

The things we cannot have seem to be the most appealing and our desire for these things can result in unhealthy behavior. The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant, is a tale about a young, poor, yet beautiful girl who yearns for a fancy lifestyle full of beautiful jewels and expensive gowns. Her husband, eager to please her, fulfills all of her requests and in the end, she ends up in a predicament even worse than what she started with. Life isn't about the materialistic things, but rather the people and things that makes it wholesome. Guy de Maupassant is trying to teach a lesson; if you don't find the beauty in your life and learn to appreciate what you have, sometimes a wake up call is needed. Things most definitely could be worse.

Mathilde, the main character in this short story, feels as if her destiny was mistaken and she was born into the wrong lifestyle. She was raised by a family of clerks and is unhappy with life because she married a man low in status that does not make much money. Instead of enjoying his company and simplistic lifestyle, she compares her life to the wealthy women and this has a significant impact on her self esteem and happiness also. Mathilde believes because she is beautiful and charming that she deserves a wealthy lifestyle and this is where everything goes wrong. The writer is trying to prove a point; fate cannot be escaped and in order to obtain happiness, you must come to peace with the life you were blessed with. Maupassant is reminding the reader to be grateful and remain humble. 

M. Loisel, Mathilde's husband, finds away to get an invitation to a fancy get together at a palace that called for Mathilde to dress up in her best gown and jewels. Her husband tried his best to convince her that the gown she already owned was good enough for this event but she responded crankily about how she wouldn't compare to the other wealthy women and how she desired to be the most beautiful woman there. Her husband, feeling hopeless, gives her 400 francs to buy a new gown and borrows jewels from her close friend. She finally feels beautiful at the event. She attracts attention from just about every man in the room including the host. As she soaks up the attention and compliments, her husbands sleeps in a room, clearly bored and unentertained by this temporary lifestyle. Maupassant describes her night by writing:

She danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness composed of all this homage, of all this admiration, of all these awkward desires, and that sense of complete victory which is so sweet to woman's heart (Maupassant 36).

Mathilde's happiness depends entirely on other's opinions of her. As she enjoyed her night, she strayed away from her husband because she was embarrassed that he was dressed in clothes he owned prior to the get together. In the process of ditching her husband, she loses the diamonds her friend allowed her to borrow and when she gets home, she is devastated. Despite of how she treated her husband, he searches for her diamonds all night, retracing her steps, by foot.

When M. Loisel announces the devastating news that he couldn't find Mathilde's friend's expensive jewels, she panics and of course, her husband is there for her to fall back on. He takes all his saved up money and they work for years, aging and seeming even more unhappy as before just to replace these expensive diamonds, which the owner didn't even know had been lost. After paying thirty-six thousand francs, Mathilde returns the replica jewel to her friend and finally admits to losing her jewels many years ago, and having to work for such a long time to pay off this costly piece of jewelry. Her friend is shocked that she paid so much to replace her diamonds and reveals that the diamonds were fake and were only worth five hundred francs at the most. 

This is a story that emphasizes that one should be humble and be happy with what they have in life, for things could be much worse. Another lesson from this text is that being money hungry and materialistic things being the only things one strives to achieve is detrimental to a person's happiness. Mathilde lived a poor and simple lifestyle before the event at the palace and could have easily worn an old gown with no fancy jewels and simply enjoyed the scenery and company of her loving husband. She was never satisfied until she felt like she outshined everyone and was humbled. The key to a happy life is making the best of what you have and work hard for what you want but fate will always have its way in the end. 

