lOMoARcPSD|12581401

The Necklace - Critique Paper

Bachelor of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies (Polytechnic University of the

Philippines)

StuDocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)
 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

CRITIQUE PAPER

ABM 11-C

Armando, Kristine Allen D.

Castillo Liannie Fey S.
Pambago, Mark Aeron T.

Page 1

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

I. Background of Literary Piece

A. Title
The Necklace or The Diamond Necklace (French La Parure) was first
published on the 17th day of February year 1884 by Guy de Maupassant in the
French daily newspaper Le Gaulois. This story is very famous since then because
of its twist plot wherein while you’re reading it, you do not really think that
there’s a very unique ending. This story will give you lots of lessons in life that
most of the people nowadays are experiencing.

B. Author
Guy de Maupassant, the author of the literary piece “The Necklace” is a
French writer named as Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant. He is born in
August 5, 1850 and died at the age of 42 in July 6, 1893 at Paris France.
He is a naturalist and considered as the greatest French short-story writer. He
is known for some notable works like Bel-Ami, Boule de Suif, The Horla, A
Woman,s Life, Pierre et Jean, and La Maison Tellier.
Maupassant’s work are thoroughly realistic. The characters he made in every
story symbolize a world of material desires and sensual appetites in which lust,
greed, and ambition are the driving forces, and any other feelings are either absent
or dominated to a cruel disappointment.

C. Author’s Intention
Guy de Maupassant’s story entitled “The Necklace” wants to inform the
readers that being a less fortunate person isn’t a big thing, it won’t matter as long
as you live veraciously with right conduct and to persuade the readers that life is
not just about luxury but being contented in the things that you have and with the
life that you live.

Page 2

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

D. Literary Approach
In the said context, there is a woman named Madamme Mathilde Loisel who’s
fate is unfavorable of having a luxurious life. The literary approach that will be
use in this story is Marxism because there are two social class in that society. The
bourgeoisie and the proletariat which is under the literary approach Marxism.

II. Symbolism

The Necklace
The Diamond necklace symbolizes the strong desire of Mathilde for the things
that she cannot have.

The Dress
The dress symbolizes the love and sacrifice of her husband for her. He sacrificed
his savings for Mathilde to get what she wanted.

III. Freytag Pyramid

Exposition:
Mathilde is one of those charming girls but it seems that fate blundered over her
because she was born into a family of unfavorable economic status. Later on, She was
married off to a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Education named Monsieur Loisel,
who can afford to provide her with modest though not uncomfortable lifestyle. As

Page 3

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

time passes by, she suffer from self-pity. She regrets her life and spends endless hours
dreaming for luxury, while her husband expresses his pleasure at the small, modest
supper she prepared for him, she looks forward on a ostentatious feast. She possesses
no fancy jewels or clothing, yet these are the only things she lives for.

Rising Action:
One night, Monsieur Loisel came home with an exultant air, he’s holding an
invitation to a formal party hosted by the Ministry of Education. He thought that
Mathilde will be excited with the chance to attend an event of this sort, but she is
instantly angry and begins to cry with despair. Through her tears, she tells him that
she has nothing to wear and she ought to give the invitation to one of her husband’s
friends whose wife can afford better clothing. Monsieur Loisel got upset by her
reaction and asks how much a suitable dress would cost. Mathilde Loisel thinks about
it carefully and tells him that 400 francs would be enough. Her husband quietly balks
at the sum but agrees that she may have the money. As the day of the party
approaches, Mathilde Loisel seemed sad, anxious, and she felt some emptiness
because for her she looks odd in her dress due to lack of jewelry in her body.At first
her husband suggested that she can wear some flowers but then Mathilde rejected it
then her husband persuade her to borrow some jewelry of her friend named Madame
Forestier. Madame Forestier agrees to lend Mathilde her jewelry, and Mathilde chose
a diamond necklace.

