Analysis of Guy de Maupassants The Necklace - 665 Words

She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded by any rich and distinguished man, (de Maupassant). From the first line of The Necklace, the reader is prepared for a Marxist-feminist understanding of the protagonist. The overall theme of The Necklace does not so much undermine the structural inequities in Mathildes society, but points more to the futility of pursuing happiness through material wealth. Whereas her husband joyously exclaims, Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I dont know anything better than that, Mathildes head is in the silver-lined clouds. At the same time, de Maupassant provides an ironic and even paradoxical critique social structure and class-based hierarchies. The divide between wealthy and poor is not as material as one might believe; quite the opposite, the central symbol of the necklace shows that a cheap five hundred franc necklace was all Mathilde needed to hob nob with the bourgeoisie, after all. Likewise, Mathildes wrap is a symbol of the false barriers between social classes. The wraps which he had brought were the modest wraps of common life, (de Maupassant). As they enclose the lovely Mathilde in her fancy dress with her fancy necklace, the wraps whose poverty contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress represent her packaging as a person (de Maupassant). Mathilde remainsShow MoreRelatedWhat Is The Theme Of The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant1028 Words   |  5 Pages The Necklace†, by Guy de Maupassant First published in French in 1884, is a fabulous short story about unhappiness and being true to yourself. The story is about a woman, named Mathilide Loisel, who was a â€Å"prima donna† of sorts. However she could not have certain things that cost too much because she did not have the money to buy the items she longed for. One night her husband brought home an invitation to a ball but she was not happy about this because she did not have a dress good enough to attendRead MoreFeminism In The Necklace1068 Words   |  5 PagesFeminist Analysis of Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace. In recent decades, feminism has attracted attention from different individuals who fight for equal treatment of both genders. As defined by many researchers, feminism is the advocacy of equality between male and females. This concept began when people realized that the traditional roles of men and women provide a lot of injustice to women. According to Barry â€Å"The women’s movement’ of the 1960s was not, of course, the start of feminism. 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Most men thought women were so fragile that they could not run their own lives. Women may not have liked it but they were forced to live this way The men were the head of the household and made all the decisions. The representation of The Necklace and The story of an hour represents gender roles as defined by the nineteenth century society guidelines . The The Story of an Hour was set in the late nineteenth century in the home of Louise Mallard.(Kate Chopin).It was written on AprilRead MoreIrony in the Works of Kate Chopin and Guy De Maupassant1903 Words   |  8 PagesParagraph 4: irony as the cause of death Paragraph 5: The Necklace summary/analysis Paragraph 6: conflict and irony Paragraph 7: result of ironic twist Conclusion: Irony in Chopin and Maupassant Irony is a literary device wherein what the reader expects to occur does not and the events that transpire are wholly surprising. Authors throughout literary history have used this devise to surprise and entertain the reader. Kate Chopin and Guy de Maupassant both utilize irony in their respective shortRead MoreEssay about Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism2493 Words   |  10 Pagesvariants endorse, at least to a certain degree, the idea that literature...is fundamentally entwined with the psyche (wiki).The three literary works which will be analyzed in this essay are â€Å"A Woman Like Me†, â€Å"Swaddling Clothes†, and â€Å"The Necklace† using psychoanalytic criticism theories of literary works of the authors, characters, and text. What is Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism? All psychoanalytic approaches to literature have one thing in common, the critics begin withRead Moreâ€Å"Irony in Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Jewelry†Ã¢â‚¬ 3124 Words   |  13 Pages â€Å"The Jewelry† by Guy de Maupassant ii.i Plot summary ii.ii Analysis of the story ii.iii Irony in â€Å"The Jewelry† Conclusion to Chapter II Conclusion Bibliography Introduction â€Å"Expect the unexpected,† is something that I heard many times. We should follow this rule while reading different genres of writing, because writers use irony to keep readers’ attention, and make their works more interesting. This research paper deals with one of Guy de Maupassant’s short story â€Å"The Jewelry†Read MoreFiction in Henry James Paste2797 Words   |  12 PagesFiction in Henry James`s â€Å"Paste† Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. American Modernism 4 3. Henry James (1843-1916) 5 4. Paste 8 5. Fiction in Henry James 10 6. Paste analysis 12 6. Conclusion 14 7. Bibliography 15 1. Introduction In my term paper I will primarily discuss Henry James and his short story Paste. Firstly, I will focus on the time he wrote the story and than I will describe his life and his three major writing phrases. Next, I will go on with giving the most important