The Necklace complete notes for the BA English Honours students of BBMKU and VBU universities. First Semester Students need to prepare short stories of Guy De Maupassant. It is one of them. These notes are enough to prepare for the final examination of the first semester. If you have any queries or suggestions please comment in the comment box.
The Necklace Summary
The Necklace is a french short story written by the famous French short story writer Guy De Maupassant. This story is about a young and pretty but greedy lady, named Matilde Loisel.
Matilde was a young and pretty lady, born in a family of clerks, who always used to daydream of luxurious life. She thinks that God played her false, she should be born into a rich family. She always avoids meeting her convent school friend, named Jeanne Forestier. She feels that she should be loved and appreciated by a rich man. But as her father was poor and he had no dowry so she had to marry a poor clerk, named M Loisel. She does not like her husband and as well as those shabby walls, old furniture and clothes etc. She wanted to live a luxurious life.
One day her husband comes home joyfully from the office because he was invited to Minister’s ball, that was a great achievement for him. He gave the invitation card to his wife, her wife read the invitation card started to cry because she did not want to go to the ball because she had not any suitable dress for the party. As every caring husband, her husband also bought a pretty dress for her wife for 400 francs that he had saved to buy a gun for himself. When the dress was ready her wife was still not happy. Now the problem was that she had not any jewellery. Her husband urged her to wear some fresh flowers but she refused and he suggested she borrow Jewellery from her friend, Madame Forestier. She took a beautiful diamond necklace from her friend.
At the party, she was looking very beautiful. Everyone asked her name, praised her beauty, dress and also the necklace. she was very happy at the party, she danced till 4 a.m and then they both returned home. At home, she desired to have a last look at herself but as she went to the mirror she was shocked seeing that the necklace was not around her neck. The necklace was lost. They tried to find the necklace everywhere but it was found nowhere. Then they wrote a letter to Madame Forestier that claps of the necklace had been broken so they will return it after repair. In the meantime, they went to the police asking for help in finding the necklace and they published an advertisement also in the newspaper. But all the efforts of finding the necklace went in vain.
Then they decided to return the similar necklace to Madame Forestier. They got the same necklace in a shop for 36,000 francs.18,000 Francs was M Loisel’s ancestral money and the rest of the money they borrowed from the money lander. In order to pay the borrowed money, they had to live a miserable life. They left that apartment and took a small house, the maids were removed and now all the house chores were done by Matilde Loisel, M Loisel also did overtime job and this life lasted for ten years when Matilde looked like an old woman.
one day while walking on the street she found her convent school friend Madame Forestier, she greeted her “good morning” and narrated the whole story of how she lost her diamond necklace and returned a similar diamond necklace. Her friend shocked her by telling her that the necklace that she borrowed was made of false diamond
The Necklace Critical Appreciation
The necklace is a very interesting short story written by G.D Maupassant. As we know that Maupassant was a realistic writer, so we can see realism in his works. The necklace is also an example of a realistic story. Maupassant showed the real-life situations in the story.
The short story “The Necklace” begins with the statement ” she was one of those young and charming ladies, born in a poor family by mistake of destiny. Matilde Loisel wanted to live a luxurious life, loved and appreciated by a rich man but as her father had no dowry so she married a poor clerk, named M Loisel, in the office of the board of education. This creates curiosity amongst the readers about the coming events.
One day M Loisel and his wife had to go to the minister’s ball but Matilde Loisel had neither proper dress nor jewellery, so her husband bought a pretty dress from the money that he had saved to buy a gun, he longed for and suggested her to borrow some jewellery form her friend Mme Forestier. We can relate this scene to our real life. The invitation was a great achievement for M Loisel, he wanted to go there at any cost.
Matilde Loisel was the most beautiful and admired girl at the party. She enjoyed the party till 4 a.m and returned home. When she riched home she desired to have a last look at her glory, every woman can relate this scene from her real life. She was shocked to find the necklace was lost. They tried to find it everywhere but they couldn’t. Then, instead of informing her friend that the necklace has been lost, she showed her false glory and informed her that a clasp has been broken so it will be returned after repaired. Maupassant showed here that how people try to shos their false glory.
Then they got a similar diamond necklace for 36000 francs, for which they had to borrow money and in order to pay the debt, they had to live a miserable life for ten years.
Maupassant ended this story with a great twist. The was that the necklace that her friend had lent her was made of false diamond and Matilde’s necklace was of a real diamond. Thus Matilde ruined her and her husband’s whole life. we can see such incidents in our real-life society how greedy people ruin their won life.
Charactor sketch of Matilde Loisel
Matilde Loisel is a young and pretty lady who was born in a clerk family but she wanted to live a luxurious life. She always used to imagine of luxurious life. She thinks that God has played her false. She should be born in a rich family and Loved by a rich man but unfortunately, her father had no dowry so she had to marry a poor clerk, named M Loisel. She was not happy with her husband. She wanted to live in a palace but instead of it, she had to live in an apartment. She always avoids meeting her convent school friend, named Madame Jeanne Forestier, because her friend was wealthy and she was not, so she feels uncomfortable in front of her.
Her husband tries very much to make her wife happy but he could not. He always praises her beauty and her work but she does not care about it. She should be happy that she has such a loving and caring husband. Her husband tries to make her happy by love but all Matilde want is money and luxurious life. She wanted glory whether those are real or fake doesn’t matter to her. She hates that apartment and those shabby walls, cranky furniture etc.
once she borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend to wear at the party and lost it. Because of which she had to live a miserable life for ten years. She was happy only once in the story, on the party night. Losing the diamond necklace was her turning point. She fell into big trouble because of that diamond necklace that Was not actually made of a real diamond.