Beauty, Youth, and Money in Maupassant's "The Necklace"
This essay analyzes the central themes of Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace," arguing that the relationship between beauty and money serves as the story's organizing principle. The paper examines how the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, equates physical attractiveness with material wealth, and how Maupassant himself challenges that equation by identifying intangible qualities — grace, intellect, and charm — as the true markers of a woman's worth. The essay further explores how the story connects beauty to youth, showing that Mathilde's desperate financial labor destroys both, while her wealthier counterpart retains them. Together, these themes produce the story's central irony and tragedy.
- Introduction: The Central Theme of Beauty and Money: Beauty and money as the story's organizing principle
- Mathilde's Belief That Beauty Requires Wealth: Mathilde equates attractiveness with material possessions
- Maupassant's Counter-Argument: Intangible Qualities and True Beauty: Author contrasts Mathilde's view with intangible female qualities
- Beauty, Youth, and the Consequences of Financial Struggle: Financial hardship destroys Mathilde's youth and appearance
- Conclusion: Irony and Tragedy in 'The Necklace': Pursuit of wealth ironically ruins Mathilde's beauty
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What makes this paper effective
- The essay clearly identifies a controlling theme — the equation of beauty with money — and shows how the story's other themes (youth, class, aging) orbit around it, giving the analysis a unified focus.
- Quotations from the primary text are embedded purposefully: each one is followed by close reading that explains what the passage demonstrates, rather than letting the quote stand alone.
- The paper uses the contrast between Mathilde and Mme. Forester as concrete textual evidence for its argument, grounding the thematic claim in a specific narrative moment.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The essay demonstrates authorial intent analysis: it does not simply describe what the story contains but distinguishes between the protagonist's worldview and the narrator's implied critique. By placing Maupassant's descriptive passage about women's "native keenness" and "grace" against Mathilde's materialist assumptions, the writer shows that the author and his character are in tension — a more sophisticated move than treating the narrator and protagonist as aligned.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a classic five-part structure: an introduction that states the controlling argument, two body sections developing related thematic claims (beauty/money and beauty/youth), a brief comparative scene analysis as the analytical climax, and a conclusion that identifies the story's central irony. Each body section opens with a clear topic claim and supports it with at least one direct quotation and explanatory commentary.
Introduction: The Central Theme of Beauty and Money
Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" deals with many different themes. This work of literature examines notions of beauty and youth, class and money, and a liveliness and zest for life that is contrasted with the conception of aging. Despite all of these thematic concerns, the principle theme upon which this work is based — and upon which all other themes hinge — is the relationship between beauty and money. The main character, Mademoiselle Mathilde Loisel, equates beauty and attractiveness with money and all of the material trappings it affords. Consequently, the poor woman forfeits what true beauty she possessed — independent of money — due to an unfortunate financial situation.
Mathilde's Belief That Beauty Requires Wealth
It is fairly apparent that Mathilde Loisel believes that physical attractiveness and beauty are largely determined by the amount of money a woman has to pamper herself with. This belief is perhaps rooted in the fact that she was born without wealth. She is considerably poor and regrets that she does not have enough money to buy the intricate things — clothes, jewels, fashionable art — that typically surround women who are wealthy and considered beautiful. The following quotation demonstrates this clearly: "She had no dresses, no jewelry, nothing. And she loved nothing else; she felt herself made for that only. She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive and sought after" (Maupassant, 1907).
What is notable about this quotation is not simply the lack of material items that Mathilde possesses. More significant is the fact that she loves precisely what she does not have, and believes that these things are necessary for others to be attracted to her — proving that she is, in the words of another source, "in passion none too well informed" (Galilei 1).
Maupassant's Counter-Argument: Intangible Qualities and True Beauty
The most interesting aspect of this theme is that Maupassant himself — although described as "impersonal and detached" (Sullivan 136) — does not appear to agree with Mathilde's view. He does indicate that beauty is one factor in a woman's desirability, but he lists many other characteristics as well: "…women have no caste and no descent, their beauty, their grace, and their charm serving them instead of birth and fortune. Their native keenness, their instinctive elegance, their flexibility of mind, are their only hierarchy…" (Maupassant).
It is crucial to analyze the attributes Maupassant uses to define a woman's "caste." The author — considered "the most popular artist of his day" (Artinian 9) — explicitly states that a woman's fortune does not determine her position in life. Instead, he cites a number of intangible, non-material attributes: her intellect ("keenness"), her mental capacity, and her "grace." These are what truly determine a woman's attractiveness. Even beauty itself is contrasted with a woman's money. Mathilde, however, does not see things this way — which is why her story, in which she loses a worthless necklace she believes to be very expensive and sacrifices all of the qualities she did possess in order to pay for it, ultimately proves that beauty and attractiveness are not synonymous with money, and may very well reflect "the ills of society" (Johnson 1).
Conclusion: Irony and Tragedy in 'The Necklace'
In summary, there are several themes that exist within Maupassant's short story "The Necklace," and virtually all of them pertain to money and issues of class associated with it. One of the most crucial is the idea that one needs money to be beautiful. Mathilde certainly believes this, and ironically ruins her beauty by pursuing expensive material objects she believes will enhance it. It is deeply ironic, then, that her pursuit of those objects — especially what she believes to be a diamond necklace — produces precisely the opposite effect.
It is also apparent from the evidence in this story that beauty is strongly associated with youth. Once Mathilde no longer looks physically attractive, she no longer looks young either. The tragedy of the tale is that Mathilde sacrifices her youth and beauty in her desperate desire for money and the things it affords — and in doing so, destroys the very qualities she sought to cultivate.
Works Cited
Artinian, Artine. "Maupassant as Seen by American and English Writers of Today." The French Review. 17(1), 9–14. 1943. Print.
Galilei, Galileo. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. 1632. Web.
Johnson, P. Jean Jacques Rousseau: An Interesting Madman. No date. Web.
Maupassant, G. "The Necklace." www.bartleby.com. 1907. Web.
Sullivan, E.D. "Portrait of the Artist: Maupassant and Notre Coeur." The French Review 22(2), 136–141. 1948. Print.
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