Hitoe Nakamura
To what extent can Maupassant be seen to be misogynistic in his portrayal of women in the necklace?
The French author of short stories and novels, Guy de Maupassant, wrote about many aspects of French life in the 19th century, where society was rigidly divided by people’s class and status in the social hierarchy. “The Necklace”, is heavily influenced by the two literary movements of the century, realism and naturalism. The French author was often criticized for being misogynistic through his negative portrayal of women. This is shown through his lack of sympathy for the protagonist, Madame Loisel. The essay will explore how Maupassant uses Loisel’s life and character to demonstrate the harsh realities of life through the way he objectifies and stereotypes women in the patriarchal society.
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Loisel lives a decent life but constantly wants more, her greed and desire to be rich and wealthy is what ultimately brings the downfall of her character. On the night of the reception, Madame Loisel wears a magnificent diamond necklace from Madame Forestier. As Madame Loisel spends her time at the ball, she is able to live the life she believes she is entitled for. The happiest night of her life slowly becomes her worst nightmare. As she loses the necklace, and is unable to admit her mistake due to her excessive pride. Which leads her to face ten years of hard labour to pay off her debts for replacing the necklace as a result of her insincerity and greed. Maupassant uses Hamartia to associate with the morals in the story, using the protagonist to send the message across to the reader. In this story, a sense of realism and naturalism is conveyed by how life for Loisel had not turned out like the fairytale ‘Cinderella’, but instead the harsh realities of
However, she is poor so she borrows a necklace from a friend. She did this instead of wearing flowers for a cheap 15 francs. Mathilde lost the necklace and had to pay it off over the next 10 years. She did this because she wanted to fit in and no one else would be wearing cheap flowers. The theme is also shown in this story by the fact the Mathilde wanted to wear jewelry.
De Maupassant's “The Necklace” characterizes Mathilde Loisel, the main character, as a beautiful, egotistic woman who desires only wealthy apparel. He emphasizes the negative results of narcissism by blinding Mathilde with that trait
All of the years she has spent being critically poor are for nothing. When Mathilde finally tells Madame Forestier what really happened to her necklace, she says “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs” (8)! Madame Loisel realized then that all of the years she had spent in abject poverty were in vain.
The prejudice that the author brings forward strongly is the notion of feminism. The author’s main purpose of writing this novel is to examine the role of women played around
Le Guin’s “The Wave in the Mind” relates particularly to Marie de France’s “Bisclarvret” and “Yonec.” Both authors talk about oppression and the deep desire for freedom. Le Guins states he “categorically judge[s] as wrong any person who considers himself or herself racially or socially superior to another or enforces inferior status on another” (212). Similarly, on “Yonec” de France takes a position of opposition to seigneur of Carwent. This seigneur was honored in his city and therefore felt that he was superior to the young girl (91), enforcing her status of inferiority he obligated her to do whatever pleased him and she was imprisoned.
Likewise, de Maupassant’s “The Jewels” introduces us to Madame Lantin, who was married off to Monsieur Lantin to improve her life. Her seemingly virtuous and innocent appearance became the main
Maupassant uses Madame Loisel, the protagonist, to show irony in almost all it’s forms. Maupassant first shows irony thourgh Mathilde’s life,“The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born... into a family of clerks… Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. ”(Maupassant, 1) Mathilde feels like she deserves all the luxuries in life, because of the sole fact that she is pretty, she had no money nor rank; she still believed that she should be wed to rich men, this is an example of situational irony.
Maupassant’s creation of the interesting character Boule de Suif and her relationships with the other characters is done through his use of effective techniques such as imagery, symbolism and tone. These techniques support the key themes of equality, fraternity and betrayal which are present in the short story. Throughout the short story but specifically during this extract, Boule de Suif is described as a very desirable person. Maupassant’s
“Far from being an ‘exquisite’ love story, Rebecca raises questions about women’s acquiescence to male values that are as pertinent today as they were 60 years ago.” Sally Beauman depiction of Rebecca represents the typical conventions that are apparent to the romantic genre. These conventions include the acquaintance of women and the romantic setting. Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca both describe these conventions apparent to the romance genre.
M. Lantin turned to his late wife’s jewelry collection; he knew that it was fake jewelry but he was desperate and was in need of money. He took the jewelry to a jewelry store expecting to receive only a few francs but then he was told he was receiving thousands of francs. M. Lantin was in shock and could not believe that the entire time it was real jewelry and not fake; he became a very wealthy man and resigned from his job, eventually marrying another woman who made his wife miserable. M. Lantin’s first wife had a big impact on his life; however, his selfish actions lead to what he deserved ending up with a wife that made him miserable. M. Lantin’s first wife was a young beautiful woman who he fell deeply in love with, she was the ideal woman that any of the men would want in their life.
Narcis Celic Bauer English I 15 December 2016 Compare/Contrast English I Essay Mathilde in “The Necklace” is simply unhappy because she doesn't have money but has a rich husband. Della in “Gift of the Magi” is unhappy because she doesn't have money to buy her husband a gift for Christmas so she makes a decision. Let's start with similarities with both of the main characters in “The Necklace” and “Gift of the Magi”. Della and Mathilde are both women who struggle against money. The two women have been blessed with physical beauty,
Human nature causes people to desire more than what one already has. However, after desiring material items, people realize the foolishness in their greed. In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde Loisel, who lives in France during the 1880s, attempts to transform her ordinary life into one of luxury. She attends a reception with her friend Madame Forestier's diamond necklace, but after losing it, she works to buy a new necklace, only to later discover the necklace she lost is fake. Through this experience, Mathilde learns to be content with what she has, and as a result, she realizes the flaws in her character.
He also demonstrates through his characters a human touch. The characters that are victimized are viewed with understanding and sympathy. The story of ‘The Necklace’ is about a lady called Mrs. Loisel who was born into a family with very normal social status. She settled for a life of mediocracy by marrying a minor clerk in the ministry of education.
With her greed for attention, she asks one of her upper-class friends, Madame Forestier, for a necklace that she could borrow for the ball.
“The Diamond Necklace” by Maupassant teaches how this clash defines society’s interactions with each other. Understanding the desire of the proletariat class to overcome the oppression caused by those who have control over them, will give more understanding to the relationship between the Loisels. Through the characteristic flaws shown by Matilda, Marxist theory is upheld. With Marx’s idea of how Capitalism works, class conflict, manipulation, and repression are exemplified through the characteristic conflicts that build and destroy the husband and wife’s relationship within the story, while helping them become one with each