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The Necklace Oppression

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Women’s Oppression Seen Through The Character of Mathilde in Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace: A Marxist Feminist Study.
Marxist feminism is a study that combines Marxist and Feminist theory. Marxist feminism believes that there will one day be a social revolution led by the working-class (the proletariat) who will overthrow the capitalist system, usurp the upper classes (the bourgeoisie) and seize the means of production to eventually create a socialist, and then a communist society. Marxist feminism also concerns to women who play an incredibly important role, as they are one of the most affected victims of the capitalist system. Through revolution, working-class women will then be able to free themselves from the hardships of the capitalist …show more content…

The story illustrates economic and social inequality in a proletariat woman’s life, Mathilde and how much it costs in her living when she wishes to be perfect on bourgeoisies’ eyes. The Necklace also supports the Marxist idea that people are mere creation of the economic and social circumstances. In the very beginning of the story, Mathilde is already described as a lower class woman to be born “into a family of artisan.” By marrying off to a little clerk, who belongs to a middle class people, makes Mathilde’s life even worse. She seems cannot easily accept her life condition, she always daydreams of becoming a part of the bourgeoisie society. It is this feeling that drives Mathilde to borrow the necklace and buy a new luxurious dress in order to attend a ball. Beside driven by her excessive pride, Mathilde is also oppressed by the society’s idea at that time that in order to attend a ball, one must dressed gorgeously. Soon the bourgeoisie’s ideals ruin Mathilde’s life. The tragedy happens when Mathilde lost the necklace. She has to work hard for 10 years and undergoes the severe oppression both physically and mentally, only to replace “a fake diamond necklace” which she thought to be a real one. It is very ironic and tragic to recognize that Mathilde becomes the victim of the economic determinism and has to bear the burden of the servant

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However, she is poor so she borrows a necklace from a friend. She did this instead of wearing flowers for a cheap 15 francs. Mathilde lost the necklace and had to pay it off over the next 10 years. She did this because she wanted to fit in and no one else would be wearing cheap flowers. The theme is also shown in this story by the fact the Mathilde wanted to wear jewelry.

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Mathilde is a low-class lady so we understand that this was very hard for her. When she finishes paying off the diamond she decides to tell Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace. Her response was that the necklace was fake and and was only worth fifty hundred francs. One way this story does a good job establishing irony is by using foreshadowing. When Mathilde

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All of the years she has spent being critically poor are for nothing. When Mathilde finally tells Madame Forestier what really happened to her necklace, she says “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs” (8)! Madame Loisel realized then that all of the years she had spent in abject poverty were in vain.

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Mathilde believed she deserved everything she wanted. She was very rude to her husband. Her desire for materials was stronger than the love she should have shown to people. “Give the invitation to one of your colleagues whose wife will be better dressed than I would be.” She was too worried about looking her best to even thank her husband for the effort he put in to retrieve the invitation.

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Mathilde’s self centered belief that she should have riches means that the

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The Necklace is a difficult story to read. If you think about it, it's about nonstop suffering, caused by the cruelty of life and chance. At the opening, we meet Mathilde, the classic dissatisfied housewife, who spends her days weeping about how boring and shabby her life is. Mathilde finds one moment of real joy when she goes to a ball, but the chance is cruel. Her happiest night becomes her worst nightmare when she loses the diamond necklace she borrowed.

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In an effort to be the richest of the rich for one night, Mathilde subjects herself to a life of misery. Her loss of Madame Forestier’s necklace makes her come to know “the ghastly life of abject poverty... And this life lasted ten years”(7). Mathilde suffers through years of poverty solely because she wants to feel wealthy. Mathilde also believes that her misery is justified because the necklace she loses is extremely expensive, but she learns that this is also untrue.

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Mathilde combs through the box and stumbles upon a diamond necklace. The author de Maupassant writes, “All at once, in a box lined with black satin, she came upon a superb diamond necklace, and her heart started beating with overwhelming desire” (Maupassant 7). Looking like someone who she is not only shows how greed has taken over Mathilde’s

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The narrator illustrates Mathilde’s quality of selfishness after her husband asks her how much money she would like for a dress by remarking, “She thought over it… going over her allowance... thinking also of the amount she could ask for without bringing immediate refusal” (222). This portrays Mathilde's greed because she knows she is asking for more money than she needs for a suitable dress. Later, readers discover Mathilde is careless. When she first finds out the necklace is missing, she and her husband have a conversation. Monsieur Loisel asks, “Are you sure you had it when leaving the dance…if you had lost it on the street, we'd have heard it drop.

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This life lasted ten years.” (Maupassant, 4) After the ten years of the hard life, Mathilde was able to pay back her debt from the necklace. She lost her house and her precious

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In the second paragraph of the story the author states that she is suffering because she doesn't have the things she wants by saying, “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains.” (Guy de Maupassant 2) “She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved;” (Guy de Maupassant 2) The author included this to let the readers know what kind of “Poverty” Matilde was living in. Mathilde doesn't seem to love her husband as much.

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The determination to live comes from human nature. But the urge of giving up when we come across a difficult problem is also a part of human nature. There a few people in this world that have the characteristics of resilience. As author Kendra Cherry describes them, "People that are able to keep their cool have what psychologists call resilience, or an ability to cope with problems and setbacks" (Source A; Cherry, 1). An example of someone who has the characteristics of resilience is a bombardier name Louis (Louie) Zamperini.

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The protagonist of ‘The Necklace’, Madame Loisel, live a rather steady, ordinary middle-class life in the beginning of the story. However, she views that she is intended for a luxurious life, and, therefore, does not cherish what she has. She takes a step forward to her desires, as she was invited to a ball where all the upper-class woman would be, yet she was unhappy with the fact that she does not even have a stone to put on.

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The protagonist of ‘The Necklace’, Madame Loisel, live a rather steady, ordinary middle-class life in the beginning of the story. However, she views that she is intended for a luxurious life, and, therefore, does not cherish what she has. She takes a step forward to her desires, as she was invited to a ball where all the upper-class women would be, yet she was

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“The Diamond Necklace” by Maupassant teaches how this clash defines society’s interactions with each other. Understanding the desire of the proletariat class to overcome the oppression caused by those who have control over them, will give more understanding to the relationship between the Loisels. Through the characteristic flaws shown by Matilda, Marxist theory is upheld. With Marx’s idea of how Capitalism works, class conflict, manipulation, and repression are exemplified through the characteristic conflicts that build and destroy the husband and wife’s relationship within the story, while helping them become one with each

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