The Necklace

                                      Guy de Maupassant

                                                 



                                                                  Question # 1
                                                   Why was Matilda dissatisfied?

                  Matilda Loisel was an unusually pretty young lady. She was married to a clerk who worked in the ministry of Education. He could not provide her even the necessities of life while she, on her side, desired of extraordinary luxuries and delicacies. She dreamt of high level of life with expensive and graceful accessories. She wished to be admired and sought after by the men of upper class. She was a stunning beauty and she pined to be placed at her true position. She was dissatisfied with her little dirty apartment, shabby furniture and her contemptible life style. She disliked the way she lived, dressed up, ate and even she despised her social circle. She had a rich friend but she never liked to visit her as it increased her agony and accentuated her dissatisfaction on her social status.

                                                                Question # 2
                            Why was she worried on receiving the invitation card?

                   One day Matilda’s husband came with an invitation card from the minister of education for a party at his residence. Her husband was very happy thinking that Matilda might be delighted to see it. But Matilda started crying when she saw the invitation card. Loisel was stupefied to see her crying and asked for the reason. Matilda said that she had nothing to wear at such a big occasion and moreover they were unable to afford a reasonable dress. Her worry was due to her bad economic situation but her husband sacrificed his saved money and gave it to her so that she could have a pretty dress. She borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend Mm Forestier that later became the cause of her downfall. Her desire to look charming and well to do destroyed her. It also ruined the life and career of her husband. The dissatisfied desires of Matilda urged her to do such a ruinous act, which collaborated with the blow of fate to bring down the disaster in their lives.

                                                                  Question # 3
                                                   Did she look pretty at the ball?

               At the day of ball Mme Loisel was a great success. She was the pretties of all, elegant, gracious smiling and full of joy. All men noticed her and they wanted to be introduced to her. Even the members of Cabinet wished to dance with her. Minister of Education too gave her some attention. She was at the height of her desired glory, being the center of attention and glittering like a super star. She danced with fervor and passion, immersed in pleasure and thinking only about triumph of her beauty. She was drunk with the admiration and homage, which had always been her goal and her ambition. She was at the peak of her pride and pleasure. It was the exact dream that had come true for the lady who only thought in terms of her charms and beauty.

                                                                Question # 4
                               What price did she have to pay for her ambition?

                 Matilda was extremely delighted at the admiration and homage that she got at the ball. When the party ended she came out with her husband hastily lest anyone should see her poor wrapping, which was completely in contrast with her party dress. She did not want her poor face to be exposed before the rich ladies. She hurried out in cold and had to walk a long distance in dark because they could not find a cab. At last they found one and reached their home. As soon they reached their home she noticed that the necklace was no more round her neck… she had lost it.
            Her husband made desperate efforts to get it back. They reported to police, advertised in newspapers offering reward but of no avail. Then they decided to replace the necklace. She wrote to her friend that she had broken the clasp of her necklace so she got some time to arrange for a replacement. It was a Herculean task for them because they were poor and could not arrange for such a big sum. They found a necklace like that one, in Palais-Royal for thirty six thousand francs. They did not have much money so they borrowed from a lot of people. They agreed on high interest rates, made disastrous promises to give the money back at the appointed time. Finally they managed to amass this large amount of money though they mortgaged their whole existence in this process. They bought the necklace and gave it back to Mme Forester.
           Afterwards Matilda and her husband had to see a real life of necessity. Her husband had to work very hard, he worked in his office in the morning, then at evening he worked as an accountant with a merchant and at night he copied the written papers at five sous per page. Matilda herself had to leave the little comfort she had before. She had to send her maid off. They changed their lodging to a further lower area. She had to do all the chores, she brought water upstairs, went shopping for herself. They had to live a very tough life, full of hard work and pressure from creditors. At last they were able to manage it fully in the course of ten hazardous years. They whole debt with interest was paid off. But they had lost their youth and energy. Matilda looked older and crude. Her charm, her elegance all had become a forgotten story. They had sustained a prolonged tension and pressure, which had finished all the desires and warmth of life for them. The inordinate desire of Matilda had spoiled them. The fate was also very cruel to them and they were ironically plunged in to a situation that completely deprived them of any desire or pleasure of life. They were compelled to pay for the little pleasure that Matilda had at that very day. Her ambition had ruined their lives.

                                                               Question # 5
                                      Evaluate the reasons of Matilda’s downfall?

                 Matilda is not the name of an individual, infact she represents a whole class who have low socio-economic level. The material advancement of the rich class has incurred strong feelings of dissatisfaction in the lower class. Media has also helped to further vivify the gap between upper and lower strata of society. It is natural for every one to desire to prosper in life; every one wants to have an easy life that is full luxuries. People adopt different ways to curtail the difference between their ambition and the reality. Matilda could not realize this fact and became a victim to the false judgment and expectations. Her desire was unreal and impractical keeping her status in mind. She wished for a higher standard of life and that was her right. But the way they adopted did not suit them and made them fall to an even lower level. The unrealistic desire and her urge to get a temporary pleasure made them pay a heavy price and they lost the golden period of their youth in order to pay off the ransom.
           The fate was also very cruel to them. They were punished for a little fault. Matilda was persecuted on the charge of having a dream only. The stroke of luck was hard and brutal for them. The irony of the situation proved even more pungent when they came to know that the diamonds borrowed from Mme Forester were false one and they were not worth spoiling a whole youth time for them. Thus the tragedy of Matilda was the result of callous functioning of fate, her own dissatisfaction, her immoderate ambitions and the irony…. that always runs with the human existence.