Edwina Zhang
June 14, 2007
Draft Three
Fate of a Vain Lady
After the French Revolution (1789-1799), France became a republic while class distinction still remained. During that time, French people, especially in the upper-class society, valued money and favored luxuries. Dowry was expected from the future bride. Whom a man would choose depended on how much money a woman owned. Great wealth was superior to such things as good appearance, kind personalities and so on. In a word, an upper-class man preferred to choose a woman from a large family with considerable property so that the two were matched for marriage.
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), born in a once upper bourgeois family which was declined later, witnessed the social phenomenon in the late nineteenth century Paris. As a celebrated writer, he concentrated a lot of elements into a short yet wonderful novel, in an irony of vanity and in sympathies on fate.
In the story The Necklace, Maupassant depicted Mathilde as a vainglories wife of a little clerk, who pursues luxuries and delicacies. At a ball she lost a borrowed necklace, which brought about her ten years work to pay for debt. At the end when she had paid everything she owed, she accidentally knew the truth of a fake necklace. The news was obviously astonishing to her, which means she need not have paid so much. It is Mathilde's vanity that results in her ten years hard work, yet it is her fate to suffer the toughness.
Associated with the social background of that time, it is understandable that Mathilde is fond of luxuries. Mathilde was born in an ordinary family with a charming appearance. In a society where people overvalued money, Mathilde has no means to joining the upper class. However, she loves nothing but that. Feeling wronged to be married with a little clerk, she consider herself superior to women of the same class. Her attractive beauty endued her with born vanity, while her average income cannot meet her need for luxuries. In a word, Mathilde has no approach to knowing the rich and no capital for satisfying her pursuit.
Therefore, the invitation to a ball lit her up. She has always been waiting for such fine opportunities. And when it does come, she is endeavored to dress up elaborately. The dress for theater performance was abandoned, and she preferred to buy a new one. Natural flowers were also unsuitable for the social occasions, and she borrowed a diamond-style necklace to match her dress. All she had done was due to her idea that "there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich" (40).
Vanity becomes part of her personalities, in a close relation to her behavior. Enjoying being introduced and remarked, she indulged herself with endless round of dance; wearing a modest wrap on shoulders, she escaped downstairs so as not to be looked upon; shivering in chill at midnight, she rode into a coupe in a hurry. Finally when she reached home, Mathilde found the borrowed necklace lost.
It is her vanity that makes Mathilde suffer the loss, so does she shoulder heavy burden. After the loss, she looked for the necklace everywhere, gave up hope in despair and eventually had no choice but to buy a new one. Rather than tell her friend the truth, she would like to make up for the loss by herself, which directly result in her not being informed of worthlessness of the necklace.
Vanity, to some extent, will be transformed into endurance. Both characters require a determination not to be a loser, or not to be inferior to others. No sooner had she savored the great moment of successful performance than she took the responsibility to pay for debt. "She took her part, moreover, all of a sudden, with heroism" (43). When Mathilde has to stand the toughness, she will not drawback or quit, because of her determination to excel in everything. It is also her choice to turn herself into a complete housewife.
The end was obviously out of readers' expectation. Readers cannot help but think about the unexpected arrangement of the plots. If the large sum of money was not used for debt, wouldn't Mathilde live a peaceful and joyful life? Was she deserved such joke of destiny? Was it too tough and callous? Maupassant chose to design the plot of the necklace being fake and Mathilde's knowing the chilly news rather than of the necklace being diamond or Mathilde's never hearing the cruel truth. Maupassant might consider it a punishment to her vanity that all brilliant glories in that night turned a transient dream in the memory.
A prevailing atmosphere of fatalism was created throughout the story. Born in an ordinary family, Mathilde was doomed to have a plain marriage. She made every effort to dress herself up and enjoyed the brilliance at the ball, while the loss of necklace made it a vanishing froth. The heavy burden washed up her beauty and reduced her to an impoverished housewife, and the wonderful moment of elegant dance could only be recalled occasionally in leisure time. The chilly truth gave her the heaviest hit, with which the story was ended, all in a sudden. From Mathilde's experience, a helpless tone is led, that people should hold a belief in fate, of which we human being cannot have a control.
"How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!" (44) The author's personal value is conveyed in some part, that our life is changeable and unpredictable and we human being never know what may happen in next second.
In the late nineteenth century where the story was set, a lot of people in lower class like Mathilde dreamed of being rich and joining the upper one day. Someone might just have a daydreaming and then leave it alone and seldom think of the idea. Mathilde's tragedy is that her born vanity enables her feel different in her class. As a result, the fate makes a joke on her. Suffering the ten years hard work, though she becomes more courageous and more understanding, she is still returned a grievous end. Resulting from her vanity, the tragedy cannot be avoided. It is her fate to suffer the toughness.
Work Cited:
Guy de Maupassant. "The Necklace." 1884. Rpt. in The International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack. New York: St: Martin’s. 1994. 38-44.
