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The Necklace (Maupassant) 28197 Views
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Description:
How would you feel if you lost a diamond necklace that you borrowed? We don't know your life, but we'd feel pretty crappy about it. In "The Necklace," Matilde borrows a necklace to look rich for a ball—and loses it. She and her husband spiral into debt from the cost of replacing it, only to realize...well, watch the video to find out the rest.
Transcript
- 00:00
The Necklace, a la Shmoop: Diamonds Aren’t a Girl’s Best Friend.
- 00:11
Meet Mathilde . . .
- 00:12
. . .a woman who just can’t seem to be happy about anything.
- 00:18
In fact, she spends most of her time. . .
- 00:20
. . . envying everybody with a sweeter life than
Full Transcript
- 00:23
her own. . .
- 00:24
. . .which includes just about everybody on the planet.
- 00:30
Poor Mathilde can’t catch a break. When she finally does get the chance to hang
- 00:34
out with the rich and famous. . .
- 00:37
. . .she loses a borrowed necklace. . .
- 00:39
. . .which makes her life more miserable than ever.
- 00:43
It sure looks like our author is trying to tell us something. . .
- 00:46
. . .but what?
- 00:47
What’s the moral of The Necklace? Is he suggesting that we should be happy with
- 00:52
what we’ve got? Mathilde didn’t appreciate what she had.
- 00:57
. .
- 00:57
. . .and that led to a whole bunch of trouble.
- 01:00
Is DeMaupassant<<not totally sure on pronunciation – does Deb know?>> saying we should stop
- 01:03
wanting what we don’t have?
- 01:07
Or is he just encouraging us to be ourselves? If Mathilde had just slapped on a dress from
- 01:13
her closet. . .
- 01:13
. . .and skipped the fancy jewelry. . .
- 01:16
. . .well, we would have had a different story. Another possible moral to the story. . .
- 01:20
. . .could be the importance of telling the truth.
- 01:23
If Mathilde had just told Madame Forestier she had lost the necklace. . .
- 01:29
. . .she might have lost a friend. . .
- 01:31
. . .but could have kept her maid. . .
- 01:33
. . .and a few francs in the bank. So, what do you think is the moral of The
- 01:37
Necklace? Is it:
- 01:39
Be happy with what you’ve got. . .
- 01:41
Don’t try to be anyone but yourself. . .
- 01:43
or… Tell the truth, even when it’s really, really hard?
- 01:48
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
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