The Necklace Edexcel IGCSE 2026 Analysis

The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant is the Edexcel IGCSE prose extract in which a vain young wife borrows a diamond necklace, loses it at a glittering Paris ball, and spends ten brutal years working to repay a debt for a fake. This guide gives you the paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown, 10 fully analysed quotes and a Grade 9 answer plan, complete and ready to reproduce in the exam.

Contents

1. What is The Necklace about?
2. What is the purpose of The Necklace?
3. What is the message of The Necklace?
4. What are the supporting issues and themes of The Necklace?
5. What happens in The Necklace? Paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown
6. What are the 10 best quotes from The Necklace?
7. Vocabulary List
8. What is the conclusion on The Necklace?

What is The Necklace about?

The Necklace is a short story by Guy De Maupassant. It follows Madame Loisel, a pretty wife who dreams of wealth she does not have.

She borrows a diamond necklace for a grand party in Paris and then loses it in the night. She and her husband spend ten hard years working to pay back the debt.

This post gives you the message, the writer’s aims, the themes, a paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown, the ten best quotes, a vocab list and a clear plan for Grade 9 writing.

What is the purpose of The Necklace?

• Warn readers that vanity and selfish ambition can lead to ruin.
• Mock women who chase status instead of valuing what they have.
• Praise the patient husband and shame the discontented wife.
• Show how one bad choice can wreck a whole life.
• Reveal, perhaps unintentionally, the snobbery of a privileged male writer.

What is the message of The Necklace?

• De Maupassant warns that vanity and social ambition lead to ruin. From a modern perspective, his story also exposes the prejudices of a privileged male writer who blames women for the very desires that his society created for them.

What are the supporting issues and themes of The Necklace?

• Modern perspective: the biassed nature of privileged patriarchal literature.
• The promotion of harmful female stereotypes.
• Women can be foolishly ambitious.
• Some husbands are oppressed by their wives.
• A woman’s vanity can lead to unfaithful thoughts.
• Women who prize money and status are mercenary.
• Some women are consumed with jealousy.
• Some women are overly materialistic.
• A woman’s focus on beauty is a form of narcissism.
• Women can ruin a husband’s finances.
• Women should learn the error of vanity before it’s too late.
• Such women may become working-class if they are not careful.

What happens in The Necklace? Paragraph-by-paragraph breakdown

Paragraph 1

• Narrator introduces a pretty young woman born into a low-ranking family.
• Notes she has no dowry and no way to meet a rich husband.
• She accepts a marriage proposal from a junior clerk at the Ministry of Education.

Paragraph 2

• She dresses plainly because she cannot afford better clothes.
• Narrator claims women rely on beauty and charm rather than rank.
• Suggests cleverness and elegance let any woman rise in society.

Paragraph 3

• She feels she was meant for a life of refinement.
• The peeling walls and battered chairs upset her daily.
• Seeing the peasant maid stirs sad regrets in her.
• She fantasises about silent rooms with bronze candelabras and liveried footmen.
• She imagines drawing rooms with old silk and priceless trinkets.
• She dreams of parlours hosting the most admired men of the day.

Paragraph 4

• She sits down to dinner facing a three-day-old tablecloth.
• Her husband lifts the soup-tureen lid and praises the stew.
• She mentally swaps the stew for elegant dishes on china plates.
• She imagines compliments and Sphinx-like smiles instead of looking at him.

Paragraph 5

• Narrator states she owns no fine dresses or jewellery.
• She believes God made her for luxury.
• She would give anything to be popular, envied and in demand.

Paragraph 6

• She has a rich friend from her convent school days.
• She no longer visits because each visit leaves her miserable.
• She often weeps for days from sorrow and regret.

Paragraph 7

• One evening her husband returns home looking pleased.
• He waves a large envelope at her.

Paragraph 8

• He announces he has a surprise for her.

