Type a new keyword(s) and press Enter to search

Mathilde Loisel in The Necklace

 

            "The Necklace" exemplifies the greed that all of us feel at one time or another in our own lives. Based on the story and character of Mathilde Loisel, I feel that she could represent the traits of many of us in the world today. Even though Mathilde was born with natural beauty she was still in need of more in her mind to make her feel whole and desirable by others in her community. She was born to a life of poverty and she felt that there was no way out of her wretched life unless she could marry into wealth. Unfortunately, she was only able to wed a lowly clerk to the Minister of Education. In my eyes Mathilde had a narrow vision and belief that her fame and best fortunes could only come from someone else's wealth and doings. Never, until the end of the short story, did she even contemplate reaching for the wealthier lifestyle through her own hard work and accomplishments. However, as we saw in the twist of the irony near the end of the short story she had to overcome the debts with extremely hard work and efforts. Furthermore she put her husband in a very stressful and demanding lifestyle by working three jobs to overcome the debt that ensued from Mathilde's miscalculations and misplaced expectations.
             Many times we overlook the payoff of our own efforts and hard work that would give us greater gratifications and more solid beliefs in one's self. Too many times we, like Mathilde, solely rely on others to give us material things to overcome our own shortcomings. Throughout the short story several people went out of their way to attempt to make Mathilde feel more assured and peaceful with her own being. However, little did Mathilde know that some of the material things that she was given were cosmetic in nature, none more so then her much adorned necklace that she wore to the formal party hosted by the Minister of Education. It wasn't enough for Mathilde to be granted a nice dress of 400 francs, which she herself admitted would be a valuable and worthy dress to wear to the formal party.


Essays Related to Mathilde Loisel in The Necklace