Samantha Drake

ENG 200.01: Introduction to Literature

Professor Ethan Mannon
September 9, 2021

The Controversy of a Flat, Dynamic Character

In Guy de Maupassant’s 1884 short story The Necklace, readers are introduced to The

Loisels: Mathilde, an unhappy woman who spends all of her time dreaming of the extravagant

lifestyle she believes she is destined for, and Mr. Loisel, a minor clerk in the Ministry of

Education that Mathilde was left with no other choice but to settle for. The character Mr. Loisel

defies the set rules of character classification by presenting as both a flat and dynamic character.

Edgar V. Roberts and Robert Zweig, authors of the book Literature: An Introduction to Reading

and Writing define dynamic characters as “characters [who] recognize, change with, or adjust to

circumstances.”(Roberts/Zweig, Pg.181) and flat characters are defined as “simple and

one-dimensional”(Roberts/Zweig, Pg.181). The book also makes this statement: “Most flat

characters end pretty much where they begin, and for this reason, we may think of them as static,

not dynamic”(Roberts/Zweig, Pg.181). Though readers have remotely no insight into Mr.

Loisel’s personal feelings and he presents as a one-dimensional character, we also witness him

adjust and change to fit his new lifestyle as put forth by his wife, Mathilde.

In Maupassant’s story, we witness Mr. Loisel and Mathilde as they attempt to navigate a

tricky situation resulting in grave lifestyle changes. The beginning of the story unfolds with Mr.

Loisel and Mathilde living their normal lives and we see Mr. Loisel as he makes attempts to

make the best out of what they have. Mr. Loisel is eager and willing to adjust to whatever

circumstances Mathilde creates for him. In line 20 of The Necklace Mathilde complains to Mr.

Loisel telling him to “give [their] invitation to someone else at the office whose wife will have

nicer clothes than [hers].”(Maupassant, Ln.20), Mr. Loisel responds by giving into Mathilde’s
manipulation and says “Well, all right, Mathilde. How much would a new dress cost, something

you could use at other times, but not anything fancy?”(Maupassant, Ln.22) and sacrifices his

savings for a dress to make Mathilde happy.

Throughout the body of the story, we see this same pattern of Mathilde attempting to

manipulate Mr. Loisel and we see him doing everything he can to grant her wishes. When

Mathilde loses a necklace loaned to her by her wealthy acquaintance, Mrs. Forrestier, we see Mr.

Loisel leave The Loisel’s flat and begin a thorough search for the missing jewels as Mathilde sits

and does nothing. Mr. Loisel goes to the police as well as the newspaper, offering a reward and

following every possible lead, desperately trying to fix the situation. When Mathilde refuses to

own up about the lost jewels to Mrs. Forrestier, Mr. Loisel spends his entire inheritance and

personally borrows the rest of the money needed to replace the necklace, creating eighteen

thousand francs of debt for the pair. Loisel spends 10 years picking up extra work and paying off

extra acquired debt while Mathilde “discover[s] the horrible life of the needy.”(Maupassant,

Ln.98) and is finally somewhat forced to suffer the consequences of her actions.

Typically, in literature, there is a strong overlap between round and dynamic characters as

well as flat and static characters, although that overlap does not mean that they are the same

thing. It’s important in this case for readers to really focus on Mr. Loisel as we are reading. He

appears many times throughout the story but fails to leave a memorable impression because it is

difficult to form a personal connection to such a bland, emotionless character. This is one of the

many reasons we can define Mr. Loisel as a flat character. However, as stated previously, Loisel

reappears throughout the text as Mathilde creates problem after problem and he continues to

adjust his lifestyle to fit those circumstances. Readers are given a vast amount of information

about what Mathilde is feeling and how she is struggling but the only thing that is brought up

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about Mr. Loisel is the change in his actions and lifestyle as we see in this quote from a critical

essay by Christopher Smith titled The Necklace: Overview, “The couple move into a smaller flat,

dismiss their maid; Monsieur Loisel takes on miserably paid over-time jobs, and Mathilde loses

her youthful freshness and prettiness as she becomes a hard-natured housewife, doing all the

household cleaning herself and fighting with shopkeepers over every centime as she struggles to

make do on the least possible amount of money each month.”(Smith, P.g.6). Smith recounts all of

Mathilde’s feelings of loss of youth, hardening of her nature, etc. but cannot do the same with

Mr. Loisel as all we have insight into is the fact that he took on extra work.

Throughout all of this change that Loisel endures, readers are oblivious to his personality,

his feelings, etc. leaving him feeling flat and one-dimensional. We witness him go through tough

times and work excessively, but we never get any information on what he is going through

internally. Is he exhausted? Is he overwhelmed? We as readers are unaware of that part of

Loisel’s Character. Loisel plays such a minor part in this story and seems to only be mentioned as

needed to counter Mathilde’s laziness and clean up after her like you would a small child.

However, even with this minor, flat role, Mr. Loisel’s character adds important layers to the text.

This crossover of flat and dynamic that we see in Mr. Loisel is not a common occurrence and this

makes it particularly hard to defend. This essay opens up the doors to new possibilities and ways

to categorize and analyze characters and challenges the in-the-box thinking process many of us

use when we interpret literature. By allowing ourselves to bend the rules of literature just slightly

and opening our minds to interpret it without bias we can discover ideas that nobody has ever

considered.

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 Works Cited:

Roberts, Edgar V, and Robert Zweig. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing.

Pearson Education.

Maupassant, Guy de. The Necklace (Short Story), 1884. Excerpt from Literature: An

Introduction to Reading and Writing. Pearson Education.

Smith, Christopher. "The Necklace: Overview." Reference Guide to Short Fiction, edited by

Noelle Watson, St. James Press, 1994. Gale Literature Resource Center,

https://go.gale.com/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T001&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&search

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