Paragraph 9

• She tears the envelope open.
• She reads a printed invitation from the Minister of Education.
• The card invites Monsieur and Madame Loisel to a Ministry reception on 18 January.

Paragraph 10

• Instead of being delighted, she throws the card on the table.
• She asks crossly what use it is to her.

Paragraph 11

• Her husband insists the invitation is a splendid opportunity.
• He says clerks rarely receive such invites.

Paragraph 12

• He adds that all the important officials will attend.
• She replies sharply, asking what she is supposed to wear.

Paragraph 13

• He has not thought about a dress.
• He suggests her theatre dress.
• His words trail off when he sees her start to cry.
• Two large tears slide down her face.

Paragraph 14

• He stammers and asks what is wrong.

Paragraph 15

• She controls herself, wipes her cheeks and answers calmly.
• She says she has nothing to wear so she will not go.
• She tells him to give the invitation to a colleague.

Paragraph 16

• He is devastated by her decision.
• He asks how much a simple dress would cost.

Paragraph 17

• She works out a sum carefully.
• She wonders how much she can ask without upsetting him.
• After hesitating, she names four hundred francs.

Paragraph 18

• He turns pale because he had set that sum aside for a gun.
• He had planned hunting trips around Nanterre with friends.
• He agrees to give her the money and asks for a decent dress.

Paragraph 19

• As the reception nears she still looks sad and worried.
• Her clothes are ready but something else troubles her.
• Her husband notices and asks what is wrong.

Paragraph 20

• She complains she has no jewellery to wear.
• She fears looking like a church mouse.
• She says she would rather skip the reception.

Paragraph 21

• He suggests she pin on a posy of roses.
• He says flowers are fashionable that year.

Paragraph 22

• She refuses, saying nothing is worse than looking poor near rich women.

Paragraph 23

• He tells her she is being silly.
• He suggests she borrow jewellery from Madame Forestier.
• She cries with delight at the idea.

Paragraph 24

• Next day she visits her friend and explains the problem.
• Madame Forestier fetches a large casket from her wardrobe.
• She tells her to choose whatever she likes.

Paragraph 25

• She first sees bracelets, then pearls and a gold and diamond cross.
• She tries the necklaces in the mirror.
• She struggles to take them off.
• She keeps asking whether there is anything else.

Paragraph 26

• Madame Forestier tells her to keep looking.

Paragraph 27

• She finds a diamond necklace in a black case.
• Her heart beats with immoderate desire.
• Her hands shake as she lifts it.

Paragraph 28

• She fastens the necklace round her throat.
• She gazes at her reflection in rapture.
• She asks shyly if she can borrow only this piece.

Paragraph 29

• Her friend agrees easily.

Paragraph 30

• She hugs Madame Forestier and kisses her warmly.
• She runs home carrying the necklace as a treasure.

Paragraph 31

• The night of the reception arrives and she is a triumph.
• She is the prettiest woman in the room.
• Every man wants to be introduced to her.
• All the cabinet secretaries ask her to dance.
• Even the Minister himself notices her.

Paragraph 32

• She dances ecstatically and feels intoxicated with pleasure.
• She rides a cloud of homage, admiration and desire.
• She experiences complete and utter triumph.

Paragraph 33

• She leaves the ball at about four in the morning.
• Her husband has been dozing in a side-room since midnight.

Paragraph 34

• He drapes her plain coat over her shoulders.
• The everyday coat clashes with the elegance of her gown.
• She wants to slip out before the other women see her.
• He tells her to wait while he fetches a cab.

Paragraph 35

• She ignores him and runs down the stairs.
• Outside there is no cab in sight.
• They hail every distant cabman they see.

Paragraph 36

• They walk down to the Seine, shivering with cold.
• On the embankment they find an old nocturnal hackney cab.
• It takes them home to the rue des Martyrs.
• She feels the night is over while he thinks about work at ten.

Paragraph 37

• Standing at the mirror she removes her coat for a last admiring look.
• She cries out: the necklace is gone from her throat.

