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Short Summary of The Necklace Class 10
- Pretty, Young Lady Matilda: Matilda was a pretty young lady. It seems that by an error of destiny, she was born into a family of clerks. She had no hopes of marrying a rich and important person. Hence, she married a petty clerk.
- Simple but Unhappy: Matilda was simple but unhappy. She was pained at her miserable condition. She thought that she was born for all delicacies and luxuries of the world. Her petty economic and social status tortured and angered her. She loved only marvellous dishes, nice frocks and jewels.
- Invitation for Dinner: One day, Mr Loisel, her husband, gave her a printed card. It was an invitation to dinner organised by the Minister of Public Instruction where her husband worked. He had hoped that his wife would be delighted to receive such an invitation. But his wife threw the invitation upon the table with contempt. She was impatient and complained that she had nothing to wear on such a great occasion. Mr Loisel was silent now. She told him calmly that she couldn’t go there without proper dress. He should give his card to a colleague’s wife with a better dress than hers. He was pained to hear it. He asked what it would cost them to buy a good dress. She replied four hundred francs. He grew pale. He had saved 400 francs to buy a gun for his hunting parties.
- Necklace for the Ball: The day of the ball came near. Her dress was ready. She was pained to have such a ‘poverty-stricken look’. She was vexed not to have a jewel. Mr Loisel suggested that she could wear some natural flowers. She replied “No’’. It was humiliating for her to give a shabby image of her in the midst of rich ladies. Then an idea came to Mr Loisel. He asked her to borrow jewels from her friend, Madame Forestier. She uttered a cry of joy. She had not thought of it before. Madame Forestier heard her story of distress. She opened her jewel case and asked her to choose any one item she liked. Matilda’s (Mrs Loisel) eyes fell on a superb necklace of a diamond. Her friend willingly agreed to lend that to her. She was overjoyed and went away with the diamond necklace.
- Great Success at Ball: Madame Loisel (Matilda) was a great success at the ball. She looked very pretty, elegant and graceful. All men noticed her and wanted to be introduced to her.
- Necklace Lost : They went back home. She had a full view of herself in her glory in the mirror. Suddenly, she uttered a cry. Her necklace was not around her neck. Loisel was worried. They didn’t know even the cab number. Perhaps the necklace was lost there. Mr Loisel dressed and went out to search for the necklace over the track. He went to the police, to cab offices and advertised in newspapers, offering a reward. At the end of the week, they had lost all hope. In a shop, they found that a similar diamond necklace was valued at forty thousand francs.
- Miserable struggle to save pay off money: Mr Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left. He borrowed the rest. Then he went to the shop and deposited thirty-six thousand francs and got the same kind of necklace as they had lost. Madame Forestier got the necklace back. Madame Forestier didn’t open the jewel box. Then started the horrible life of necessity of Mr and Mrs Loisel. She washed the dishes and linen. She did all the household work. They sent away their maid. They rented some rooms in the attic. The husband worked in the evening at some merchant’s office. He did copying at five sous a page, at night. At the end of ten years, they paid all their debts. She realised that a necklace had changed their lives.
- Madam Forestier’s Necklace was False : One day, Mrs Loisel happened to meet Madame Forestier taking a walk. Madame Forestier didn’t recognise her friend. She had changed very badly. Matilda (Mrs 230 English Language & Literature-X Loisel) confessed that she had hard days because of her necklace. Madame Forestier remembered the necklace she had given to her. But she reminded Matilda that she had already returned that necklace. Then, Mrs Loisel told the whole story. She also told how they suffered to replace her lost necklace. Their whole life was changed. It became miserable due to that diamond necklace. Madame Forestier showed sympathy and replied, “Oh! My poor Matilda, my necklace was false. They were false and not worth over five hundred francs.”
Theme
‘The Necklace’ is a mild satire but with a strong message. It is ridiculous for people of ordinary means to copy the rich. One should live within one’s means. Otherwise, he or she invites unnecessary problems, anxieties and confusion in his or her life. The main message of the story is that we should be what we are. False pride is the cause of our suffering. The loss of a false necklace by Mrs Loisel was not a big loss. Things could have been settled right if she had confessed the loss of the necklace to the owner, Madame Forestier. This small lapse or mistake of Mrs Loisel makes her whole life miserable and dark. And the irony was that the cause of all these sufferings was a false necklace.
Message
‘The Necklace’ is a story of a middle-class lady named Matilda. She was born in a clerk family and was married to a clerk named M Loisel. Matilda was a very pretty young lady but she was dissatisfied with the poverty of her family. She wanted to have luxuries in her life and hated her own humble surroundings and spent her time dreaming about a fancy and luxurious life. She borrowed a necklace from her friend, Mme Forestier and lost it at the ball (party). She decided to replace it with a necklace that looked similar to it. It had cost her fortune and they had to live in a miserable condition to repay the loan they took to buy it. It is a tale of how her desire to have more led to her ruins.
Plot
The story ‘The Necklace’ revolves around a selfish woman named Matilda. She is dissatisfied with her life as she wants a rich husband but because she belongs to a family of clerks and her family is unable to give dowry, she is married to a clerk. One day both the husband and wife are invited to a party at the minister’s house. Matilda thinks that she does not have good clothes and jewels to wear at such a party. Her husband suggests her to buy a dress and ask an old friend for jewellery. She then borrows a necklace from her friend and goes to the party. Madame Loisel is a great hit at the ball. Next, she loses the necklace, which she must replace. The Loisels work for 10 years to pay for the lost necklace. Later, Madame Loisel learns that the borrowed necklace was fake.
Justification of the Title
The whole narrative of the story ‘The Necklace’ revolves around a young woman Matilda, who in her foolish pride borrows a necklace inviting misery and sorrow for herself as well as for her husband. The ‘necklace’ has been lost and the Loisels fall into tremendous debt. They spend the next ten years of their life in paying the debt for the replacement of the lost necklace. Their entire life moves around an impoverished everyday saga of misery and hunger and the necklace, in fact, changes the very course of their life. Also, it is against the backdrop of the necklace that Matilda’s pride and dishonesty are highlighted. At the same time, the necklace serves as a twist at the end as it turns out to be a fake one. The story is, hence, most aptly titled as ‘The Necklace’.
Character Sketch
- Matilda: Matilda is a pretty young lady. She wanted to lead a rich and luxurious life. But she
was born into a middle-class family and had to marry an ordinary man. She felt sad about her petty
economic and social status. When Matilda got an invitation to a ball, she wanted to pretend as a rich
woman. She gave in to vanity. She disregarded the advice of her good husband. She is a woman
who sought the praise and admiration of others. She feels very happy when men appreciated her
beauty and grace at the dance ball. Matilda is a woman lacking wisdom and prudence. To show
off, one day at the ball, she loses her borrowed necklace. This leads to enormous suffering for her
and her husband for a number of years. She does not understand the importance of living within
one’s means. - Mr Loisel: Mr Loisel is a simple man working as a clerk. He loves his wife and does everything to
make her happy. He gets an invitation to a ball with his wife. When his wife wants a costly necklace,
he suggests that she should borrow a necklace from her rich friend, Madame Forestier. When
Matilda loses her necklace, he uses his hard-earned savings to buy a new necklace. He starts working
very hard to repay the debt they had incurred. Mr Loisel is ready to make enormous sacrifices to
maintain his family. He is a man who believes in living a life within one’s means. Unfortunately,
because he is lenient towards his wife, he has to undergo much suffering.
We hope that this short summary of the necklace will help the students of class 10 for scoring good marks in their school exams.