“The Necklace”
A Feminist Critique
Little girls are told tales of Cinderella, Snow White and other princesses from an early age. The origin of these stories are difficult to trace due to retellings through generations. The details may change but major themes persist. One of the most common is an impoverished but beautiful young woman who meets good fortune through happenstance. These girls never use hard work to advance in life but rely on marriage to improve their social status. Their prince is rich, smart and good looking. He exists only to sweep the damsel in distress away from her tragic situation. These stories have become part of our narrative with comparisons in sports to a “cinderella story” or calling daughters “daddy’s little princess”. Analyzing the classic fairy tale leads to disturbing social norms for women. A woman who takes these stories to heart may never value her own cleverness and mettle.
“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is a short story about a girl who imagines herself a princess. Feeling she deserves the best, Mathilde Loisel pines over the best dresses and jewelry. Her father is not wealthy and so she missed the coming out at court. This decreases her chance of a good marriage. She views it as a grave injustice as she is “pretty and charming”. Mathilde plans on marrying up to increase her social status. Ultimately, she “let herself be married” to a lowly clerk. They settle into a nice existence but still Mathilde wants more. They live on a good street and are fortunate enough to employ a maid. This is not enough to make Mathilde happy. She covets what others have and dreams of what might have been.
As an adult, Mathilde continues to believe she is the heroine of a fairy tale. While watching her maid scrub the floor, she bemoans her lifestyle. She “suffered ceaselessly” believing her life unfair. Never once does she consider that her life is better than others. When her husband goes to great pains to get tickets for the Ministry ball, she turns into a true diva. Manipulating her husband into giving her as much money as possible for a dress and she then attempts to get more for jewelry. When borrowing jewelry from her friend, her ignorance of jewelry becomes evident. She discards all of Mme. Forestier’s best pieces for gaudy costume jewelry. Her happiness at being allowed to take the necklace indicates her ignorance of its true value.
While at the ball, Mathilde dances with anyone who asks and see herself as the belle of the ball, staying until the very end. So enchanted with the extravagance of the evening, she forgets how plain her shawl looks compared to rich furs. In her embarrassment, she rushes out into the cold night just as Cinderella did at midnight. Her husband pleads with her to wait inside because he knows they will have a difficult time obtaining a cab. Her haste results in them walking quite a distance and into a poorer neighborhood. She tells her husband at one point that there is “nothing more humiliating that to look poor among other women who are rich”.
When they finally return home, Mathilde despondently scrutinizes her living situation. Before getting ready for bed, she attempts to cement the vision of herself in her memory. When looking in the mirror, she realizes the necklace is gone. Her poor husband runs out and retraces their steps. When he cannot find it, he posts an ad in the paper and tells Mathilde to concoct a story for her friend. Mathilde follows his advice, having done nothing to find it herself. A more honorable woman would discuss the situation with her friend. Mathilde feeling shame at needing to borrow it in the first place, prefers to secretly make things right. The Loisels run around town trying to determine the necklace’s value so they can replace it.
It takes ten years to earn the money spent on replacing that necklace — ten years of scrubbing her own floors, bargaining for produce and her husband working ceaselessly. The years are hard on Mathilde Louisel yet she is happier than ever before. Her hands are no longer soft and her face has aged, but she faced those years with “heroism”. During a walk in the park Mathilde comes across Mme. Forestier by chance. She confesses the entire story of the necklace to explain her appearance. Mme. Forestier is horrified by her friend’s change and at the reason given by Mme. Loisel. All those years, all the money paid for the necklace and the loans was for naught. Mme. Forestier describes the true value of that necklace as “paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!”.
Many stories have been written highlighting the problems within fairytales. “The Necklace” is almost a reverse Cinderella. Other stories such as “Cinder Edna” illustrate the potential paths a girl can take without relying on a prince charming. The majority of society places too much value on looks and monetary wealth. At a very early age girls learn how to look cute and smile pretty for bargaining. Patriarical societies place great value on the rags to riches narrative. The message is if you are pretty and lucky a prince will find and rescue you. Women should therefore, do their father’s bidding and worry only about their physical beauty. Once the prince arrives, the father hands the girl off and they ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after. Fostering this expectation undermines a woman’s intellect, sense of self and ability to stand on her own. As Mathilde learns, women are capable of anything if they leave the fairy tale nonsense behind.