Paragraph 38

• Her husband, half undressed, asks what is wrong.

Paragraph 39

• She panics and tells him Madame Forestier’s necklace is missing.
• He straightens up as if struck by thunder.
• He refuses at first to believe she has lost it.

Paragraph 40

• They search the pleats of her dress and the folds of her coat.
• They look in her pockets and everywhere else.
• They find nothing.

Paragraph 41

• He asks if she still had it on leaving the ballroom.

Paragraph 42

• She says she remembers touching it in the entrance hall.

Paragraph 43

• He concludes it must have fallen in the cab.

Paragraph 44

• She agrees and asks if he caught the cab number.

Paragraph 45

• He says no and asks if she noticed it.

Paragraph 46

• She also says no.

Paragraph 47

• They stare at each other in dismay.
• He dresses again and goes out to retrace their route.
• She stays in her evening gown, unable to go to bed.
• She sits empty-headed by the cold grate.

Paragraph 48

• Her husband returns at about seven in the morning.
• He has found nothing.

Paragraph 49

• He visits the police station and the newspaper offices.
• He advertises a reward and tours the cab companies.
• He chases every faint hope he can find.
• She waits all day in a daze, picturing disaster.

Paragraph 50

• He returns that evening hollow-cheeked and pale.
• Again he has found nothing.

Paragraph 51

• He tells her to write to her friend.
• She must say the catch is broken and the necklace is at the repairer.
• This lie will buy them time to act.

Paragraph 52

• She writes the letter at his dictation.

Paragraph 53

• A week later they have lost all hope of finding it.

Paragraph 54

• Loisel, who now looks five years older, decides they must replace it.

Paragraph 55

• They take the case to the jeweller named inside.
• He checks his order book.

Paragraph 56

• He tells them he only supplied the case, not the necklace.

Paragraph 57

• They trail round jewellers’ shops looking for a match.
• Both are sick with worry as they search.

Paragraph 58

• In the Palais Royal they find a diamond collar that looks identical.
• It is priced at forty thousand francs.
• The jeweller agrees to sell it for thirty-six.

Paragraph 59

• They ask him to hold it for three days.
• He agrees to refund thirty-four thousand if the original turns up.
• Loisel has eighteen thousand francs left by his father.
• He must borrow the rest.

Paragraph 60

• He borrows a thousand francs from one source and five hundred from another.
• Sometimes he gets only a hundred francs or sixty.
• He signs notes at exorbitant rates of interest.
• He goes to usurers and every kind of moneylender.
• He mortgages the rest of his life with the papers he signs.
• He fears the grim poverty and physical privation ahead.
• He hands over thirty-six thousand francs and takes home the new necklace.

Paragraph 61

• Madame Loisel returns the necklace to Madame Forestier.
• Her friend complains it should have been brought back sooner.

Paragraph 62

• Madame Forestier does not open the case as feared.
• Narrator wonders what she would have thought of the swap.
• Narrator asks if she would have called her friend a thief.

Paragraph 63

• The grinding life of the very poor begins for Madame Loisel.
• She resigns herself quickly and heroically to the debt.
• She is determined to pay it back.
• They dismiss the maid.
• They move out and rent an attic room.

Paragraph 64

• She gets used to heavy housework and ghastly kitchen chores.
• She wears down her pink nails on greasy pots.
• She washes sheets, shirts and floorcloths by hand.
• She hangs the laundry out on a line.
• She takes the rubbish down each morning.
• She carries water up the stairs, pausing on every landing.
• Dressed like a working-class woman, she shops at the fruiterer’s, grocer’s and butcher’s.
• She haggles, is often abused and counts every penny.

Paragraph 65

• Each month they settle some bills and renew others.
• They bargain for more time on the rest.
• Her husband does accounts for a shopkeeper in the evenings.
• He often sits up doing copying work at five sous a page.

Paragraph 66

• They live this life for ten full years.

Paragraph 67

• After ten years they have repaid the whole debt.
• Not a penny remains, despite the brutal interest.

