The Diamond Necklace by Guy De Maupassant

 The Daimond Necklace by Guy De Maupassant

 

Introduction : 

"The Diamond Necklace" is one of Guy de Maupassant's most famous and acclaimed short stories, first published in 1884. It exemplifies Maupassant's mastery of the form, encapsulating great insight into human vanity, social class struggles, and the ironic turns that life can take in just ten pages. The story centers on Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class woman consumed by dreams of living a life of luxury and distinguishment beyond her modest means. 

When the opportunity arises to attend a high-society ball, Mathilde borrows what she believes is an exquisite diamond necklace to wear, only to subsequently lose it. The calamity that follows reveals the power of pretense and materialism to corrupt and destroy lives. Through crisp yet profound psychological realism, vivid imagery, and implicit social commentary, Maupassant creates an unforgettable exploration of the seductive dangers of human pride and unchecked aspirations.  

Summary of the Plot : 

The story opens by describing Mathilde's unhappiness with her lower-middle class existence as the wife of an office clerk, dreaming wistfully of the elegant lifestyle she believes she was destined for. When her husband procures invitations to an extravagant ball, Mathilde becomes fixated on obtaining an ornate dress and jewelry suitable for the occasion. After borrowing what appears to be an ostentatious diamond necklace from a wealthy friend, Mathilde has a taste of the aristocratic existence she longs for at the ball, only for it all to shatter when she returns home and discovers the necklace is missing.

Despite an extensive search and desperate attempts to find the missing diamonds, Mathilde and her husband cannot locate the necklace, so they take out loans to purchase a new one as a replacement. The tremendous debt plunges the couple into years of poverty and ceaseless labor to repay it. Only after a chance re-encounter with her wealthy friend does Mathilde finally learn that the original diamond necklace was merely a worthless fake, and all their suffering was for nothing. The revelation serves as a brutal dose of reality and humbling awakening regarding the emptiness of her materialistic fixations.    

Themes : 

1.Vanity and Pride

Mathilde's obsessive pursuit of the high life and lust for opulent material possessions beyond her means drives the entire story. Maupassant depicts her vanity as an all-consuming desire to play-act a level of aristocracy to which she has no legitimate claim, nearly destroying her through her own unchecked pride.

2.Social Class and Aspirations

Born in an era of extreme class stratification, Maupassant portrays Mathilde's angst as being rooted in the frustrations of belonging to the professional lower-middle class while yearning for the status trappings and lifestyle of the bourgeoisie and aristocracy above her station. She exemplifies the insecurities and covetous impulses that a rigid class hierarchy breeds.   

3. Irony and the Deceptive Nature of Appearances 

There is potent dramatic irony in Mathilde coveting what she believes is a priceless diamond necklace, only for it to turn out to be costume jewelry and her illusions of grandeur to be hollow facades. Maupassant uses her downfall to critique society's fixation on superficial symbols of wealth and status.

Symbolism and Imagery

The Diamond Necklace

As the central object driving the conflict, the necklace symbolizes both the alluring veneer of wealth and opulent status, but also the folly of being consumed by materialistic appearances. Mathilde's misunderstanding of its true nature symbolizes her own self-delusion.  

The Bourgeois Ball

Representing the dazzling aristocratic society that Mathilde yearns for, the ball is the setting that illuminates the vacuousness of her pretensions while briefly saying her desire for high society grandeur before her fall.  

Domestic Imagery 

Vivid domestic details early in the story like Mathilde's "worn chairs," the "three-day old cloth" on her table, and her encounters with the "Breton girl" who does housework highlight the humility of her circumstances that torment her bourgeois aspirations.

Quotes Explaining Key Ideas : 

"She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, loved, married by a man of wealth and distinction." 

This opening line immediately establishes Mathilde's sense of being ill-fated to a lower class existence by lack of familial connections or wealth.

"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."

Maupassant's portrayal of Mathilde's constant dissatisfaction with her modest living conditions encapsulates the torture of her perpetual aspiring vanity and pride.

"One evening her husband came home with an exultant air, holding a large envelope in his hand. 'Here's something for you,' he said."  

The dramatic irony begins here, as what Mathilde believes will be the gateway to high society through the ball invitation instead becomes the start of her downfall.

"She uttered a cry of delight. 'That's true. I never thought of it.'"

Mathilde's unreflective joy at borrowing the "diamond" necklace reveals both her lack of wisdom and vulnerability to superficial temptations of vanity.

"Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all the other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households."

In one of the story's most poignant quotes, Maupassant depicts in visceral terms the decade-long toll Mathilde's folly extracts on her beauty and feminine self-perception as one of society's unlucky strivers.

"What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or save!"

This rhetorical questioning on the precipice of the story's climax conveys the tragic irony awaiting and serves as a rumination on the randomness of fate, fortunes won or squandered by the most unforeseeable moments.     

"And she smiled in proud and innocent happiness. 'Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs!'"  

The story's ultimate revelation that the diamonds were mere cheap costume jewelry all along underscores the folly and deceptiveness at the heart of Mathilde's cravings for social prestige and appearance-based self-worth.  

Conclusion : 

With its mastery of poetic irony, psychological insights, and biting social commentary, "The Diamond Necklace" endures as one of the most acclaimed examples of Guy de Maupassant's literary skills in the short story form. Through Mathilde's enthrallment by superficial illusions of wealth and status, Maupassant constructs a sobering morality tale on the emptiness and dangers of living for mere vanity and outward appearances. 

Ultimately, the story is a striking depiction of cultural attitudes in 19th century France regarding aristocratic pretensions and the strict delineations of class. Mathilde's downfall and the ironic revelation of the necklace's true nature as a near-worthless bauble serves as a harsh rebuke to those who would sacrifice genuine selfhood, integrity and human dignity for the vapid trappings of unearned social standing.

 Maupassant makes the argument that such materialistic folly leads only to spiritual and financial ruination, illuminating the human capacity for self-destruction through obsession with illusion over reality. "The Diamond Necklace" thus endures as a powerful cautionary tale about society's unhealthy fixations on superficial emblems of status over more meaningful sources of contentment and self-worth.