Moving on, later on we learn more and more about her life after the marriage. Just by knowing that she cares a lot about appearance by the fact that she is unhappy about some “peeling walls…ugly curtains”, and that she is complaining about things that “any other woman of her station might never even noticed” just shows how she does not appreciate what a comfortable house, the life or the loving husband she has.
We know that she has a loving and caring husband but she doesn’t show him any appreciation or respect when he first came home “looking highly pleased with himself” because he had brought the invitation as he “hoped” it would make her “delighted”. Instead “she tossed the invitation peevishly onto the table and muttered”, which shows how rude she was being when she just “tossed” the invite and shows herself annoyed, which in fact the husband should be as he is trying to please her but she wants more than whatever he will bring to her. This shows how ungrateful she is.
The reason she is unsatisfied with her husband, with her life is because she desires the wealth she does not have. This desire has numerous negative effects on her personality; it has made her greedy, unsatisfied/unappreciative, rude, jealous and materialistic.
For me to talk more about Mathilde, you will have to know about another character, besides Monsieur, in the story by the name of Madame Frostier. She is a rich friend of Mathilde’s “from her convent days”. We know more about her character as Mathilde goes to her for jewellery to borrow.
We learn that she is quite generous and loyal that right after her old friend calls her to tell her about what she needs, she goes straightaway to her jewellery box and says “choose whatever you like” without even thinking about it. This shows firstly how wealthy she is that she implies by the above quote that she has many pieces of jewellery to choose from, also because she has a box full of jewellery. Secondly, this shows that she is very generous and kind as she lets her old friend, who “never called” her anymore, to have anything at all. This perception of Madame Frostier is then again reinforced as she says “but of course” she can have a “magnificent diamond necklace” which is making Mathilde feel unusual that she has chosen from the box.
We learn more about Madame Frostier’s likeable personality when Mathilde returns the necklace to her after replacing it. The fact that “she did not open the case” after receiving her necklace back, as Mathilde “feared she might” shows us that Mathilde doesn’t realise that not everyone is like her, to care so much about some property before trust and loyalty to friends. The reason Frostier “did not open the case” is because she trusts her friend enough that she doesn’t need to make sure that she has gotten the necklace back by opening the case.
This above incidents show us so much about the both characters. What we learn from it that’s Mathilde is a materialistic, greedy and jealous person. We know this because the reason that she “never called” Frostier anymore is because she can’t help it to being overcome by jealousy, which made her unhappy as she didn’t have and wanted what Frostier did. We know that she is materialistic as she only went to Frostier this time because she wanted something, jewellery, from her. We also now know that she is greedy and hard to please as she asks Frostier if she has “got anything else”, this is after Frostier has brought out a whole box of jewellery and still she wants more, wants better.
Also, by the fact that started feeling unusual like “her heart began to beat with immoderate desire” and that her “hands shook” by the sight of just a necklace shows again how very materialistic she is that such a worldly thing makes her feel in such an odd way. Our materialistic image of her is then strengthened when “she threw her arms around her friend, kissed her extravagantly, and then ran home…” The fact that she ran home right after getting what she wanted from her shows her materialism as she doesn’t care about her health or anything after meeting her after a very long time. Likewise, the fact that she is treating Frostier so nicely is because she gave her what she wanted, which the husband could not which is why she treats him in such an abusive way, so this again shows her materialism as she is only good to people who give her what she wants.
We are then shown again of her materialism by the fact that the only time “she danced ecstatically, wildly, intoxicated with pleasure” which basically shows her happiness, was when she lived the dream of her being “the prettiest woman”, and belonged in the upper class where the “minister” was. She did not even show this much happiness on her wedding day, of which she mentioned briefly and only saying how unhappy she was about it.
Another example of her materialism is that when she first needed a dress and didn’t have one, the thought of going to a ball without an expensive dress makes her “cry”. Also, the fact that she has only “two large tears” relates to crocodile tears which clearly shows her manipulative side and that she’s only acting like this to get the money from the husband that she wants.
The fact that the husband is so caring and naïve that he hands away the money “he had been setting aside” for his own desires which he doesn’t even mention to his wife and hands it away to her saying “Very well. I’ll give you your four hundred francs. But do try to get a decent dress.” This short sentence in the start clearly shows his emotions behind giving the money, as in it is hard for him to give away his money that he has been saving for what he wants, for his wife. This short sentence also comes after a paragraph long sentence which told us about all his desires and his dreams which could be fulfilled with this money, so this has a larger effect on us and makes us understand how much it means to him but he still sacrifices it. The fact that he says it is “your” money shows that he is completely sacrificing his dreams and desires for his wife to be happy. Then, in the end he wants her to get a “decent dress” as he just doesn’t want the money to go to waste as it could finance his whole dream but would only get her a decent dress, this also shows how he tries to stay quite reasonable and save money which is part of his character.
Also, the fact that she has a husband who “delightedly” eats stew, the fact that he doesn’t even complain about her unhappiness on their wedding day and the fact that he cares about pleasing her so much that he goes through a lot to “get hold of an invite” which are “very much in demand”, so of course he would get manipulated by his wife and gives her the money to be able to even catch a glimpse of her happiness, but of course it also could be because he is dominated by her and he just wants to keep a happy marriage.
So, the fact that he “had the dickens of a job getting hold of an invite” shows that he did after all try very hard, went through toughness of work to try and please her, this is without any relation of Mathilde’s dominating and manipulative personality. On the other hand, when she is being manipulative and guilt tripping him, he hesitates and “stammered” while he is trying to comfort her as she cries fake tears. The fact alone that he tries to comfort her shows that he does care about her but because he “stammered” we learn that he’s trying not to upset her further and also because she is the dominant one in the couple, only till she loses the necklace.
After she loses the necklace, his character changes as he knows that not only will her mistake affect her, but it will also affect him, his reputation and his life due to paying back debts. He then takes a more dominant position. He cares of the wife and the consequences of this loss so much that he stays up all night and returns “at about seven o’clock” in search of the necklace. The fact that this sentence of him returning so late is in a short sentence, this emphasises to us that how much he had searched for and how difficult it was, though “he had found nothing.”
An example of him taking a more dominant approach in the relationship is when he says “look” while giving her instructions to follow. The fact that he uses a more commanding tone with the wife shows that he is going to be more in power now, the wife also lets him be commanding as she knows it was her fault and she realises that her husband is only trying his best to help her by staying out so late searching for it.
In conclusion, Guy de Maupassant succeeds in creating a story which is populated by vivid and intriguing characters by the great use of language and some figurate language techniques, such as short sentences to get the point across about people’s characters in a more effective way. Mainly he used relationships between the characters and their behaviours in those relationships to show the personalities of the fascinating characters themselves.