The Theme Of Irony In The Necklace

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In Guy de Maupassant 's fictional short story "The Necklace", he tells the story of a beautiful girl who tries to be someone she 's not and in this case, ends up paying the price of doing so. In the story, she thinks she deserves more and when she gets the opportunity to attend a ball, she feels she can be like the other women, if only for one night. Thus, she spends lots of money on a dress and being underprivileged, she decides to ask her friend, Madame Forestier, if she would let her borrow some jewelry. Captivated by a necklace’s beauty, she asks to borrow the necklace. The night at the ball was unforgettable, but afterwards, she comes home only to realize that she has lost the necklace. Because she has to restore it and pay off the arrears …show more content…
It 's important to realize that certain people might have thought Madame Forestier would be furious while others probably believed the story would conclude with the friends just catching up. However, Maupassant does what others wouldn 't think to do and he uses irony to help the theme surface. The theme is exposed at the end when it is learned that the necklace is fraudulent. “‘Oh, my poor, poor Mathilde! Mine was false. It was worth five hundred francs at the most!’’’ (Maupassant 615) This changes everything because before it was thought that she had to work to pay off the debt, when in reality those ten years of hard labor were unnecessary. The ten years were caused by her since she lost the necklace and hadn 't confronted Madame Forestier about it in the first place. It is acknowledged that although the necklace is marvelous and expensive-looking, the necklace is worth way less. Another aspect of irony in the story is that although the necklace was supposed to make her look more stunning, because of it, she lost her attractiveness. Madame Loisel ends up losing her looks due to hard labor. “‘Oh! Oh, my poor Mathilde, how you’ve changed!’” (Maupassant 615) It is ironic that Madame Loisel tries to look well-off using the necklace, but ends up losing all of her money because of the necklace. The irony in the story makes it more amusing and unforeseen in the …show more content…
His methods in the fictional short story, "The Necklace" convey a wonderful theme and allow the readers to clearly identify the story 's crucial message, which is that looks can be deceiving. Maupassant mostly uses irony, diction, and symbolism to show the theme and make it more twisted and impacting. Although there are many other themes and literary elements, the three mentioned did a fantastic job of telling that looks can be deceiving. With this in mind, "The Necklace" is not only an amazing story, but a lesson that many should

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