by Maria K.

Created on: August 16, 2011   Last Updated: August 22, 2011

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant is the story of "almost". Readers almost feel disdain for Mathilde Loisel when she fails to appreciate her simple yet comfortable life and pines for luxury. Almost - because so many have been there: leading a not necessarily miserable but mediocre existence, and wanting for it all to change overnight.

By the same token, when Mathilde's life does change overnight and not at all in the direction she would have liked, one is torn between reproach - after all, it is her vanity and her insistence on wearing jewelry to the ball that lead to the loss of the necklace - and pity over a life shattered by nothing more but a trinket, a string of pressurized carbon.

The protagonist almost reaches the life she so dreams of. She tastes wealth and success at the ball and, had she not lost the necklace, her popularity may have gained influence and promotion for her husband, ultimately leading to a life she perceives as ideal. But one must wonder, whether, had the dream been fulfilled, Mathilde would have still found herself dissatisfied and wishing yet for more.

One does get a niggling suspicion that Mathilde is not a woman easily satisfied with her circumstances. A clue lies with her reveries during the time of hardship: she does not think fondly of the years of comfortable living, with a good home and a staff of servants and no daily menial work. Rather her mind zeroes in on one night of brilliance and admiration, obscuring all the good that was in her life prior to that.

As much as one might pity the decidedly un-heroic heroine during her ten years of servitude atoning for one silly mistake, it is difficult not to be frustrated with the woman for her blindness and lack of insight. Not only does her vanity and pre-conceived notions about the likes and dislikes of the wealthy lead her to borrow the ill-fated in the first place. It is her misplaced pride and assumption that her wealthy friend would only wear real jewels that lead her to take on a debt of forty thousand francs for something that only cost five hundred.

The story almost ends where it does - with the wealthy Madame Forestier telling the bedraggled Mathilde that the necklace was a fake. The optimists among us hope that, perhaps, it is not the end after all. Perhaps, Mathilde's friend decides to compensate the Loisels for the hardships they endured paying for something that was not worth it. Perhaps she exchanges the diamond necklace for a fake one and returns the money to them. Perhaps the sum is sufficient for them to return to their comfortable lifestyle and there is still time enough left for Mathilde to restore her former beauty and charm. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps... The reader does not know and would like to find out. Almost.

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