The Necklace

"The Necklace"

"The Necklace" is a marvelous short story. "The Necklace" was written Guy de Maupassant. "The Necklace" is most famous and known for its ironic ending (Overview of "The Necklace").

"The Necklace" is a tale of a middleclass woman who desires much more. She wants the life of the rich; not the poor. Her name is Madame Loisel. She is married to a clerk who cannot afford the lifestyle of the rich and famous that she wants so bad. His name is Monsieur Loisel (Maupassant190).

Monsieur Loisel got an invitation to a ball with the hopes of making his wife happy. Although the invitation was very hard to get, his wife complained about not having the proper evening dress to wear. Monsieur Loisel bought her a dress with money he had saved for something else. She still was not happy. She said it was too plain without a beautiful piece of jewelry to go with it. She did not want to look poor in front of the other guests (191).

Her husband could not afford to buy her a piece of jewelry. He suggested that she borrow something from one of her richer friends. She visited her rich friend Madame Forestier to borrow a piece of her jewelry. She chose a beautiful diamond necklace out of her friends' jewelry box. Her friend gladly lent it to her.

Madame Louisel had an amazing time at the ball. She forgot how poor she was. She danced the night away with handsome gentlemen and was the envy of other women there (193). She had such a wonderful time that she did not notice that she had lost the necklace until they got home late in the night. Monsieur Loisel retraced their steps looking for the necklace but did not find it.

Monsieur Louisel knew he had to replace the necklace somehow. They went to jewelry shops looking for one like it. After looking in many shops, they found one that looked exactly like it. The necklace would cost them forty thousand francs.

The couple borrowed money from everyone they could. They even borrowed from loan sharks (194). Madame Louisel let her house helper go because she could not afford to pay her anymore. They were now living the life of the very poor. Every extra franc they earned