Why Mathilda Loisel Is Blameless for the Hardship, Essay Example

Mathilde Loisel just attempts to raise her social station to match the event (the ball); however the scheming action that follows dooms her. She was thus blameless for the hardship they went through for some reasons. First, although she had a modest lifestyle, she had always dreamed of a life of leisure. When they were invited to a ball, Mathilde felt they have to raise their social standing when visiting such a high class event where she was to meet her old time friends who were rich. She cannot be blamed for such views because such an opportunity is rare to people at their social level. For them, they only had one opportunity to attend the ball once, but for people they meet there, a ball is a common place. Therefore, it is only right to dress up for the occasion. Furthermore, it was not her idea to borrow the necklace from her old friend Madame Forestier and later lie that she had broken the clasp of the neck less and that it is being mended.

Why Monsieur Loisel is blameless for the hardship

Unlike his wife, Monsieur Loisel does not suffer the racial obsession. He is competent with what he has(Maupassant, 56). Although the idea to borrow the necklace came from him, he cannot be blamed for the hardship due to some reasons. First, Monsieur Loisel acted as a good husband when he realized that his wife would like to go to the ball. He thought that presenting the invitation to the ball would make her happy. However, he was surprised when he learned that his wife will only be happy if she can give the illusion that she belonged to upper class. He tries to impress the wife by buying her the ball gown, but the wife still insists on having jewelry to go with. Second, when the wife lost the neck less he offered to look for it, and later replace it when they failed to get it. Although replacing the necklace made them surfer, it is totally right to replace something borrowed from an old time friend to maintain the friendship. Thus the move cannot be blamed as the cause of the hardship they went through. However, the greatest mistake that cannot be blamed on Monsieur Loisel is the value of the necklace. Monseiur Loisel did not know that the necklaces his wife borrowed was fake, so they ended up overpaying, which led them to living a hard life.

Work Cited

Maupassant, Guy de. The Necklace and Other Short Stories. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print.