THE NECKLACE By Guy De Maupassant Guy De

THE NECKLACE By: Guy De Maupassant

Guy De Maupassant: Biography • Full name: Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant • Birthdate: August 5, 1850 • Birthplace: Château de Miromesnil, near Dieppe in the Seine -Inférieure (now Seine- Maritime) department in France • Birth order: first born • Parents: Laure Le Poittevin Gustave de Maupassant -Both from prosperous bourgeois(middle-class) families • Sibling/s: Hervé • Died: July 6, 1893

Early Life: • In 1869 Maupassant started to study law in Paris, but soon, at the age of 20, he volunteered to serve in the army during the Franco-Prussian War. Between the years 1872 and 1880 Maupassant was a civil servant, first at the ministry of maritime affairs, then at the ministry of education. • Maupassant had suffered from his 20’s from syphilis. The disease later caused increasing mental disorder - also seen in his nightmarish stories, which have much in common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions.

Early Life: • Critics have charted Maupassant's developing illness through his semi-autobiographical stories of abnormal psychology, but theme of mental disorder is present even in his first collection, La Maison Tellier (1881), published at the height of his health. • As a poet Maupassant made his debut with Des Vers (1880). In the same year he published in the anthology Soirées de Medan (1880), edited by E. Zola, his masterpiece, "Boule De Suif" ("Ball of Fat", 1880). During the 1880 s Maupassant created some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse.

Early Life: • In tone, his tales were marked by objectivity, highly controlled style, and sometimes by sheer comedy. Usually they were built around simple episodes from everyday life, which revealed the hidden sides of people. Among Maupassant's best-known books are Une Vie (A Woman's Life, 1883), about the frustrating existence of a Norman wife and Bel-Ami (1885), which depicts an unscrupulous journalist. Pierre Et Jean (1888) was a psychological study of two brothers. Maupassant's most upsetting horror story, Le Horla (1887), was about madness and suicide. • On January 2, in 1892, Maupassant tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was committed to the celebrated private asylum of Dr. Esprit Blanche at Passy, in Paris, where he died on July 6, 1893.

The Necklace (La Parure): • published on 17 th February 1884 in the French newspaper Le Gaulois. • The story has become one of Maupassant's popular works and is well known for its ending. It is also the inspiration for Henry James's short story, "Paste". It has been dramatized as a musical by the Irish composer Conor Mitchell; it was first produced professionally by Thomas Hopkins and Andrew Jenkins for Surefire Theatrical Ltd at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007.

The Setting of the story: • The setting can be real or imaginary places: - Somewhere in Paris - The cab - Mister Loisel’s house - Madame Forestier’s house, and - all those places Mathilde imagine should be.

Characters of the story: • Mathilde Loisel • Mister Loisel • Madame Forestier

PLOT of the story:

Initial Situation: Miserable Mathilde • At the beginning of the story, we meet Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class girl who desperately wishes she were wealthy. She's got looks and charm, but had the bad luck to be born into a family of clerks, who marry her to another clerk (M. Loisel) in the Department of Education. Mathilde is so convinced she's meant to be rich that she detests her real life and spends all day dreaming and despairing about the fabulous life she's not having. She envisions footmen, feasts, fancy furniture, and strings of rich young men to seduce.

Conflict: Mathilde is in trouble • One day M. Loisel comes home with an invitation to a fancy ball thrown by his boss, the Minister of Education. M. Loisel has gone to a lot of trouble to get the invitation, but Mathilde's first reaction is to throw a fit. She doesn't have anything nice to wear, and can't possibly go! M. Loisel doesn't know what to do, and offers to buy his wife a dress, so long as it's not too expensive. Mathilde asks for 400 francs, and he agrees.

Complication: Diamonds are this girl's best friend • Mathilde solves the first problem when her husband gives her money for a dress. But then she runs into a second problem: though, this time because she has no jewels. So M. Loisel suggests she go see her friend Mme. Forestier, a rich woman who can probably lend her something. Mathilde goes to see Mme. Forestier, and she is in luck. Mathilde is able to borrow a gorgeous diamond necklace. With the necklace, she's sure to be a stunner.

Climax: The necklace is missing! • The night of the ball arrives, and Mathilde has the time of her life. Everyone loves her (i. e. , lusts after her) and she is absolutely thrilled. She and her husband (who falls asleep off in a corner) don't leave until 4 am. Mathilde suddenly dashes outside to avoid being seen in her shabby coat. She and her husband catch a cab and head home. But once back at home, Mathilde makes a horrifying discovery: the diamond necklace is gone!

Suspense: Diamonds, when lost, are a girl's worst nightmare • M. Loisel spends all of the next day, and even the next week, searching the city for the necklace, but finds nothing. It's gone. So he and Mathilde decide they have no choice but to buy Mme. Forestier a new necklace. They visit one jewelry store after another until at last they find a necklace that looks just the same as the one they lost. Unfortunately, it's 36 thousand francs, which is exactly twice the amount of all the money M. Loisel has to his name. So M. Loisel goes massively into debt and buys the necklace, and Mathilde returns it to Mme. Forestier, who doesn't notice the substitution. Buying the necklace catapults the Loisels into poverty for the next ten years. They lose their house, their maid, their comfortable lifestyle, and on top of it all Mathilde loses her good looks.

Denouement: A fateful stroll down the Champs Elysées • After ten years, all the debts are finally paid, and Mathilde is out for a jaunt on the Champs Elysées. There she comes across Mme. Forestier, rich and beautiful as ever. Now that all the debts are paid off, Mathilde decides she wants to finally tell Mme. Forestier the sad story of the necklace and her ten years of poverty, and she does.

Conclusion: The Twist • After explaining the purchase of the new necklace, Madame Forestier takes Mathilde's hands, explaining that her original necklace was an IMITATION and only worth 500 francs.

QUESTION: • In your own opinion, what would be the best THEME for this story?