Character Analysis

Name: Aiyana Bedoya Date: January 16, 2013
Character Analysis Essay: Period: 3-4 (A)

The Necklace: (By: Guy De Maupassant) Things aren’t as they seem sometimes. This connects to the story The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant. The main character of this story is Madame Loisel. She can be described as unhappy, materialistic, and responsible.
According to page 199 in paragraph 2, Madame Loisel was very unhappy. She was unhappy because she has no family rank or social class. She says that people that do have a social class or family rank have “Beauty, grace, and charm.” (Pg. 199) As stated in the story, “Their mental cleverness is the sole guiding principles which make daughters of the common people the equals of ladies in high society.” (Pg.199) So it makes her unhappy because she’s not high society like other women.
Madame Loisel was also very poor and materialistic. In the text, “She grieved over the shabbiness of her apartment.” (Pg. 199) Loisel also would dream of silent chambers, draped with oriental tapestries and lighted by tall bronze floor lamps, and of two handsome butlers in knee breeches, who, drowsy from the heavy warmth cast by the central stove, dozed in large overstuffed armchairs. Madame Loisel wanted more than she wanted; she felt like she deserved more than what she had. The quote “Money doesn’t buy you happiness” also relates to Madame Loisel because she thinks that if she’s rich her life would be better, but that might not be the case. Maybe if she’s rich, she won’t be happy as she thinks she will.
In addition, Loisel was also very responsible, because on page 205 it states that she had to pay her debt by dismissing her maid, scrubbed dirty linens, bargained with fruit dealers and grocers, and her husband labored evenings to balance a tradesman’s accounts. This went on for ten years until they paid the debt off. They wanted to pay the debt by themselves, so they both were responsible.