Diamond Inspector: A Feminist Take on "The Necklace"

Looking at literature from different perspectives often allows for more insights. If one looks at Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” on its own, the moral of the story is to be content with what you have. Don’t be entitled and greedy like Madame Loisel, it tells the readers, or else you will go through unnecessary suffering. However, looking at it from a feminist lens gives way to a whole other interpretation. Feminist theory would argue that the patriarchy is what creates Madame Loisel’s flawed character. She feels entitled to luxury for her beauty because the patriarchy values women for their appearance. She is materialistic because women lack control of their own lives. Finally, she is manipulative because the trait is associated with femininity. Madame Loisel’s tragic downfall is not a result of her character, but rather a product of the societal expectations placed on women.

Madame Loisel’s downfall is caused by the fact that society only values women for their appearance. Madame Loisel believes she is deserving of special treatment because she is beautiful (Guy de Maupassant). Craving wealth and high society, Mathilde borrows the necklace that leads to her ruin. However, Mathilde’s attitude that she is worth more than other women simply because of her looks shows that women are valued primarily for their beauty above anything else (Wilber). Even as a reader, we see Madame Loisel’s character from the male gaze. Before we hear about her name or personality, we are told that Madame Loisel is “pretty and charming” (Guy de Maupassant). Mathilde’s vanity is the result of living in a society where “[n]atural fineness, instinct for what is elegant, suppleness of wit, are the sole hierarchy” for women (Guy de Maupassant). When viewed under this angle, the symbol of the necklace starts to hold a completely different meaning. Initially, the necklace appears to symbolize Mathilde’s obsession with her own beauty (Wilber). Like the necklace that appears expensive but is actually worthless, Mathilde is beautiful but does not have much worth as a person because she is shallow and ungrateful (Wilber). From a feminist perspective, however, the necklace represents the woman whose value is limited to her appearance. The patriarchy reduces Mathide’s value to that of the necklace—pretty on the outside but worthless on the inside. In the same way that she deceived Madame Forestier that the necklace was valuable, Mathilde was deceived by the patriarchal society that her looks made her deserving of wealth (Wilber).

Madame Loisel’s downfall is caused by the fact that women do not have social mobility. She appears ungrateful for her husband’s efforts. While her husband sees a delicious pot-au-feu at the dinner table, Mathilde is disappointed that it isn't served in shiny silverware and ancient tapestry (Guy de Maupassant). Mathilde is also unappreciative of her husband’s generous offer of 400 francs for a dress, insisting that she needs a necklace to complete her outfit that leads to the necklace disaster (Guy de Maupassant). However, feminist theory argues that Matilde’s deep discontent with her life comes from the fact that she has no control over her economic situation. Unable to own property and limited from employment, marriage was the only tool for women to acquire wealth. Although marriage was an opportunity for many women to better their situation, it also trapped them in unfavorable households. Mathilde “let herself be married to” Monsieur Loisier, which shows her reluctance to settle with a government clerk with a modest income (Guy de Maupassant). Without the means to acquire wealth herself and stuck with a husband that cannot satisfy her desires, Mathilde is left to dream about her unrealized fantasies. She dreams about the bronze candelabra and the delicate furniture that would adorn her silk-lined living room (Guy de Maupassant). Since husbands are the only ones equipped with the tools to improve their economic situation, feminist theory argues that wives like Mathilde are bound to be unhappy in their marriages.

