But when Mme Loisel, says hello to her old friend she is not recognized by how run down she looks. This shows that lying does not do any good but makes it worse. Wealth makes some people greedy for going or doing something. Loisel is so worried about not having the proper attire for going to a fancy event with a lot of wealthy people. So she asks for money to go buy a nice evening dress because she does not have one so she offers to give the letter to someone else.
She is much like Alice in the sense that she comes from a wealthy family, but there is one key difference from the other two heroines, her father does not want her to get married. He shields her from men and from society making her socially awkward. They all involve setting off on a journey to seek out a different side of them, whether it will be to get more confidence, or to lose it all. The contrasting pair, A Rose for Emily and Alice in Wonderland will be up first. The two heroines being contrasted are Emily Grierson and Alice Kingsleigh.
Despite the fact that she was born in a family of clerks, she daydreams of luxury. Since she possesses beauty, grace and style, she believes that her true place is among the upper class ladies. She completely refuses to accept the reality of her life: ordinary dwelling and worn-out furniture. Mathilde does not pay much attention to her husband either. In a word, she gives an impression of a person who is not capable of appreciating anything.
She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” Even though she has everything she needs, a stable family and enough money to support her needs, she still wants more. She says that she is “very unlucky” because she “married an unlucky husband”. Instead of taking the responsibility upon herself that she is unlucky and does not have everything she wants, she blames others for her lack of happiness. In the end she turns out to be the luckiest character in the story because with Paul’s luck she gains all of the money he won.
Relying on money and lavish items to bring happiness isn’t a healthy state of mind. But to Mrs. Loisel it’s all that matters. In Guy De Maupassant’s The Necklace, Mrs. Loisel is living an unhappy life. Daydreaming about things you wish you had could cast unhappiness upon you, lying about something and deliberately trying to hide the truth could put you in more trouble than confessing to your wrong-doing, and not appreciating what you have could lead to an unhappy, and more importantly, unhealthy lifestyle. Mrs. Loisel is introduced through a daydream.
However, love and true joy is absent in their marriage. In addition, Mrs. Linde (Doll’s House) abandoned her true love (Krogstad) to marry a guy with money, who can provide for her and her ill mother. The convenient life serves as a barricade to the poverty, but it brings emptiness, it hinders us from reaching the true, genuine joy of life. Authentic is defined as not false or copied; genuine; real. “Hamlet once said “This above all: To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” To live an authentic life, one must stay true to himself, and when we are true to ourselves, we are true to the people around us.
The writer portrays Mathilde Loisel as a beautiful woman: ‘she was one of those pretty and charming girls.’ Although she has a comfortable home and a devoted husband, she is unsatisfied and she is oblivious to everything except the fact that she doesn’t have much wealthy: ‘she was unhappy, feeling that she was destined for better things in life.’ Her lust for wealth is a constant pain. The write also shows her as a woman of envy as she can’t help but feel jealousy towards her wealthy friend and the thought if going to a party without expensive clothes makes her cry; ‘two large tears were running slowly down her face.’ This shows that Mathilde doesn’t want to be seen in a place full of rich people in her old ragged clothes. The only time the writer shows Mathilde as happy is on the night of the party. This is because her new dress and jewellery make others think that she is one of the wealthy people: ‘all the top ministry officials wanted to dance with her.’ This shows that she blended in with the wealthy crowd but at the same time stood out as well as she looked beautiful. She forgets her old life and imagines herself in a new one.
With the ironic twist at the end, the author, all in all, perhaps wanted to put forward the idea that vanity ruins us all. “The Necklace” began with the description of Mathilde’s misery that “she suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries”. Her vanity was clearly portrayed through her desire for expensive goods to accentuate her beauty more.Her desire for expensive materials, here vanity, made her unhappy and never satisfied with the life that her husband provided her. Never acknowledging her husband’s love for her, she denounced his immense appreciation for her ordinary cooking and his endeavor to manage an invitation to the Minister’s party. Mathilde directly exposed her vanity when she fell all over herself to show off how pretty both she and the necklace were, and she lost herself in the fleeting moment at the minister’s party.She suddenly came back to the world only after losing the necklace.
She is looked down upon by the rich for being a governess, and she believes she will never marry Rochester because of his more privileged position. Although Jane makes a success of her life through sheer force of will coupled with a lucky inheritance, the novel does not offer a solution to those in a similar position, wishing to break the bounds of social convention. Jane is seen to be inferior to her Aunt and cousins. As a result of Jane’s parents’ death, she is brought up by her Aunt Reed, who regards her as an inferior due to her late father’s occupation as a clergyman. Jane’s cousin, Master John, discovers her reading a book from ‘his’ bookshelf, and assaults her.
Their lifestyle is better than those held by much of the population where they reside, but Mathilde is unhappy with her lot in life. She is portrayed as someone who believes she deserves a better life than the one she has. She wants to “please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after”. Mathilde’s idea of a wealthy lifestyle is glamourized, she spends her days dreaming of a home filled with expensive luxuries, closets of fine dresses and jewels, servants, and rich banquets. Mathilde simply fails to appreciate the good lifestyle she shares with her husband.