ESSAY:

SETTING OF “THE NECKLACE”

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant tells of a vain, narcissistic middle-class housewife – Mathilde Loisel who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she deserved. The price she pays for a single evening of elegance turns into years of drudgery and despair. This is a meaningful story that is as relevant today as when Maupassant wrote it in the late nineteenth century because of its characters. That makes meaning and beauty for the characters is the setting: the place, the time and the social environment.

The story is set in Paris, magical and glamorous city of lights. The name “Paris” and the name of its famous river “Seine” are called in “The necklace” with the detail that Mathilde and her husband walked toward the Seine and finally found on the quay one of those nocturnal coupés one finds only in Paris after dark. Paris is the city which famous for romantic Seine river, wealth, ladies in the most glamorous and expensive dresses and elegant balls. Like other citizens of magnificent Paris, the main character – Mathilde Loisel – likes these beauties. She dreams to be wealthy, to be lady from high social position and to join in elegant balls in spite of the fact that she is only a narcissistic middle-class housewife and cannot have such luxury life. That is Mathilde’s own tragedy.

Next, the time of “the necklace” is about the 1880s or so, around the time Maupassant wrote it. One of the clues for the time of the story is the detail that Mathilde dreams of being rich with charm, money and doesn't seem to think a whole lot about being noble. Before the time the story occurred, noble blood had mattered more which is not like in the late 19th century. The late 19th century in Paris is the period called "Belle Époque" when money (plus a little bit of charm) practically makes nobility and