ENGL 1102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: The Necklace
Throughout the story, the author utilizes the necklace to illustrate many things. Two of the most
blatant are wealth and class. Although a necklace or any piece of jewelry usually portrays
beauty and elegance, the necklace that Madame Loisel wears in this story represents more than
just that. Madame Loisel, the main character, feels that she must have wear the diamond
necklace because she does not own any jewelry and is afraid of how the rich women would
judge her if she looked poor. “There’s nothing more humiliating than looking shabby in the
company of rich women.” (Maupassant, 9) Even though she is wearing a beautiful and very
expensive dress, she claims that she will be humiliated without the necklace. This can indicate
the necklace representing wealth because she could have chosen other pieces of jewelry, but
she chooses the necklace. She believes that she needs something to show off her wealth even
though she is not wealthy enough to afford a diamond necklace or any other riches.
The necklace can portray a whole variety of themes and ideas throughout the story. The
most important theme, greed can lead to downfall, is caused by Madame Loisel’s pride. Her
pride refuses to let her see beyond her greed and she is clouded by her desires to be in the high
society. Her own desires led to her life being destroyed by debt and hardships.
While reading this story, main theme seems to be greed. Madame believes that she was
originally supposed to be born with wealth and born, but her elusive desires are false. Her
desire for power makes her believe that with expensive items, other women will become jealous
of what she obtains and men will be attracted to her. So, before the party, she borrows the
diamond necklace from her rich friend, Madame Forestier, in order to feel rich and to show off.
However, she loses the necklace while going home, and goes through many struggles to buy a
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Document Summary
Throughout the story, the author utilizes the necklace to illustrate many things. Two of the most blatant are wealth and class. Although a necklace or any piece of jewelry usually portrays beauty and elegance, the necklace that madame loisel wears in this story represents more than just that. Madame loisel, the main character, feels that she must have wear the diamond necklace because she does not own any jewelry and is afraid of how the rich women would judge her if she looked poor. There"s nothing more humiliating than looking shabby in the company of rich women. (maupassant, 9) even though she is wearing a beautiful and very expensive dress, she claims that she will be humiliated without the necklace. This can indicate the necklace representing wealth because she could have chosen other pieces of jewelry, but she chooses the necklace.