Paragraph 68

• Madame Loisel now looks old.
• She has become a hard, uncouth housewife who rules a working-class home.
• Her hair is untidy and her skirts are askew.
• Her hands are red and her voice is gruff.
• She scrubs floors on her hands and knees.
• Sometimes she sits by the window and remembers the night of the ball.

Paragraph 69

• Narrator wonders aloud what might have happened without the loss.
• He reflects that life is strange and fickle.
• He notes how little it takes to make or break a life.
• One Sunday she walks on the Champs-Élysées for a break.
• She catches sight of Madame Forestier with a child in a pram.
• Her friend still looks young, beautiful and attractive.

Paragraph 70

• Madame Loisel feels apprehensive.
• She decides she will speak now that the debt is paid.
• She walks up to her friend.

Paragraph 71

• She greets her with a familiar ‘Hello, Jeanne.’

Paragraph 72

• Her friend does not recognise her.
• She is shocked at being addressed so familiarly by a common woman.
• She stammers that there must be some mistake.

Paragraph 73

• Madame Loisel insists there is no mistake and names herself.

Paragraph 74

• Her friend cries out at how much she has changed.

Paragraph 75

• She tells her friend she has had very hard times.
• She says it was all on her account.

Paragraph 76

• Her friend asks in confusion what she means.

Paragraph 77

• She reminds her of the borrowed diamond necklace.

Paragraph 78

• Her friend asks what about it.

Paragraph 79

• She admits she lost it.

Paragraph 80

• Her friend insists she returned it.

Paragraph 81

• She explains she returned a replacement that looked just like it.
• She says they have been paying for it for ten years.
• She admits the struggle was hard but now it is over.

Paragraph 82

• Madame Forestier stops walking.
• She asks if she really bought a diamond necklace to replace hers.

Paragraph 83

• Madame Loisel confirms it and smiles a proud, innocent smile.
• She points out her friend never noticed the difference.

Paragraph 84

• Madame Forestier looks very upset.
• She takes Mathilde’s hands in hers.

Paragraph 85

• She reveals the necklace was only an imitation.
• She says it was worth no more than five hundred francs.

What are the 10 best quotes from The Necklace?

Quote 1: The story opens. We meet Madame Loisel for the first time

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Women can be foolishly ambitious. “some error of Fate”

Sarcasm / Dramatic Irony “error” An error is a mistake, something that should be corrected. De Maupassant applies this word to Fate itself, as though God made a clerical blunder when placing Madame Loisel in a modest home. The sarcasm is sharp: the writer mocks a woman who dares question the order of the world, and tells us she is arrogant rather than simply unhappy. De Maupassant suggests that women who feel cheated by their place in life are deluded rather than wronged. He does not ask whether society is unfair; he mocks the woman for noticing. A person who blames fate for their unhappiness will never take responsibility for changing it. Emotive Noun “Fate” Fate carries the weight of divine will, something no person can argue with. By putting it in the same sentence as error, De Maupassant creates a picture of a woman so arrogant she believes she can challenge God’s plan. She is presented not as ambitious but as absurd, someone who has mistaken her own desires for destiny. De Maupassant implies that women who feel wronged by the world are foolishly fighting forces far greater than themselves. Society teaches women to want more, then laughs at them when they do. The writer does not seem to notice this contradiction in his own text.

Quote 2: Dinner with her husband

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Some husbands are oppressed by their wives. “lifted the lid…declared delighted”

Symbolism “lifted the lid” Lifting a lid is a small, open, honest act. De Maupassant uses it to stand for the husband’s whole character: he hides nothing, wants nothing more than what he has, and is grateful for it. The open lid stands for a transparent and contented man in a marriage where his wife is closed off and discontented. De Maupassant suggests that a good husband’s kindness goes unnoticed when his wife is blinded by ambition. A person who cannot see what is already on the table will always feel hungry. The writer uses the husband to shame his wife, though he makes the man almost too perfect to be a real person. Emotive Adjective “delighted” Delighted is a warm and genuine word; it is not just polite but truly happy. The husband finds real joy in something cheap and ordinary. De Maupassant uses this to show that happiness is a choice, not a price tag, and it is a choice his wife refuses to make. The writer implies that knowing when you have enough is a sign of good character, not failure. Society tells us that wanting more is ambition, but De Maupassant argues the opposite: contentment is wisdom. His portrait of the husband is meant to shame his wife, though it also feels too good to be true.

