental ramifications.
Works Cited
Kapau, Humphrey M, et al. “The Characterization of Mathilde in the Ideational Meta function of Guy DE Maupassant’s The Necklace: A Monogenetic Corpus-based Analysis.” International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature, vol. 7, no. 7, 2019, pp. 105–110.
Maupassant, Guy de, and Marjorie Laurie. The Necklace, by Ann Charters, 2018. The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction.
Ullah, Q. S. N. Abbas, S. Ashfaq, and R. Jabeen. “Comparative Structural Analysis of “The Necklace and The Nightingale” and ‘The Rose’ by Applying Jakobson’s Constituent Factors”. Journal of Languages, Culture and Civilization, vol. 2, no. 3, 2020, pp. 181-8.