Necklace Flashcards
Presented as a pretty, but ordinary woman.
“Delightful” - irony. Never “delighted”
“One of those” - one of many. Loisel is nothing special…
“And the kind of complete and utter triumph which is so sweet to a woman’s heart”
“Error of Fate” - personification. Believes that she deserves more than she has.
Unhappy with her life
“ she was unhappy all the time” - unnecessary + hyperbolic reaction
“She was made unhappy by the run-down apartment they lived in, the
peeling walls, the battered chairs, and the ugly curtains…” . “Made unhappy” implies a lack of agency / that she can’t help being dissatisfied, but her demands become progressively more petty. List of 4 rather than three adds to build up. The claim that these things were “torture to her” is also hyperbolic / shows an overinvestment in appearances (as these things are all superficial). Metaphor - torture.
“No fine jewellery, no dresses, nothing…” - anaphora. List of 3 escalates to the hyperbolic “nothing”, build up in intensity.
“ Sometimes, for days on end, she would weep tears of sorrow, regret, despair, and anguish.” escalating list of 4. Increasing drama of reaction.
“Days on end” = metaphor?
Very developed fantasies
“She dreamed of” - anaphora (line 17)
“Dreams” are not aspirations, but fantasies - impossible to achieve
“Trinkets beyond price”-Impossible, can’t afford them because infinite money
“Filled with perfumes and just made for intimate talk at five in the afternoon with one’s closest friends who would be the most famous and sought-after men of the day whose attentions were much coveted and desired by all women” → all about people envying her and adoring her. She dreams about being envied / the centre of attention at all times.
Detail of fantasy includes things that cannot be bought - suggests that even if she were wealthy, she would not be satisfied. Dreams are described in more detail than her reality and are clearly unattainable- “Coveted and desired” hendiadys (Hen-die-uh-dis)
The detail of these dreams shows how much time she has spent dreaming of a better life.
5 Treatment of husband
Speaks to him “irritably” “shortly” . She ‘muttered’ ‘instead of being delighted…’
Has the power: imperatives / guilt trip “Give the invite to one of your colleagues with a wife who is better of for clothes than I am” - always comparing herself with others.
“She thought for a few moments, working out her sums but also wondering how much
she could decently ask for without drawing an immediate refusal and pained protests
from her husband who was careful with his money.” Manipulation - asks for as much as she can get and prioritises herself over him.
Reaction to necklace
“all her heart began to beat with immoderate desire” (line 96) - physical reaction
Line 102, ironic “her treasure with her” - pronoun foreshadows irony. Not a treasure!
“She was the prettiest….” superlative
“Ecstatically” “Wildly” - adverbs. Finally delighted. Joy and adoration “intoxicated” - metaphor
“Floating on a cloud of happiness” appears positive, but the rest of the sentence reveals the superficial reasons for this.
“nocturnal hackney cabs which only emerge in Paris after dusk, as if ashamed to parade their poverty in the full light of day.” parallel clear between these cabs and her own attitude - she too is ashamed to look ordinary or, in her own view, ‘poor’
Self -obsessed / absorbed: “ look at herself in all her glory”
After losing the necklace:
Shock - begins to stammer. Loses confidence and her husband takes the lead / gives her instructions.
- “Quickly and heroically she resigned herself” - unexpected adverbs. Has a
strength of character that was not obvious before now. - “ she became used to heavy domestic work” + list of her suffering. List shows all
that she has to do. Contrast with previous life of relative ease.
“Looked old now” → irony of greed leaving her with less than she had began with
“ she would sit by the window and think of that evening long ago when she had been so beautiful” → past tense. No longer unrealistic, selfish fantasies, but instead a nostalgic memory. Hadn’t realised how lucky she was before all of this.
“Needing a break from her heavy working week” - change!
Blames her friend( “on your account” - financial metaphor)
“Proud, innocent smile” pride in her achievements rather than appearance. Has learned a lesson.
“Imitation necklace” symbolic, in the way she was imitating something she was not (moral?)
Madame Forestier
Rich - what MMe Loisel wants to be!
“Choose whatever you like” - generous but also casual. So rich it doesn’t matter? (Her jewels are kept in a “large casket”!) or foreshadowing the fact that the necklace is merely costume jewellery?
Spoiled “said in a huff…” - irritation
‘Still young, still beautiful and still attractive’ - anaphora. Juxtaposition highlights the changes in Madame Loisel - she is none of these.
“Looked very upset” - “looked” - appearance only? Superficial?
“My poor Mathilde!” sense of pity for Madame Loisel, link to “gave a cry”
Monsieur Loisel
Has a very different attitude to his wife. Satisfied with life and wants to please her.
“..declared delightedly “Ah! Stew! Splendid!”- Exclamation marks show enthusiasm. Juxtaposition between their attitudes - he is optimistic and although she is ironically described as “delightful”, nothing except the necklace delights her.
“He was devastated” (about disappointing her) - emotive
Offers solutions: “magnificent roses” - same word used about the necklace in 95 (ironic = could have got something of equal “value” to the necklace and avoided the whole situation
When the necklace goes missing, he takes control and helps his wife.
“they looked in the pleats of her dress” → change of pronoun - no longer just about “her”
development of sense of certainty.
“I’m going to go back the way we came” + 4 part sentence, balance back in the relationship
“Thunderstruck” and “Hollow cheeked” metaphors show the impact this had on him too.
“She wrote to his dictation” becomes an obedient wife.
He borrowed the money, a thousand francs here, five hundred there, sometimes a
hundred and as little as sixty.” asyndeton, long list but amounts get smaller as they get more desperate. He is the one taking action (pronoun).
Doing so much + working v hard, line 175 onwards.
