The painting shows the married couple Mme. Loisel and her husband a clerk getting ready for work. What is amazingly amusing about it is the how Mme. Loisel is dressed in a fancy long dress, her hair nicely tied on her head, and the expression she makes by looking at the mirror, wondering about the life she could have had. It is obvious from the picture that she lives among the middle class people because there are not so many jewels noticed on her and the room that she is in is small, compared with a higher-class people's rooms. And then comes the man sitting behind her who is her husband getting prepared to go to work outfitted with his work clothes tying up he's shoes ready to leave. I will discuss my viewpoint of the painting as I see it to have a deep story that is based on the woman looking at the mirror besides how she makes the readers think and feel of her, plus the pictures has a complex design in which makes it a story itself.

This visual text was the cover of Gil Blas Illustre Short story of The Necklace written by Guy de Maupassant, published by Derby City Prints in 1893. Made for the readers of the short story. The painting implies some of the struggles that Mathilde was going through in the story from poverty and her consistent determination to be like her friends from higher-class people. The painting shows a total perspective of the Mathilde's lifestyle; by how she looks at her appeal in the mirror, admiring her own self in the pursuit of being wealthy in order to get whatever she desires to have from jewels, fancy dresses, shoes and whatever a woman may ask for so that she becomes the center of attention. Those things she demands for can be acknowledged because when she looks at the mirror she seems concerned about her looks, so she probably will look at the mirror to see how she looks and enhances her looks. On the other side, there is her husband the clerk tying his shoes and getting ready to go to work who seems to be at the far side of the image, not paying attention about his wife.

The design and making of the painting somehow gives precise idea of the daily routine of Mme. Loisel and her husband's as well. The picture is set to the as if the spectator is standing at the back of the room looking straight at the same height of his eye-level. The angle of the painting makes the readers of The Necklace by some means understand the suffering of Mathilde, because with her beauty and charm she could have been living in a castle if she wanted by getting married to a rich man. She stands there looking Confident and knowing what she wants as if she were to be a queen in her own world. However, it seems also that her husband is satisfied in his life with what he has as if he does not care whether he is rich or not. The over-view of the picture also shows that they are in a small that is very simple and ordinary.

The painting makes its spectator curious about who the woman staring at the mirror is, and what is the man sitting behind her dressed-up for. They say behind every great woman there is a great man, so obviously he has a lot to do with her life because he is in the same room as her so the reader could tell that he is her husband and assumes him to know her better than anyone else does. Whether he is relative of hers, or just a friend that she might know. Still, most importantly, why is not there any kind of interaction between them. There should have been visual or verbal contact between them if they are married and at the same room and if not I assume that their relationship is not going well or there is a misunderstanding between the two of them. Moreover, if I know that they are married I would be thinking that they were not getting along with each other at all due to the complete lack of any kind of communication. This tells me that both of them are thinking differently, each of them has different goals and want different things in their lives; and if it is so I could say that, the woman is more wanting but the man is more thankful for what he already has. 

As I started noticing the little details in the painting from both the characters, and the setting of the picture, thoughts of sympathy came on my mind, which made me feel thankful for what I have, and what god has given me by making the best out of it, because there is no way everybody is born rich. There are always differences in people's wealth so human life could go on. Correspondingly comes empathy that can be shown to Mathilde who doesn't get enough attention from her husband, and that is very sad because she appears not to be enjoying her marriage. On the other hand, satisfaction shown by Mathilde's husband, which is a total human character, because he does not push himself over the limits and he knows what he wants from life, because he doesn't seem worried or bothered from anything, he's tying his shoes as if he were to be the kind of men with the same routine.

The way Mme. Loisel is standing in front of the mirror brings some kind of attraction to the readers it makes you also show empathy to the way her life turned out and she could do nothing about it which is just miserable. It makes the readers remember to be thankful with what they have and see the beauty of what they have. It also makes us careful to not take what we have for granted because we might lose it and not get back again.

Some unrevealed things in the painting may not be understood unless the story is read such as what the man is getting ready for or why is the woman looking so deep in the mirror. Although, this piece of art has a lot of things to do with life and how bittersweet life can be to a lot of people as we hear a lot of different stories in our lives.
