When Desire Takes Everything Away from You

Analizis Literario "El Collar" - EN

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06/22/2017

When Desire Takes Everything Away From You

The Necklace is a beautiful short story that shows how blind ambition, reckless desire and greed can end up taking everything you once had and never appreciated, including ten years of life. The story written by Guy de Maupassant presents us with Mme. Mathilde Loisel: a young, beautiful woman who was born in a poor family of clerks. The first few paragraphs express the life of Mathilde through her eyes. She felt “entitled to all the delicacies and luxuries of life” and was envious of all the rich women. Born in a poor family, she had no expectations of being known by a rich man or any opportunity to belong to the upper classes.

Since the beginning, we can see how powerful Mathilde’s greed is, it is not limited to her early life as it continues once married. When M. Loisel (Mathilde’s husband) brings and invitation to an exclusive high-class ball Mathilde is not a bit happy; instead, she weeps and complains over her dressing until her husband offers his own savings to buy a dress, which she accepts without hesitation. The difference between she and her husband is very noticeable: he is of gentle nature and worries for his wife’s happiness while Mathilde only cares about herself. Mathilde became very materialistic, as described in the line ”She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing; and these were the only things she loved.” implying that she did not loved her husband.

An important moment in the story happens while the couple was preparing for the party. Mathilde complained about not having jewelry, refusing to go to the party a second time. M. Loisel suggest to Mathilde’s friend Madame Forestier to borrow some. There she sees the necklace, picking it up, and discarding everything else. The necklace is the obvious representation of Mathilde’s greed. It could also be considered an analog of Mathilde herself: its value is very little, but it is beautiful on the outside.

Arriving at the party Mathilde enjoys her moment of fame and recognition “drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success.”. Later on, after leaving the party, Mathilde realizes she no longer has the necklace. Both of them searched for it for a whole week, lying to Madame Forestier to get more time. At the end they found nothing and had to replace the necklace. They used the necklace's box to trace the jeweler until they finally found a string of diamonds exactly like the lost one, with a value of 36,000 francs. Condemning their economic future M. Loisel borrowed money, spent his savings and “compromised the rest of his life dealing with usurers and making ruinous agreements.”. The necklace