The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

While the short story, "The Necklace," written by Guy de Maupassant, portrays many different universal themes, the one that it is trying to explain the most is to be content with what you have. To elaborate, Mathilde Loisel belonged to the middle class, a respectable balance of wealth, but poverty as well. However, despite having a servant, or being married to a clerk, she always desired a wealthier, more respectable lifestyle. To illustrate, an excerpt in the story says, "Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was distressed at the poverty of her dwelling..." (De Maupassant 1). What this clarifies is that Mathilde always wished for a higher life than she was given, as she felt that she deserved it.

Nevertheless, when her husband receives an invitation to a party for higher class clerks, she originally despairs, as she claims that she is so poor to where she has no gown or jewelry fit for such an occasion. Consequently, her husband agrees to give her money for a gown, and she is able to acquire a fashionable diamond necklace from a friend, so then she finally feels that she will be able to fit in along with all of the other wealthy people. For instance, she expresses her worries when she says this line, "No: there's nothing more humilitating than to look poor among other women who are rich" (De Maupassant 3). From this, we can see that she only has sympathy for herself, as she believes that she is in the most poverty out of everyone. She feels that simply because she might have to wear natural flowers as a substitute to jewelry, she will look more in poverty than anyone in the room, and everyone would judge her on it. However, despite her current beliefs, she could go more into poverty than she already