Guy de Maupassant

•
(1850-1893)
•
French author
famous for his
short stories
•
Prolific writer who
wrote over 300
short stories
•
Died in a sanitarium

Setting
• Apartment
in Paris,
France
• In the past

Characterizati
on
• Madame Loisel
–
Round and dynamic
–
Has a desire to be envied
–
Jealous
–
Never satisfied
–
Longs for a wealthy life style,
which
contrasts with her real life.

Characterizatio
n
• Monsieur
Loisel
• Optimistic
• Happy with his
life
• Practical
• Manipulated by
his wife

Irony
•
The Loisels live on the
“street of
martyrs” and end up making
a ten
year-long sacrifice. (Verbal
Irony)
•
Madame Loisel borrows a
necklace
that makes her feel
beautiful and
wealthy, and it turns out to
be fake.
(Situational Irony)
•
Also….i love mrs newbold
Madame Loisel - selfish
(beautiful,
charming, middle class,
spoiled,
daydreamed)→→aged
quickly, heavy
rough, harsh, shrill voice,
poor
Monsieur Loisel- kind,
generous,
loyal hard-working, clerk for
Ministry
of Education, wants to
please wife,
middle class
Necklace = greed/desire for
what one
cannot have, differences in
social
classes, dishonesty, Mme.
L’s
‘fakeness’ or want of material
things
Wrap = Mme’s station in life
–
insecurity- embarrassment
Dress = M. Loisel sacrifice
for his
wife
Quote – “We do not
succeed in
changing things according
to
our desire, but gradually
our
desires change.”
– Marcel Proust
setting
•
The Loisel’s apartment in the
Rue des Martyrs,
in Paris, France.
•
The apartment is shabby (worn
out) and dull.
“She grieved over the shabbiness of her
apartment, the
dinginess of the walls, the worn-out
appearance of the chairs,
the ugliness of the draperies.”
plot
•
EXPOSITION: introducing Mme.
Loisel in her
apartment as she is described as
extremely
unhappy and dissatisfied with her
social status
•
KICK-OFF: Mme. Loisel receives
an invitation to
the party, brought by M. Loisel.
•
RISING ACTION: Mathilde refuses
to attend the
party without a suitable
dress/Loisel gives
money/doesn’t have
jewellery/borrows a
necklace/loses it/borrows money
to buy a new
one/lives in poverty to pay debt.
•
CLIMAX: 10 years later relieved of
the debt
Mme. L. confesses all to Mme.
Forestier who
reveals that the necklace is fake.
Irony
Dramatic irony:
•
Mme. L borrows a necklace to
fit in with the
rich people she envies, but the
loss of the
necklace results in her being
poorer than she
was.
•
Mme. and M. Loisel work hard
for 10 years for
a fake diamond necklace.
Point of view
•
The story is told from the
3rd person
limited point of view,
focuses mostly on
Mme. Loisel’s thoughts and
feelings.
•
If a first person is used, the
effect might
be different, especially if
the narrator is
Mms. Loisel.