for cl 111

Character and Theme Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”

Character Analysis of Madame Loisel
Madame Loisel was an unhappy woman. She wanted more than what she already had. Somehow she knew or she thought that she was made for better things. She was born into a family of artisans. This meant that although she was very pretty and charming, she could never be married to a wealthy man and she could never afford the luxuries she had often dreamt of. She was married to a clerk from the Ministry of Education. She lived in a shabby apartment in (very aptly!) Rue des Martyrs. She did not have any exquisite gowns or expensive jewels, which was why when her husband got them an invitation to a ball from the Minister of Education, she felt disheartened all the more because she had nothing to wear. Monsieur Loisel was earning just enough money for the two of them, and by the happy tone of Monsieur Loisel when he saw that their dinner was Scotch broth, they seemed to have an average household—not too rich but not too poor either. Nevertheless, Madame Loisel was still dissatisfied with these apparently satisfactory conditions. Her “feminine heart” longed “to charm, to be desired to be wildly attractive and sought after.” Curiously, this longing is juxtaposed with the longing for the “only things she loved”—clothes and jewels—which she felt were made for her. This dissatisfaction was further emphasized when days before the ball, she already had a beautiful dress (thanks to Monsieur Loisel who yielded the 400 francs he was saving for a gun), yet she was still unhappy because she did not have any jewel to wear with her dress. This led her, under her husband’s suggestion, to borrow the diamond necklace which would later cause her and her husband more misery.
The diamond necklace which Madame Loisel wore to the party made her very beautiful and very much sought after. Curiously, there is no mention of any reaction from Monsieur Loisel when the male guests and the important people wanted to know Madame Loisel’s name and waltz with her. The complication came when Madame Loisel lost the necklace when they got back to their somber apartment. They had to look for a replacement which cost them 36, 000 francs. It took them ten years to pay off all the debts and the interests, and after such time, Madame Loisel had become old, unattractive and rough. She had learned how to work hard, how to do the chores without the maid around, how to save up every penny, and how to be contented with the garret where they moved into. Although she was then poorer, she had become less demanding, and she somehow lost her longing for jewels, clothes and luxurious stuff.
I think it was no whim for the author to choose the Ministry of Education for Monsieur Loisel’s occupation, because after all Madame Loisel learned a lot from her experience. Monsieur Loisel somehow served as a contrast to Madame Loisel. When she was dissatisfied with the average lifestyle that they had, he was very much contented. When he announced joyfully that he got an invitation for them, she cried. When she lost the necklace and just sat motionless and unable to do anything, he went out to look for the necklace for her. He also looked for money everywhere just to find a way to replace the diamonds. At a glance, he seemed to love his wife very much, especially since he was the type of guy who would be “broken-hearted” upon seeing his wife cry, who would give up 400 francs just for his wife’s dress, and who would not mind if so many guys were attracted to her. But somehow, they also fall into stereotypes. He was the doer and the rational. She was the whiner and the emotional. Somehow, Madame Loisel’s character was intensified because of this martyr-like characterization of her husband. But also, the experience itself had caused her character to change. She changed upon having experienced poverty, ironically for nothing more than an imitation.
Theme Analysis
I think one theme of the story is the fact that individuals are always dissatisfied with what they have. Somehow they always want more, and with this longing for something more, they create a certain emptiness within them. They strive to fill in this emptiness with material things. Underlying this emptiness though is the reality that they are just longing to be accepted and to be loved. Somehow they think that this acceptance and love will, in the end, make them happy.
Another theme of the story would be the fact that life is ironic. “How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!” Madame Loisel thought. And indeed, the little diamond necklace had caused her a fleeting moment of victory and then led her to a ten-year life of poverty. The little actions that an individual does everyday can lead to bigger consequences in the long run. If Madame Loisel had told the truth to Madame Forestier in the first place, she would not have had to experience poverty. But then, she somehow had to experience poverty to know how silly she had been. It is not really wealth or a good marriage or a good name which makes a person respectable. What makes a person respectable is the honesty and the courage to accept what he or she is and be contented with what he or she has. Nevertheless, this is no reason for one not to strive to be the best that he or she can be. This striving though does not mean one should pretend to be other than what he or she is.