Name: Abdul Hafid

Class: E 2018

Subject: Prose

"A review to short story the Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant"

A. Summary

The short story "The Necklace" by Guy De Maupassant takes place in France several
hundred years ago. Mathilde Loisel lives in a house with her husband, who works as a clerk for
the Minister of Public Instruction. They live simply. However, she wants to be rich someday.
One day, they are invited to a grand ball where the rich people will be. Mathilde buys a new
gown from her husband’s savings which actually planned to buy a gun. And borrows a diamond
necklace from her friend Madame Forestier. At the ball, Mathilde looked very pretty and
successfully gain people attention. When they arrive home she discovers that the borrowed
necklace is gone. So they buy another one with a very big amount of money for them. They use
up Mathilde’s husband's inheritance, borrowed, and they work hard for ten years just to make up
for that amount. After a decade, Mathilde sees Madame Forestier by chance, and after those
years, finally confesses that the necklace she returned was a replacement. Madame Forestier is
shocked, and tells her that the necklace she lent her was fake, worth at most five hundred francs.

B. Elements of the short story

1. Character and Characterization

In the story, there are three main characters:

 Mathilde Loisel, the wife

A young, married woman, Madame Loisel is pretty and charming, but her vanity makes
her feel entitled to more than what she has. In fact, because of her looks, she believes Fate has
made a mistake, that she was destined for more. Envious of what others have and perpetually
dissatisfied, she wants to be popular and admired in society in the ways attractive, rich women
are. She thinks of little else but the trappings of wealth and shows scorn for all she does have in
her basic but unadorned life. When her daydreams turn into a reality an invitation to a ball given
by her husband's superiors she is noted as the prettiest woman there and admired as she has
always hoped to be. But her dissatisfaction and vanity lead to her downfall, causing her to lose
everything she has, including her youth, beauty, and modest way of life but at the same time
causing her to grow, accept, and respect herself.

In my opinion as the protagonist in this story, Mathilde Loisel is a dynamic character.

She undergoes an important, internal change at some point during this short story. Mathilde
Loisel is both a dynamic and a round character. She is a dynamic character because she changed
from the beginninng to the end of the story. She also is a round character, because she
encounnters a conflict and is changed by it. The conflict that she encountered was losing the
necklace. Due to the dept that she was in for buying the new necklace to replace for the necklace
she lost. During this time she learned a very important lesson about life. This time she learned a
very important lesson about life. This is how she changed during the story.

 The little clerk of ministry public instruction, the husband

The husband appears easygoing, if not glamorous or charismatic, and eager to please his
wife. Realistic about what he can do within his means, he saves money for special purchases and
shows generosity when, slightly reluctantly at first, he gives that money to his wife for a new
dress. He never complains about his wife's dissatisfaction and seems to do what he can to make
her happy. His attempt to do so, however, initiates the couple's downfall; in obtaining the
invitation to the ball he unknowingly stimulates his wife's fantasies into actions.

 Madame Forestier
Madame Forestier is the friend of Madame Loisel of this story. Since she was interediate
character, we are not know very well. But, we know that she is wealthy and therefore has a stock
of jewels that her friends can borrow. She seems almost to be careless of her wealth.
In my opinion, Madame Forestier is a static character. Since she never changes her mind
and view from the beginning to the end of the story.

2. Plot

 Introduction
Mathilde, the main woman character in this short story, is being described as unhappy because of
her and her husband’s being poor.

 Rising Action

The complication starts when she and her husband are invited to a rich people’s ball. She buys a
new gown, and to go with it, she borrows an elegant diamond necklace from her friend Madame
Forestier.

 Climax

The climax of this short story is when Mathilde finds that she lost the diamond necklace after the
party.

 Falling action

To replace the lost diamond necklace, Mathilde and her husband buy another one exactly the
same, for thirty-four thousand francs, from its original price of forty francs, such a very big
amount of money for the couple. The eighteen thousand francs was inherited by her husband
from his father, and the rest of the amount he borrows from various sources.

 Denouement

The problem resolves itself, though in a negative manner, when Mathilde and Madame Forestier
meet again after ten years, and the latter tells the former that the diamond necklace she borrowed
was fake.

3. Point of View

The Point of View used in this short story is the Omniscient Limited - The author tells the
story in third person (using pronouns they, she, he, it, etc). We know only what the character
knows and what the author allows him/her to tell us. We can see the thoughts and feelings of
characters if the author chooses to reveal them to us.

4. Theme
For me, one of the themes of the necklace is appearance vs reality. For Mathilde, the Necklace
symbolized wealth, beauty. Unfortunately, she loses the Necklace and goes into debt to replace
it. The great irony of this story is the Necklace is actually fake. She spends ten years for paying
those debt.