Quote 3: Madame Loisel daydreams at the dinner table

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: A woman’s vanity can lead to unfaithful thoughts. “dreamed of sought-after men”

Emotive Verb “dreamed” To dream is to escape from the real world inside your own mind. Here, Madame Loisel uses fantasy as a way to leave her husband without going anywhere. De Maupassant tells us her dreams are not innocent; they are a form of emotional betrayal, played out at the dinner table while he eats his stew. De Maupassant warns that a woman who lives in fantasy will destroy a real relationship in favour of an imaginary one. People who cannot enjoy what is real will spend their lives chasing what does not exist. The writer blames Madame Loisel entirely, but does not ask why she has so few real sources of fulfilment. Juxtaposition “sought-after” Sought-after means desired by many, the exact opposite of her husband, who is ordinary and overlooked. De Maupassant places the admired fantasy men right next to the devoted real man to make the contrast as sharp as possible. His wife’s unfaithfulness lives only in her imagination, but the writer treats it as a moral failure all the same. De Maupassant implies that women who measure their husbands against imaginary, more glamorous men will always be disappointed. When we compare what we have to what we wish we had, everything real looks smaller. The writer’s point is that jealousy turns her into an unfair judge of her own life.

Quote 4: Madame Loisel reveals what she wants from life

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Women who prize money and status are mercenary. “anything to be popular, envied, attractive”

Hyperbole “anything” Anything means without limit, without exception, without moral boundary. De Maupassant uses this extreme word to tell us that Madame Loisel has no fixed values. She would trade anything, including her loyalty to her husband, for social status. The word makes her sound dangerous rather than simply unhappy. De Maupassant warns that women who price themselves by social rank treat everything in their lives, including people, as something to be bought and sold. A person with no moral limit is a person with no true self. The irony, which the writer does not fully explore, is that his own society created this desire in the first place. Semantic Field of Vanity “popular, envied, attractive” Three words in a row, all about the effect she has on others rather than who she is inside. Popularity needs a crowd. Envy needs a victim. Attractiveness needs an audience. De Maupassant builds a list of qualities that only exist in other people’s reactions, suggesting she has no inner life of her own. De Maupassant suggests that women who only care about their impact on others have given away their own sense of self. People who live for admiration hand over their power to strangers. What the writer misses is that women in his society were rewarded for exactly these qualities and punished for having any others.

Quote 5: Her rich friend from convent days

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Some women are consumed with jealousy. “friend from her convent…always so unhappy afterwards”

Symbolism “convent” A convent is a place of religious teaching: gratitude, humility, and care for others. De Maupassant plants this detail deliberately. Madame Loisel was taught the right values. Her jealousy cannot be explained away by ignorance; she chooses to ignore what she was taught. The convent stands for the moral education she has thrown away. The writer implies that a woman who has been given every moral tool and still chooses envy has no excuse left. Education and good values mean nothing if a person refuses to use them. De Maupassant removes any sympathy the reader might have by reminding us that she knows better. Emotive Adjective “unhappy” Unhappy is a plain word, but it reveals something painful: she cannot bear a friend’s success. She understands how jealousy makes her feel, yet elsewhere she fantasises about making other women feel the same pain. The word exposes a person who lacks empathy but is aware enough to feel her own suffering. De Maupassant warns that jealousy is a prison a person builds for themselves. When someone cannot be happy for others, they cut themselves off from friendship, which is one of the few things in life that costs nothing. The writer suggests that Madame Loisel’s unhappiness is self-made, not imposed on her.

