The Necklace, a short story by Guy de Maupassant, tells of a young married woman’s heady moment at a ball that ended in disaster. Madame Loisel, pretty, charming, and hopelessly married to a clerk in the Ministry of Education, yearned for the good life, desirous of attention and gallantries. Her chance for a fleeting glimpse of her dream life comes when she and her husband are invited to a ball hosted by Ministry. She is able to come up with a suitable dress by nagging at her husband, but one thing is lacking – a jewel. Not wanting to appear poor in the company of so many rich women, she borrows a
diamond necklace from her friend, Madame Forestier. At the ball, Madame Loisel becomes the center of attention, admired and sought after by men of distinction. She leaves before dawn in a cloud of happiness. But arriving home, she discovers that the diamond necklace lent her by her friend is gone, perhaps stolen. Unable to find it and not wanting to offend Madame Forestier by the loss, the couple looks for a replacement, and obtains one that costs thirty thousand francs – a small fortune. The necklace is returned but Madame Loisel and her husband has to endure so much financial difficulty paying off obligations incurred to return the necklace. At the end of ten years, all the loans are paid, leaving Madame Loisel an old, unattractive woman. She meets Madame Forestier and tells her what happened to the diamond necklace – how she and her husband had labored to replace the lost diamond necklace. Her friend is shocked, but more so is Loisel at being told the lost necklace is but an imitation, worth perhaps five hundred francs.
This short story is typical of Maupassant’s works with its biting satire on society and a sudden ironic twist in the climax.