The Necklace

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"The Necklace"
Short story by Guy de Maupassant
La Parure - Gil Blas.jpg
Title page of Gil Blas which featured the story on 8 October 1893
Original titleLa Parure
CountryFrance
Genre(s) Short story
Publication
Publication date1884
Published in English1896

"The Necklace", or sometimes "The Diamond Necklace", (French : La Parure) is a short story by Guy de Maupassant, first published on 17 February 1884 in the French newspaper Le Gaulois . [1] It is known for its twist ending, a hallmark of de Maupassant's style.

Contents

Plot

Mme Mathilde Loisel is a beautiful but discontented woman born into a modest family who dreams of wealth, glamour and social prestige, a life she believes she was meant for but cannot afford on the salary of her husband, a clerk at the Ministry of Education.

One day, her husband surprises her by bringing home an invitation to a grand ball hosted by the minister. While he is excited about the chance to attend such a prestigious event, she frets that she has nothing suitable to wear. Her husband sacrifices his savings of 400 francs, intended for a hunting rifle, to buy her a beautiful new dress. Mathilde remains dissatisfied, however, as she has no jewels to wear with it. She rejects her husband's idea of wearing fresh flowers, but takes up his suggestion of borrowing jewellery from her wealthy friend, Mme Forestier. Mme Forestier is happy to help, and offers Mathilde many fine pieces to choose from. She selects a diamond necklace.

At the ball, Mathilde enjoys dancing with influential men, and revels in the attention. However, upon returning home, Mathilde discovers that the necklace is missing. Panicked, she and her husband search extensively but unsuccessfully. Afraid to admit the loss to Mme Forestier, the Loisels decide they will have to replace the necklace. They visit numerous jewellers until they find an almost identical model, for which they have to pay 36,000 francs. Mr Loisel uses an inheritance from his father to cover half the cost and borrows the rest at high interest. Mathilde gives the necklace to Mme Forestier, who does not notice the substitution.

To repay the debt, the Loisels dismiss their maid, move into a small, shabby apartment, and take on long hours of gruelling work. It takes ten years for the Loisels to repay their debts and accumulated interest, by which time Mathilde has lost her youthful beauty and become prematurely aged from her years of poverty and toil.

Debt-free at last, Mathilde encounters Mme Forestier by chance in the street. Having not seen her former friend for ten years, Mme Forestier barely recognises her. Feeling confident enough now to confess, Mathilde tells Mme Forestier the truth about losing the necklace, replacing it, and about the hard times she has endured. A horrified Mme Forestier reveals that the necklace she had lent to Mathilde was not made of real diamonds, and was worth no more than five hundred francs.

Adaptations and other influences

The following works were inspired in part by "The Necklace":

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References

  1. Roberts, Edgar (1991). Writing Themes About Literature (7th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. p. 4. ISBN   9780139710605.
  2. Dillon, Michael (2010). China: A Modern History. London: I. B. Tauris. p. 207. ISBN   9781850435822. OCLC   705886007 . Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  3. Rea, Christopher (21 January 1926). "The Pearl Necklace 一串珍珠 (1926)". Chinese Film Classics. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  4. Rudden, Liam (15 August 2008). "Mathilde makes it to the stage". Edinburgh Evening News . Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  5. සිංහල සාහිත්‍ය සංග්‍රහය. Colombo: Education Publication Dept. Sri Lanka. 2016.
  6. James, Henry. "Paste". The Henry James scholar's Guide to Web Sites. Retrieved 27 September 2014. The origin of "Paste" is rather more expressible.
  7. Shukman, Henry (28 May 2004). "Homage to Maupassant". The Guardian.
  8. Von Bernewitz, Fred and Geissman, Grant. Tales of Terror! The E.C. Companion, Seattle: Gemstone Publishing and Fantagraphics Books, 2000, p. 198.