It’s no secret that when something tragic happens to you, you are no longer the same person as yesterday. The only difference is whether or not the change was for the better or for the worse. In the case of Mathilde in the short story The Necklace by Edgar V. Roberts, her character changes at the end of the story. The story is stretched out for more than 10 years. From the start, Mathilde is a working class housewife who is very miserable because she believes she is more worthy of things that…
The Necklace: Change in Perspective In The “Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant, Madame Loisel is a middle class French woman who always wants to look like the rich, and feel like it. So you can imagine she is quite thrilled when her and her husband, Monsieur Loisel, are invited to a ball at the Ministry of Education. Her husband buys her a new dress and her friend Madame Forstier lends her a beautiful diamond necklace, but problems arouse when Mme. Loisel loses the necklace. They buy a new one and…
For many, the mundanity of real life is disappointing. The realities of the complex and oftentimes boring nature of life can leave people dissatisfied. Gustave Flaubert depicts one such person in his novel Madame Bovary, which details the life of its eponymous protagonist, Emma Bovary. Emma has dreams of an exciting, romantic life, but is quickly disappointed by her marriage to an unambitious man and immovable place in the middle class. Throughout the novel, Emma’s idealistic outlook on life,…
Realism: Realism is a literary movement which began in France in middle of nineteen century. It deals with the themes and ideas associated with daily life. A realistic picture of society with issues related to common man and social and cultural system are portrayed as it is. Realism was the reaction against “Romanticism” where life is depicted with all its harsh and soft realities, where relations and situations are presented without idealizing, flattering or romanticizing. It deals specially…
Guy De Maupassant’s “The Diamond Necklace” is a story set in the 19th century. The main characters are Mathilde and her husband. The story talks about how the wife of a common household - Mathilde Loisel, borrows a diamond necklace for an upcoming high class party and subsequently loses it afterward, only that she found out after working for ten years to pay back the debt of the necklace it is but a fake. Mathilde’s clash between the reality she faces and fantasies she longs for demonstrates the…
Paris may be known worldwide today as ‘the city of lights’ and home to the unmistakable Eiffel Tower that dominates the city, but there was once a time when Paris was a medieval town, with ancient buildings and streets. Prior to the drastic actions of Georges-Eugène Haussmann to modernise the city, the river Seine was the centre of commerce. This was until his boulevards became the new highways of the city. Haussmann’s renovation of Paris took place between 1853 and 1870, and saw buildings like…
Kate Chopin’s life started on February 8, 1851, she was born to Thomas and Eliza O’ Flaherty. Being one of four children, Kate’s family was a wealthy, Catholic, slave owing family in St. Louis. Thomas O’ Flaherty, Kate’s father, an Irish immigrant, was a successful business merchant who died in a train accident in 1855. After her father’s sudden death, Kate was raised by her mother and grandmother who moved the family and raised them with their French-Creole background. Kate’s mothered never…
Three characters fall in love with Emma in the novel Madame Bovary. However, not all of them were jealous lovers. For this paper, I will consider the term jealousy to refer to intense lust driven by the impatient and aggressive sexual desire to have another person be yours. Out of all these characters, the most jealous one is Rodolphe. The least jealous is the naïve and foolish Charles, Emma’s husband. However, it seems that Charles, the least jealous lover, is most in love with Emma. Charles…
As writer in 19th-century in France, Maupassant writes in a style called Literary Realism. The clearest example of this style comes in the final third of the story, when he describes the poor, working lives of the Loisel’s. Mathilde, a young woman is born to a low-class family. With no money for a dowry, she is married to Monsier Loisel, a clerk from the board of education. In the story Mathilde is ashamed of her economic status and wished she had been born into an upper-class family. Mathilde…
How to Choose the Cut and Colour of a Diamond by its Size Medium-sized princess cut diamond. Large round brilliant cut diamonds. Small-sized fancy cut diamonds. Yellow diamond. Orange diamond. Blue diamond. Red diamond. White diamond. Cognac diamond. Just like people, diamonds are unique. They come in many sizes and colours and can be cut in numerous ways. Also, similar to people in the respect that works well on medium-sized memorial diamonds might not work well on large cremation diamonds,…