The Necklace Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis on The Necklace By: Guy de Maupassant In the story, “The Necklace”, Madame Loisel finally get to attend a high-class event, but her night is ruined when she loses a borrowed necklace. In this story Guy de Maupassant uses irony to entertain his audience. He conveys irony in his story by using his protagonist, plot, and the surprise ending.

Maupassant uses Madame Loisel, the protagonist, to show irony in almost all it’s forms. Maupassant first shows irony thourgh Mathilde’s life,“The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born... into a family of clerks… Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries.”(Maupassant, 1) Mathilde feels like she deserves all the luxuries in life, because of the sole fact that she is pretty, she had no money nor rank; she still believed that she should be wed to rich men, this is an example of situational irony. Maupassant also shows irony thourgh Mathilde’s actions, “Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table crossly, muttering: ‘What do you wish me to do with that?’" (Maupassant, 1)This quote would also be an example of situational irony,

Madame Loisel and her Husband spent the last ten years to pay for the lost borrowed necklace, only to be told that the necklace cost “five hundred francs.” To add to the irony to the situation Madame Loisel lost her prized possession, her beauty, “She came to know what heavy housework meant... She washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers... she carried the slops down to the street every morning and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. And dressed like a woman of the people... This life lasted ten years.” (Maupassant, 4) After the ten years of the hard life, Mathilde was able to pay back her debt from the necklace. She lost her house and her precious