Quote 6: Borrowing the diamond necklace

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Some women are overly materialistic. “diamond necklace…heart…beat with immoderate desire”

Symbolism “diamond necklace” A diamond is valuable only because other people decide it is. Its worth is entirely based on what others think, not on what it is or does. De Maupassant uses the necklace to stand for everything Madame Loisel has been chasing: status that exists only in the eyes of others. Crucially, the necklace is fake, but she cannot tell the difference. De Maupassant suggests that women who desire status symbols are chasing something with no real value. The necklace being an imitation is the story’s whole point: the things we believe will make us feel superior are often worth nothing. She ruins her life for a lie, and the writer makes sure the reader feels the full bitterness of that. Emotive Adjective “immoderate” Immoderate means beyond what is normal or acceptable. De Maupassant chooses this word to tell us that her response to an object is not just strong but disordered, almost like a sickness. The desire is not just excessive; it is presented as a kind of madness, a loss of self triggered by something that catches the light. De Maupassant warns that a person whose self-worth depends on possessions is permanently at the mercy of things. When objects control our emotions completely, we have handed over all our power. The writer presents materialism as weakness, though he does not ask why women in his era had so few other forms of power available to them.

Quote 7: The grand reception

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: A woman’s focus on beauty is a form of narcissism. “cloud of…homage, admiration, and desire”

Metaphor “cloud” A cloud floats above the ground; it is light, shapeless, and above the everyday world. De Maupassant applies this image to the praise she receives, suggesting she has lifted herself above ordinary people and is now floating on other people’s attention. But clouds are also temporary; they pass and vanish, leaving nothing behind. De Maupassant suggests that people who live for praise have built their happiness on something that will always fade. Admiration is not love; it lasts only as long as the person is visible. The writer uses this brief peak to make the crash that follows feel even more cruel and complete. Semantic Field of Worship “homage, admiration, desire” Homage is a word used for kings and gods. Together with admiration and desire, these three words build a picture of a woman who wants to be worshipped rather than loved. De Maupassant tells us that the attention of strangers feeds something inside her that her husband’s real love cannot reach. De Maupassant implies that a person who needs to be worshipped will never be satisfied by ordinary human affection. Society sells the idea that being admired is the same as being valued, but admiration from strangers is the shallowest form of connection. The writer mocks Madame Loisel here, but also shows how completely his society’s own values have shaped her.

Quote 8: The husband replaces the lost necklace

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Women can ruin a husband’s finances. “mortgaged the rest of his life”

Metaphor “mortgaged” A mortgage means using your home as security for a debt; if you cannot pay, you lose everything. De Maupassant applies this financial word to the husband’s whole life, not just his savings. He is not just losing money; he is losing years, health, and hope in order to cover his wife’s carelessness. De Maupassant warns that one person’s vanity can trap a responsible person in a debt they did not choose. One night of pride becomes another person’s punishment. The writer’s sympathy lies entirely with the husband, but the real question the story raises without answering is: why did she have no power to fix this herself? Hyperbole “rest of his life” The rest of his life is a large and deliberate exaggeration, but De Maupassant means it to create impact. The husband trades his entire future for one night his wife can barely remember. The scale of the sacrifice forces the reader to feel its full weight, and to judge the person whose vanity made it necessary. De Maupassant suggests that the sacrifices men make for the women in their lives are rarely noticed or repaid. Ironically, the writer uses the same dramatic scale he accuses women of to make his own point, making his argument just as exaggerated as the behaviour he criticises. One moment of vanity can cost a lifetime.

