The Diamond Necklace

The Diamond Necklace

by Guy de Maupassant

(Source: school.discoveryeducation.com/teachersguides/.../the_necklace_tg.pdf)

Overview

Do you know the story The Diamond Necklace by Guy de Maupassant?

The Necklace, a short story by 19 thCentury French writer Guy de Maupassant, is a masterful tale of iron. Mathilde Loisel is married to a decent but minor government official. Though she lives a comfortable bourgeois life, she dreams of wealth and social status. When she and her husband are invited to a high-society ball, Mathilde buys an expensive gown to wear, then persuades a wealthy acquaintance, Madame Forestier, to loan her a diamond necklace to complete her costume. Mathilde is a dazzling success at the ball, but when she returns home, she cannot find the necklace anywhere. It is lost, and with it, all Mathilde's dreams. Mathilde puts in ten years' menial labor in order to replace the necklace. But when she learns after making this sacrifice causes the viewer to ponder the necklace's true worth.

The Task

Read the story entitled “The Diamond Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant in this website: http://www.online-literature.com/maupassant/206/. Do the activities listed below.


Discussion before viewing

1. Ask students what they would do if they had borrowed an expensive item from a friend and accidentally lost it. What if the lender was a person whom the borrower wanted to impress or befriend? Accept various answers; list them on the board in brief form. Encourage the class to generate as many possible responses as possible.
2. Ask students to define value, especially the value of material object, such as a piece of jewelry. What is it that gives an item value? How would they determine the value of an object if they didn't know its value
3. Just before showing The Necklace, set purpose for viewing by asking students to look for the irony in the story of Mathilde.
   
   

Questions to ask after viewing

1. Did you see examples of irony in The Necklace? Did irony contribute to the overall impact and memorability of the story? Would there have been a story without the irony? Why or why not?
2. If you had been Mathilde, what would you have done when you discovered the necklace was missing?
3. What did Mathilde seem to have learned before Madame Forestier revealed the actual retail value of the necklace?
4. Would you describe the characters' actions as realistic or contrived?
5. Do Albert's actions justify his fate? Could he have altered the outcome?