Jeann Patrick Barcelona

Feminist Approach to Mathildes Motivations and Actions

Beautiful Mathilde Loisel was born into a family of clerks, and her utter conviction that her
station in life is a mistake of destiny leads her to live her life in a constant rebellion against her
circumstances. Although she has a comfortable home and loving husband, she is so unsatisfied
that she is virtually oblivious of everything but the wealth she does not have. Her desire for
wealth is a constant pain and turmoil. She cannot visit her wealthy friend Madame Forestier
without being overcome with jealousy, and the idea of going to a party without expensive clothes
drives her to tears. Mathilde is a raging, jealous woman who will do anything in her power to
reverse the mistake of destiny that has plunged her into what she perceives as a wholly
inappropriate and inadequate life.
Mathilde is happy at only one point in The Necklace: on the night of the party, when her new
dress and borrowed jewels give her the appearance of belonging to the wealthy world she aspires
to. Fully at ease among the wealthy people at the party, Mathilde feels that this is exactly where
she was meant to beif it hadnt been for the mistake of destiny. She forgets her old life
completely (her husband dozes in an empty room for most of the night) and immerses herself in
the illusion of a new one. Her moment of happiness, of course, is fleeting, and she must spend
the next ten years paying for the pleasure of this night. However, her joy was so acuteand her
satisfaction, for once, so completethat even the ten arduous years and her compromised beauty
do not dull the partys memory. Just as Mathilde was oblivious to the small pleasures that her life
once afforded her, she is oblivious to the fact that her greed and deception are what finally sealed
her fate.
An unequal relationship between man and wife is evident in The Necklace by Guy de
Maupassant. Mathilde Loisel, was born into a middle-class clerks family and married a clerk.
She was a woman of beauty and charm, in an era of endorsed control by male wishing she were
wealthy. The feminist theory is suppose to be independent, intelligent, and able to make
decisions. However, The Necklace endorses mens power over the womens decision making
and public life. It is perceived as correct for equality in a relationship for the male to work and be
viewed in public and female stay managing affairs of the home.
The perfect example of both sexism and oppression is this short story were Mathilde is incapable
of her right to exercise decision making. Each detail of the husbands decisions it is he who
gives her the idea of borrowing the necklace, he told her to lie to her friend about losing the
necklace, and his idea to borrow money in order to buy a new one. Overall, the husband is the
one with all the decision making and finances. Power is held both in public and domestic life
which creates the vision of obedient women, repressed in the old- manner of husbands
chauvinism and pride. There are ways for controlling people and creating power over some or

even taking away all decision makings completely. In the end, the perspective for Mathilde
becomes sympathetic for feminism fails to become a factor in an era where inequality was
evident in the relationships between male and female. Ultimately, it is clear that she is meant to
feel this way.