“The Necklace” is a short narrative by Guy de Maupassant that largely focuses on Mathilde’s life. The story has been used to educate people about the different issues they experience in society. Mathilde is a pretty and charming woman born in a middle-class family. Although Mathilde is adorable, she does not marry the wealthy husband she expected and ends up marrying a clerk who works in the ministry of education. Maupassant has also used themes to ensure that the tale is fascinating and educative. Moreover, themes help authors to guarantee that their message is conveyed effectively to the audience. Thus, “The Necklace” has the idea of the deceptiveness of appearance as one of the significant concepts.
Many people focus on physical appearance, which in most cases deceits them. Moreover, many people have argued that looks are deceiving, which has been depicted in the story by Maupassant. Mathilde’s beauty forces her to do everything to ensure that she appears wealthy to match her appearance. Mathilde believes that her attractiveness and charm should make her worthy of better and wealthy things. Her appearance at the party also convinces her that she deserves to be rich since all men flatter her. Moreover, Mathilde is prettier than other women in the celebration (De Maupassant, 2012). However, people in the party do not understand that Mathilde struggles as she is not rich as she looks.
Deceptiveness has also been depicted in the story where Madame Forestier’s necklace appears to be made of diamonds. Nonetheless, the necklet is nothing more than a piece of costume jewelry (De Maupassant, 2012). The loss of the fake necklace forces Mathilde to buy Frostier a new one, not knowing Forestier’s necklace was fake. Years later, Frostier meets Mathilde, who reveals the story about her necklace’s loss, only to realize that she replaced a counterfeit chain with an original one. Thus, Maupassant has used the story to educate readers about the deceptiveness of appearance and the dangers of attributing too much power to material positions since their value may be illusory.
Reference
De Maupassant, G. (2012). The necklace and other short stories. Courier Corporation.