Madame Loisel’s ruin comes from being given negative traits associated with femininity. At first glance, it appears that her personality traits such as manipulation lead to her destruction. She coldly calculates the maximum amount of money she can swindle from her husband for a dress for the ball (Guy de Maupassant). However, feminist theory points out that she is given these traits because they have been historically associated with feminity. “The Necklace” is one example of the opposing ways in which men and women are presented in literature (Wilber). While the wife is manipulative, the husband is depicted as hardworking and rational. Monsieur Loisel surprises his wife with an invitation to a ball and allows his wife to buy a nice dress for it, saying it will be useful for future special occasions (Guy de Maupassant). Even when Mathilde loses the necklace, he sacrifices everything to pay off the debt (Guy de Maupassant). Monsieur Loisel does not talk much, but when he does, he is a rational decision-maker. When Mathilde wants a necklace to complete her outfit, he advises her to “[g]o look up your friend Mme. Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels” (Guy de Maupassant). On the other hand, when Mister Rational makes a poor decision, Mathilde is blamed. Interestingly enough, Monsieur Loisel is the one who directs Mathilde to write to Madame Forestier that she has broken the clasp of the necklace, devising a plan to secretly replace it instead of admitting to having lost the necklace (Guy de Maupassant). If it wasn't for Monsieur Loisel's bad advice, the couple would have been saved from ten years of misery. However, the story brushes off Monsieur Loisel’s poor judgement and shifts the attention to Mathilde. Questions such as, “What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace?” put the blame of Monsieur Loisel’s oversight on Mathilde and contributes to the idea that men are more suited to make executive decisions (Guy de Maupassant). Feminist theory states that Guy de Maupassant’s misogynistic portrayal of women is part of a larger societal trend to view women as inferior to men (Wilber). Mathilde’s ruin is thus a consequence of the historical trend in literature to negatively portray women.

“The Necklace” is not the only piece of literature that features a disaffected female character. Other works such as Gustave Flaubert's “Madame Bovary,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Kate Chopin's “The Awakening” all feature female protagonists who are dissatisfied with their life in a patriarchal society (Giesler). There is, in fact, a name for their unhappiness. Named by French philosopher Jules De Gaultier, le Bovarysme or the “Madame Bovary Syndrome” describes a condition towards escapist daydreaming while ignoring everyday realities (“Bovarysme”). The feminist lens allows us to see beyond these female protagonists’ discontent and understand the bigger picture—that it is a coping mechanism for their lack of mobility. Similarly, analyzing “The Necklace” from a feminist perspective allows us to recognize trends as the vestiges of nineteenth-century patriarchy. The number of Brazilian Butt Lift surgeries (BBL), the procedure with the highest mortality rate, has increased by 90% between 2015 and 2019 in the US (Akhtar). This phenomenon does not exhibit women’s vanity, but the extent to which women will put themselves at risk in a society where they are still valued mainly for their beauty. Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari has stated that we study history to loosen the grip of the past and to expand our choices. At a time when aesthetic surgery is becoming normalized as women empowerment, it may be worthwhile to pause to reflect if we are being turned into diamond necklaces—women whose value is limited to their appearance.

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Works Cited

Akhtar, Allana. “The 'BBL Effect': Plastic Surgeons Say They're Seeing Record Numbers of Patients as People Look to Lift Their Bodies - and Their Booties - out of the Pandemic.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 27 July 2021, https://www.businessinsider.com/plastic-surgeons-seeing-record-patients-after-covid-19-bbl-popularity-2021-7.

“Bovarysme.” Oxford Reference, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095521412.

Giesler, Audrey C. “Madame Bovary Syndrome: The Female Protagonist's Plight.” Madame Bovary Syndrome: The Female Protagonist’s Plight, Eastern Kentucky University, 2020, https://encompass.eku.edu/honors_theses/780. Accessed 17 Oct. 2021.

Guy de Maupassant, Henri René Albert. “Library of the World's Best Mystery and Detective Stories: One Hundred and One Tales of Mystery By Famous Authors of East and West.” New York The Review of Reviews Company, 1907. Project Gutenberg, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12758/12758-h/12758-h.htm#necklace.

Wilber, Jennifer. “A Feminist and Formalist Analysis of the Necklace by Guy de Maupassant: Two Approaches to Interpreting a Literary Work.” Owlcation, 6 Feb. 2018, https://owlcation.com/humanities/A-Feminist-and-Formalist-Analysis-of-The-Necklace-by-Guy-de-Maupassant-Two-Approaches-to-Interpreting-a-Literary-Work.