Introduction to English Literature

Name : A B I D I N

NPM : 0952487

Date : October, 7 2011

Title : The Diamond Necklace

Once upon a time, there was a pretty and charming girls, her name was Mathilde. She was a poor girl, so she let herself be married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.. Though they were not well off financially. She had dreamed of a life of leisure, with attentive servants and a large home, but her lifestyle was decidedly more modest. Ashamed of her social standing, she no longer visited Madame Forestier, an old school friend who had been rich. One day she was having dinner with her husbad, and suddenly her husband told her that he had surprised for her, that was a invitation.

Mathilde has gone to a lot of trouble to get the invitation, but Mathilde's first reaction was to throw a fit. She didn't have anything nice to wear, and couldn't possibly go! How dare her husband be so insensitive? Mathilde didn't know what to do, and offers to be bought his wife a dress, so long as it was not too expensive. Mathilde asked for 400 francs. It was not too long before Mathilde throws another fit, though, that time because she had no jewels. So Mathilde suggested she went see her friend Mme. Forestier. Mathilde went to see Mme. Forestier, and she was in luck. Mathilde was able to borrow a gorgeous diamond necklace. With the necklace, she was sure to be a stunner.

The night of the ball arrived, and Mathilde has the time of her life. Everyone loved her (i.e., lusts after her) and she was absolutely thrilled. She and her husband didn't leave until 4am. She and her husband found a cab and head home. But once back at home, Mathilde made a horrifying discovery: the diamond necklace was gone.

Mathilde spent all of the next day, and even the next week, searching the city for the necklace, but founds nothing. It was gone. So he and Mathilde decide they had no choice but to buy Mme. Forestier a new necklace. They visited one jewelry store after another until at last they found a necklace that just the same as the one they lost. Unfortunately, it was 36 thousand francs, which was exactly twice the amount of all the money Mathilde has to his name. So Mathilde went massively into debt and bought the necklace, and Mathilde returned it to Mme. Forestier, who didn't notice the substitution. Buying the necklace was catapulting the Loisels into poverty for the next ten years. That's right, ten years. They lost their house, their maid, their comfortable lifestyle, and on top of it all Mathilde lost her good looks.

After ten years, all the debts were finally paid, and Mathilde was out for a jaunt on the Champs Elysées. There she came across Mme. Forestier, rich and beautiful as ever. Now that all the debts were paid off. Finally she told Mme. Forestier the sad story of the necklace and her ten years of poverty, and she did. At that point, Mme. Forestier told to Mathilde that the necklace she lost was just a fake. It was worth only five hundred francs.