Climax:
At the Party, Mathilde was the prettiest woman ,elegant, graceful, smiling, and
quite above herself with happiness, and everyone noticed her. At 4:00 am she left the
party and looked for Monsieur Loisel, who has been dozing for hours in deserted
room. When they saw each other Monsieur Loisel cloaks his wife’s bare shoulders
and told her to wait inside away from the cold night air while he fetches hailing a cab.
But Mathilde Loisel was ashamed at the shabbiness of her wrap and follows her
husband outside. They walk for a while before hailing a cab. When they finally return

Page 4

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

home, Mathilde took off her garments in which sad had wrapped her shoulders, so as
to see herself in all her glory before the mirror. But suddenly she uttered a cry
because the necklace was no longer around her neck. When Monsieur Loisel knew
what happened to the diamond necklace he asked his wife if maybe she lost it in the
streets and fell but then Mathilde didn’t noticed. In panic, Monsieur Loisel put on his
clothes and ran outside to find the diamond neckalce. Terrified, Mathilde Loisel sits
and wait for her husband all day long, in the same state of bewilderment at her fearful
catastrophe.

Falling Action:
When Monsieur Loisel returned home about 7:00 am he found nothing. He went
to police station, to the newspapers, to offer a reward, to the cab companies,
everywhere that a ray of hope prompted him. He told Mathilde to write a letter to
Madame Forestier and tell her that she have broken the clasp of her necklace and are
getting it mended. For Monsieur Loisel that will give them a time to look about it. By
the end of the week they had lost all hope and they agreed to replaced the
diamonds.They took the box which had held the necklace and went to the jewelers
whose name was inside but then when they got in the jeweler they were been refused
because the jeweler said that it was not in his store that the necklace was sold the
jeweler added that he must have merely supplied the clasp. In a shop at the Palais-
Royal they found a string of diamonds which seemed to be exactly like the one they
were looking for. It was worth 40 000 francs and they were allowed to have it for
thirty six thousand. the Loisels spend a week scraping up money from all kinds of
sources, mortgaging the rest of their existence. After three days, Monsieur Loisel
purchases the necklace. When Mathilde returns the necklace, in its case, to Madame
Forestier, Madame Forestier said that they must ought to have brought it back sooner
because she might needed it but as she accept the necklace she didn’t inspect it.

Denuoment:
The Loisels began to live a life of crippling poverty. Mathilde Loisel came to

Page 5

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

know the ghastly life of abject poverty. They both dismiss their servants and move
into an even smaller apartment. She learned to do household chores by her own.
Every month notes had to be paid off, others renewed. Her husband worked in the
evenings at putting straight a merchant’s accounts, and often at night he did copying.
And their life lasted ten years. After every debts was paid off Madame Loisel looked
old now. She had become like all the other strong, hard, coarsewomen of poor
households. She looks just like the other women of poor households. Sometimes,
while her husband is at the office she sat down and think that what would have
happened is she had never lost those jewels she added that how little is needed to ruin
or to slave. One Sunday she had gone for a walk and suddenly caught a sight of a
woman who was taking a child out for a walk. It was Madame Forestier who looks
young, beautiful, and still attractive. Madame Loisel felt concious of some emotion.
She went up with Madame Forestier and have a little conversation. Along with their
conversation she admitted what she did on Madame Forestier’s necklace and Madame
Forestier replied with pittiness that her necklace was just an imitation and worth at the
very most five hundred francs.

IV. Discussion

Happiness doesn’t come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in
your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself
healthy and strong. In the story “The Necklace” it shows the the differences of social
classes in a society as well as the consequences of not being contended of what you
have.

The woman named Mathilde Loisel is a less fortunate person or part of the
proletariat in a society. She wants to attend in a party wherein that party is a grand
one and exclusive only to a certain number of attendees. We can associate it to the
concept of Marxism where the attendees are the bourgeoisie and the person not

Page 6

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)

 lOMoARcPSD|12581401

included are the proletariat but then, Mathilde was able to attend the party even if
she’s a poor one because she is a person desiring for a luxurious life.

You don’t really need to be rich in order to be happy. Be satisfied on the things
you have or on what you are. This story shows a Marxism approach because of the
two social class of the society in the story.

V. Theme

“The Necklace” story is all about contentment in life, on accepting what we have
and aiming for what we still don’t have.

Page 7

Downloaded by Hency Rom (henshyrom@gmail.com)