The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

Throughout the short story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant there is an evident unequal relationship between men and women. Mathilde, the main character, is a woman of beauty and charm who constantly has the desire to become someone else. The feminist theory preaches woman to be independent and capable of making decisions on their own. It is also common for literature to portray men as the worker in the family and women to be manager of the household. In the Necklace, Mathilde faces three important decisions, what to wear to the ball, how to deal with losing her friends necklace, and how to repay her friend for losing the necklace. In all three of these scenarios, Mathilde’s husband makes the decisions. Mathilde does not have her own opinion nor does she question his ideas. This demonstrates that she does not have any say or attempts to have any say in the decisions involving herself. This

Mathilde dreams of being envied, charming, or sought after. When she receives an invite to the ball, instead of getting excited about the opportunity, she gets teary eyed and upset she does not have a gown. Then, once her husband decides to give her four hundred francs to get a pretty gown, she gets annoyed that she does not have a single piece of jewelry to put on. She then claims that she will “look poverty-stricken” and would rather not go at all. Mathilde’s friend is nice enough to let her borrow a diamond necklace, and once she attends the ball she feels “a sense of triumph which is so sweet to a woman’s heart.” Mathilde’s dreams are clearly fulfilled and she feels beautiful all because of the materials on her body, when in reality she is beautiful regardless. This continues to portray women and Mathilde to be the stereotype that all women are materialistic. By these examples and aspects of the books, “The Necklace” is not literature that progressively characterizes men and women in equal roles in