The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant: A Study of Women in 19th Century France

Abstract

Henri Rene Guy de Maupassant is the French writer of the naturalistic school. The characters which he depicts in his novels and short stories are very interesting as his characters are natural rather than romantic and he depicts the inner-psyche of the characters and how it works.

The heroine of the short- story The Necklace is shown as simple girls with high ambition and we can compare the character of Matilda to that of every girl indiscrimination of time and place to which she belongs. But Maupassant highlights that Mrs.Loisel was very talented woman and if she was given a chance to prove her personal qualities she would be a successful woman.

But on the contrary in 19^th Century France the hegemonic ideology of the society was their consciousness of class and the material achievements. And all the people of the 19^th century France participates in the race of the false class achievements as they were groomed in such a way to achieve wealth, material prosperity, political power and individual's qualities was subordinated.

Hence, this paper highlights a critical study of the character of the heroine Matilda and how her character illustrates her the women of the 19^th century France on the whole and also the actual woman in her which turned up when Matilda was caught up in the misery of her ambition i.e. the robust woman hidden in her. This simple story on the surface level illustrates the working of the complex psyche of an individual understanding and also highlights the tragedy created by human's over-ambition.