The Necklace
Guy de Maupassant
Background

"The Neckace" takes place in Paris in the second
half of the 19th century. The life of a typical
French woman was dictated by the income of her
father or husband. Wealthy women were upper
class and lived a life of luxury. Middle-class
women took care of the family and home. Lowerclass lived a life of poverty and hard work. A
woman could improve her status by marrying
someone of a higher class, however a woman
needed a dowry-(money or property) to give her
new husband.
SETTING
1884 Paris, France
 Loisel’s apartment
 Party at the Ministry of Education’s
Mansion

CHARACTERS
Madame Loisel - selfish (beautiful,
charming, middle class, spoiled,
daydreamed)→→aged quickly, heavy
rough, harsh, shrill voice, poor
 Monsieur Loisel- kind, generous, loyal
hard-working, clerk for Ministry of
Education, wants to please wife, middle
class
 Madame Forestier - kind, generous,
wealthy, snobby

Grab a book

Read “The Necklace”

DON’T FORGET- VOCABULARY UNIT 3
TEST IS ON FRIDAY!
THEME
1. People should be happy with what they
have
 2. Honesty is the best policy
 3. You may pay a terrible price for greed
and desire (Mme. L’s fatal flaw, her desire
for material things, her ‘fakeness’ just like
the necklace)

OTHER LITERARY ELEMENTS

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Characterization – the author shows what Mme. Loisel is
like by concentrating mainly on the way she views her
surroundings (daydreams about expensive things/lifestyle
Irony – Mme. L borrows a necklace to fit in with the rich
people she envies, but the loss of the necklace results in
her being poorer than she was
After Mme. L loses the necklace & must repay the debt,
she endures 10 years of hardship only to find out the
necklace is a fake
Mme. Loisel’s intense desire for a different life is then
equally matched by her intense suffering
Foreshadowing - Rue de Martyrs the name of the street
and the English word martyr- martyr means a great or
constant sufferer
Her intense unhappiness cannot be lifted with one
party invitation
Journal- Greed

Write about a time when greed has personally
affected your life in your 1st paragraph. Who
was involved, what happened, and what was
the end result? What did you learn from this
specific incident? Did it change your
perspective or relationship with someone or
something in any way? In your 2nd paragraph,
discuss where and how you see greed
influencing our world in general. Who or what
represents greed? Is greed ever a positive
thing? How and why?