Discussion Topic

Foreshadowing elements in "The Necklace" leading to the tragic twist ending

Summary:

In "The Necklace," foreshadowing elements include Madame Loisel's obsession with wealth and appearances, her dissatisfaction with her modest life, and her willingness to borrow a seemingly expensive necklace without considering the consequences. These hints suggest that her superficial values will lead to misfortune, culminating in the story's tragic twist when the necklace turns out to be a fake.

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What are two examples of foreshadowing in "The Necklace"?

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which an author gives the reader a hint of what is to come later in the story. In Guy De Maupassant's short story "The Necklace," he foreshadows Mathilde Loisel's significant mistake of replacing an imitation necklace with an authentic diamond necklace, which nearly bankrupts her family and results in a decade long struggle. Foreshadowing occurs at the beginning of the story when Maupassant writes,

She [Mathilde] was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks. (1)

By associating Mathilde with a "mistake of destiny," Maupassant is foreshadowing that she will become a victim of fate. Either by fate, destiny, or coincidence, Mathilde ends up suffering for ten years because she mistook the imitation necklace for a genuine piece of jewelry.

Maupassant also utilizes foreshadowing during Mathilde's interaction with Madame Forestier. When Mathilde asks to borrow the necklace, Madame Forestier responds by saying, "Why, yes, certainly" (6). Such an emphatic answer suggests that the necklace is not as expensive as it appears. If Madame Forestier were really lending a priceless piece of jewelry to her friend, one would infer that her response would not be so certain or jovial. An astute reader would take note of Madame Forestier's tone and possibly question the authenticity of the necklace.

Another example of foreshadowing occurs when Mathilde takes the case to the jewelry store and the jeweler states that he did not sell the specific necklace. The jeweler says that he must have simply furnished the case, which influences readers to speculate that the necklace is not authentic. There would certainly be a record of purchase for something so expensive, which is why their failed trip to the jewelry store is a significant example of foreshadowing.

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What are two examples of foreshadowing in "The Necklace"?

With foreshadowing being the use of hints or clues to suggest action to come, the dissastifaction of Madame Loisel with her life as the wife of a clerk in the Ministry of Education sets the tone for what the remainder of her life will become.

While she is elated to have the necklace of Mme. Forestier for the party, and she is the center of attention there, afterwards, Madame Loisel hurries down the stairs lest the other women see her shabby wrap.  When she and her husband cannot find a cab and they walk along the Seine, they are "disconsolate and shivering."  Their emotions soon will be most disconsolate when Mme. Loisel discovers that the necklace has fallen from her.

As her husband goes out to retrace their steps on foot, Mme. Loisel remains in her evening clothes, "\

without the strength to go to bed, slumped in a chair in the unheated room, her mind a blank.

This passage suggests that Mme. Loisel's life as she has known it has ended, and hers will be a desperate existence if her husband cannot find the necklace.

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What is an example of foreshadowing in "The Necklace"?

An example of foreshadowing in "The Necklace" has to do with the necklace itself. One day, Mathilde's husband brings home an invitation to "an evening reception at the Ministerial Mansion." Once Mathilde buys a new dress for the event, she decides to take her husband's suggestion and borrow a necklace. Her friend, Mme. Forestier, immediately agrees to loan a "superb diamond necklace" in a "black satin box" to Mathilde.

After a glorious evening, Mathilde and her husband return home and notice that she no longer has the necklace. After much searching, they take the black box to the jeweler whose name was inside the box in the hopes of finding a similar necklace. The jeweler looks at his records and says, "I didn't sell that necklace madame. I only supplied the box." Mathilde and her husband have to borrow a large sum of money to replace the necklace. After ten years, Mathilde sees Mme. Forestier and decides to tell her the truth about the necklace. When Mme. Forestier hears that her necklace was replaced with another, she informs Mathilde that her necklace was a fake, and only worth about five hundred francs.

The foreshadowing occurs when we see that Mme. Forestier easily agrees to loan the necklace, and the jeweler states that he only supplied the box. These are clues that the necklace was not as valuable as Mathilde and her husband believed.

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What foreshadowing occurs in "The Necklace"?