Quote 9: Ten years of labour begin

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Women should learn the error of vanity before it’s too late. “heroically, she resigned herself”

Sarcasm / Dramatic Irony “heroically” Heroically is a word for soldiers and rescuers, not for a woman who simply accepted the results of her own bad choices. De Maupassant uses it to create a gap between the grand word and the small act. The reader knows this is not heroism. The writer is mocking a woman who took far too long to understand what she had done wrong. De Maupassant warns that accepting responsibility for your own mistakes is not heroism; it is the bare minimum. Real courage would have been choosing gratitude from the start. The word heroically is the writer’s last real sneer, delivered just before the decade of punishment that follows. Emotive Verb “resigned” Resigned means giving up a fight you can no longer win. It is a heavy, defeated word. De Maupassant uses it to show that Madame Loisel has finally surrendered to the reality she spent her whole life refusing to accept. Linked back to the opening, where she challenged Fate, this word closes that argument: Fate has won. The writer implies that women who spend their lives fighting against their place in the world will eventually be forced to accept it, but by then it will be too late to enjoy anything. Pride that delays acceptance wastes a life. De Maupassant’s lesson is sharp, even if his way of delivering it is unkind.

Quote 10: The Champs-Elysees meeting and final twist

Point and Evidence

Analysis

POINT: Such women may become working-class if they are not careful. “old…uncouth…working-class”

Semantic Field of Decline “old, uncouth” Old and uncouth are two words De Maupassant applies to Madame Loisel like a verdict. Uncouth means rough and without grace, the exact opposite of everything she once wanted to be. He has destroyed the very thing she valued most: her looks and her social standing. In the writer’s eyes, the punishment perfectly fits the crime. De Maupassant ends Madame Loisel’s story with a sense of dark irony: the woman who feared looking poor has become exactly what she feared. But the writer’s own snobbery is visible here too. By using the working-class as a punishment, he reveals that he shares the very prejudices he pretends to criticise. The text exposes the writer as much as the character. Dramatic Irony “working-class” The reader, unlike Madame Loisel for most of the story, can see that the working-class life she feared was always only one bad decision away. De Maupassant uses working-class as a horror word, a fate worse than unhappiness. The gap between what she feared becoming and what she actually became is the story’s final and cruellest twist. De Maupassant warns that a person’s obsession with class cannot protect them from losing it. But by treating the working class as a punishment, the writer reveals something about himself: the same contempt for ordinary people that he spent the whole story criticising in Madame Loisel. The story’s final irony is that the writer is guilty of the very snobbery he mocks.

