“She allowed herself to get married to a junior clerk”
This suggests that she wanted to marry someone of a higher class of living and she was beautiful enough to do so. She was depressed with her standards of living and shows this when the poet says
“She hated the bareness of the flat”
This suggests she wanted the luxuries that a wealthy marriage would bring her.
Carrying on into the story Madame Loisel needed a new frock and then later borrowed a diamond necklace from an old friend called Madame Forestier for a party. Her husband lovingly suggested that she could wear a frock she wore before to a theatre but she responded in discontent.
“There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor in a crowd of wealthy women”
She ended up buying a new frock costing 400 francs which her husband was saving up for his own needs.
This suggests to the reader that she didn’t want to go to the party looking poor like the lower-middle class woman she was but to look wealthy and a woman of the higher class. It was selfish demanding by Madame Loisel.
When it came to the party it was a great success. Maupassant uses a metaphor to show us how she felt
“She was wrapped in a cloud of happiness”
“Intoxicated with delight”
This suggests that she has gone from poor middle-class miserable woman to a rich looking success story. She was the prettiest woman in the room and now feels elegant and graceful; this shows us this is the peak of the story for Madame Loisel.
Towards the end of the party while Madame Loisel was enjoying herself her husband came over to her and put a shabby looking coat on her shoulders which plainness clashed with the smartness of her ball dress. In embarrassment she shrugged it off and hurried away so she wouldn’t be noticed by the other women putting expensive fur wraps on. But this resulted in fate playing its part and the diamond necklace that she borrowed was pulled off her neck without her noticing.
After losing the necklace the Loisel’s decide to go look for a replacement, they find one costing 36 thousand francs. They stall for time telling the friend they borrowed it off that they had broken the clasp of the necklace and are getting it mended. They also go to the police and put posters up with a reward. But after failure trying to find the necklace the Loisel’s are only left with one choice, to buy the 36 thousand franc replacement necklace. They borrow money off many people to cover the cost of the necklace and soon become in debt which lasted 10 years.
This suggests to the reader that the Loisel’s are honorable to a commitment. They are proud about what they stand for and don’t want to make themselves look bad. They worry that their reputation might be harmed if people found out they replaced the necklace so they can steal Madame Forestier’s one.
Madame Loisel changes in many ways. The poet shows us this when he says
“Madame Loisel learnt the grim life of the very poor,
However she faced the position with heroic courage”
This suggests that at the start of the story where she was an impolite, self-centered and gluttonous woman she becomes a pleasant, strong and hard working woman. This is because after her debt issues she became a woman of the working class and was put through the pain of a person from the poor. She has learnt the value of life through her experiences.
But at the end of the story there is a twist. The necklace they borrowed was only a fake not worth more than 500 francs at the most. This proves to be costly as Madame Loisel’s life plummeted. She had been paying off debts for the last 10 years and found out that it could have been all avoided.
However still it was one 19th century issue that proved to be her main downfall and that was the class structure. The poet shows this when he says
“They pay back the money for the necklace and live in great poverty for many years”
This suggests that she lost everything and could only afford the absolute necessary things in the house.
In my opinion I think the thing that leads to Madame Loisel’s downfall was the negative attitude towards her lifestyle. She took her husband for granted as her selfishness and greed would always overcome her. She had a great life and lived in a flat with everything they needed and she gave it all in. She had now become an old woman and she neglected all of her needs. However she had now become a tougher woman and become nicer as she lived the life of a peasant. In the end fate acted upon her and she got what she deserved.