The Necklace

The Downfall of Mathilde

Is being the most beautiful and well-known the only thing that matters in life? In the beginning of Guy de Maupassant’s short story, The Necklace, Madame Loisel, more commonly referred to as Mathilde, is depicted as having this thought process, lacking humility, and vain to say the least, but then experiences the hardships of poverty for ten years as a result of losing a borrowed necklace in the hopes of being the most beautiful at a party. By showing the reader how the character’s vanity brought the tiresome hardships of poverty, the author suggests that being humble and appreciative will bring you happiness and peace, while vanity

When the married couple arrived at the prestigious event, Madame Loisel was the prettiest woman in the room, and danced to her heart’s content through to the early morning while her husband, among other husbands, fell asleep around midnight. At about four o’clock Mathilde and Mr. Loisel finally left, but when they returned home, they realized the predicament they were in: Mathilde had lost the borrowed necklace. Mr. Loisel retraced their steps in hopes of finding it with no luck. After a weeks went by with no sign of the necklace, even after rewards were promised to the soul who found it, the pair gave up and began their search for a replacement necklace almost identical to the borrowed one. They finally found one originally selling for thirty-six thousand francs, but the couple was allowed to have it for thirty-four thousand francs. Thirty-six thousand francs was well beyond their budget, but Mr. Loisel used the eighteen thousand francs left to him by his deceased father, and borrowed the

Since Mathilde was now debt-free and humbled, she approached Madame Forestier while taking a walk on Sunday, and told her all that had happened. “"I brought you another one just like it. And for the last ten years we have been paying for it. You realize it wasn 't easy for us; we had no money. . . . Well, it 's paid for at last, and I 'm glad indeed." (174-176). Madame Forestier was taken aback, and deeply moved to say the least, for her necklace was imitation jewelry, and “was worth at the very most five hundred francs” (180).

To conclude, it was vanity and pride that caused Mathilde’s downfall. In the end, Mathilde discovered that humility and an appreciative attitude brought her more happiness than being the most beautiful ever could. In conclusion, the humility and grateful attitude that comes with age and hardships brings greater peace and happiness than being the fairest of them