Vocabulary List

Word	Meaning	Example from the extract
accumulated	Gathered over time.	…including the accumulated interest.
adaptability	Being able to adjust to new conditions.	…instinctive elegance and adaptability are what determines their place in the hierarchy.
apprehensive	Feeling nervous or worried about something.	Madame Loisel felt apprehensive.
arrayed	Dressed or arranged in a particular way.	…other women who were being arrayed in rich furs.
at odds	Not in agreement; clashing.	…a commonplace coat violently at odds with the elegance of her dress.
askew	Not straight or in the right position.	Her hair was untidy, her skirts were askew.
befallen	Happened to someone, especially something bad.	Thinking of the appalling catastrophe which had befallen them.
birthright	Something someone has a right to by birth.	…their beauty, grace, and charm do service for birthright.
candelabras	Large candle holders with multiple branches.	…lit by tall, bronze candelabras.
catastrophe	A sudden disaster.	…thinking of the appalling catastrophe which had befallen them.
Champs-Élysées	A famous avenue (large wide road) in Paris.	…she went out for a stroll on the Champs-Élysées.
civil servant	Someone who works for the government.	…minor civil servants.
clerk	A person who does office work.	…a junior clerk in the Ministry of Education.
composed	To be arranged, made or organised in a particular way.	…floating on a cloud of happiness composed of the homage, admiration, and desire.
determine	To decide or control something.	…instinctive elegance and adaptability are what determines their place in the hierarchy.
dictation	Speaking so someone else can write it down.	She wrote to his dictation.
diffidently	Shyly or lacking confidence.	…diffidently, apprehensively, she asked.
disconsolately	Sadly or unhappily.	…sitting disconsolately on a chair by the empty grate.
dismayed	Feeling shocked and disappointed.	He was totally disconcerted and dismayed by the sight.
dowry	Money or property a bride brings to her husband when they marry.	She had no dowry, no expectations.
ecstatically	With great joy and excitement.	She danced ecstatically, wildly.
elegance	Graceful and stylish.	…instinctive elegance and adaptability are what determines their place in the hierarchy.
embankment	A raised area, often by a river to hold water, or by a railway track to block sound.	…on the embankment, they at last found one of those aged nocturnal hackney cabs.
exorbitant	Unreasonably high (often referring to price).	…including the extortionate conditions and the accumulated interest.
extortionate	Getting something through force or threats.	…including the extortionate conditions.
fate	The idea that events are decided by destiny.	…apparently by some error of Fate.
ghastly	Horrible or frightening.	…all kinds of ghastly kitchen chores.
grim	Dark, serious, or uninviting.	…the grim poverty which stood ready to pounce.
guile	Clever but sometimes dishonest behaviour.	…natural guile, instinctive elegance, and adaptability.
hackney	A type of horse-drawn taxi.	…aged nocturnal hackney cabs which only emerge in Paris after dusk.
haggling	Trying to get a lower price with someone.	…haggling, frequently abused and always counting every penny.
hierarchy	A system of ranking people or things.	…what determines their place in the hierarchy.
homage	Showing deep respect and admiration to someone or something.	…floating on a cloud of happiness composed of the homage.
immoderate	Excessive or over-the-top.	…her heart began to beat with immoderate desire.
instinctive	Done automatically without thinking.	…instinctive elegance and adaptability.
interest	Money paid on a loan, or curiosity about something.	…including the accumulated interest.
intoxicated	Overcome by a strong feeling or substance.	…intoxicated with pleasure.
junior	Lower in rank or age.	…a junior clerk in the Ministry of Education.
Ministry of Education	A government department focused on education.	…a junior clerk in the Ministry of Education.
minor	Less important or smaller.	…minor civil servants.
mortgaged	Borrowed money using property as security.	…he mortgaged the rest of his life.
Nanterre	A place near Paris.	…hunting trips around Nanterre with a few friends.
nocturnal	Active at night.	…aged nocturnal hackney cabs.
parade	To show something off proudly.	…as if ashamed to parade their poverty.
pleats	Folded parts of fabric in clothes.	They looked in the pleats of her dress.
posy	A small bunch of flowers.	‘Wear a posy,’ he said. ‘It’s all the rage this year.’
privation	Lack of basic needs or comforts.	…all the physical privation and mental torture.
prospect	The possibility of a future event.	…the grim poverty and the prospect of privation.
rapture	Intense joy or delight.	She sat looking at herself in rapture.
Seine	A major river that flows through Paris.	They walked down to the Seine in desperation.
Sphinx	A mythical creature or a person with a mysterious smile.	…with Sphinx-like smiles over the pink flesh of a trout.
thunderstruck	Amazed or shocked.	He straightened up as if thunderstruck.
triumph	A great victory or success.	…the kind of complete and utter triumph which is so sweet to a woman’s heart.
uncouth	Lacking manners or grace.	She had turned into the battling, hard, uncouth housewife.
usurers	People who lend money at very high rates.	…resorted to usurers and the whole tribe of moneylenders.
utter	Complete or total.	…the kind of complete and utter triumph.
Venetian	The name given to anything or anyone from Venice, Italy.	…a Venetian cross made of gold and diamonds.
vexes	Annoys or bothers.	It vexes me that I haven’t got a single piece of jewellery.
waltz	A type of slow, formal dance.	…under-secretaries wanted to waltz with her.
whit	A tiny amount or bit.	She was every whit as unhappy as any daughter of good family.

What is the conclusion on The Necklace?

The Necklace shows how vanity and pride can wreck a whole life. Madame Loisel chases a status she does not have and pays for it with ten years of hard work.

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