One example of foreshadowing occurs after Mathilde's husband provides her with money to purchase a nice dress for the party they will be attending. It requires all of the money he has saved, but he clearly wants his wife to be happy through his sacrifice. Instead of being excited as the party draws near, he finds that his wife is instead sad, though her exquisite dress is now ready:

The day of the party drew near, and Madame Loisel seemed sad, restless, anxious. Her dress was ready, however. One evening her husband said to her:
"What's the matter? You've been acting strange these last three days."
She replied: "I'm upset that I have no jewels, not a single stone to wear. I will look cheap. I would almost rather not go to the party."

Mathilde's sense of dejection lingers though she has taken all of her husband's savings. This suggests that Mathilde will not find happiness; she seems unable to appreciate even her husband's grand gesture of sacrificing his own desires so that she can enjoy one evening of happiness.

Another example of foreshadowing occurs when Mathilde visits her wealthy friend in order to borrow some jewels. All of Madame Forestier's initial offerings are not enough to please Mathilde, and she inquires about additional jewels. When she is presented with a "superb diamond necklace," Mathilde is elated. She asks to borrow just this piece of jewelry, and her friend replies,

Yes, of course.

Mathilde likely believes that this lighthearted approval reflects her friend's deep trust in her. She perhaps even believes that Madame Forestier views her as a social equal. Yet if the necklace had been truly constructed of valuable diamonds, it is unlikely that Madame Forestier would have been so flippant in her response. This hints that the necklace isn't as valuable as Mathilde believes it to be.

Another example of foreshadowing occurs when Mathilde and her husband visit the jeweler whose name is stamped inside the box of the necklace, now lost. He tells them,

It was not I, madame, who sold the necklace; I must simply have supplied the case.

It is odd that the necklace has been stored in a box from a store where it was not originally sold. This further suggests that it is not as expensive as Mathilde imagines.

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What are examples of allusion in "The Necklace"?

It would be hard to find examples of specific allusions in "The Necklace" but there are examples of general allusions in Mathilde Loisel's fantasies and daydreams.

She thought of silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestry, illumined by tall bronze candelabra, and of two great footmen in knee breeches who sleep in the big armchairs, made drowsy by the oppressive heat of the stove. She thought of long reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing priceless curiosities and of the little coquettish perfumed reception rooms made for chatting at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire.

Here the narrator is alluding to the kind of lifestyle Mathilde feels should be hers; though she has never actually experienced this degree of wealth and leisure (she was born into an upper-middle-class family), she has witnessed the luxuries her wealthy friends command—and this haunts her imagination. She has a little Breton girl to do all her housework, eats well, and leads a comfortable life, yet still she is unhappy. 

Mathilde Loisel makes her own life miserable with her longing for things she cannot have. There are a number of similarities between the life Mathilde longs for and the portraits of such a life that appeared in romantic literature at the time. Perhaps Maupassant's descriptions allude to the cheap romantic literature of his day, suggesting that unrealistic portraits ultimately prove unsatisfying and destructive. Maupassant was a realist. His writing is the exact opposite of the highly derivative romantic fantasy literature he perhaps alludes to satirically in the passage quoted above.

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Are there foreshadowing elements in "The Necklace" hinting at the tragic twist ending?

"The Necklace" does not seem like the kind of story that would use foreshadowing, since anything of that nature would tend to detract from the truly shocking effect of the surprise ending. The Loisels and the reader are led to believe that the borrowed necklace is made of genuine diamonds. When Mme. Loisel first sees the necklace, Maupassant calls it "a superb diamond necklace." He is intentionally deceiving the reader here, but it is hard to see how he could do otherwise. He could hardly call it "what appeared to be a superb diamond necklace."

The only hint that the diamonds are fake can be detected in Mme. Forestier's reply to Mme. Loisel when she asks:

"Will you lend me this, only this?"

It would appear to the reader that she is asking to borrow the most expensive piece of jewelry in the whole collection. A necklace like that would cost at least $150,000 in present-day American dollars, possibly much more. Yet Mme. Forestier's reply might make an especially keen reader wonder. She replies:

"Why, yes, certainly."

The word "certainly" makes her reply seem to be expressing relief that she does not have to risk lending a truly valuable piece of jewelry, and also expressing relief that her friend says, "only this?"--meaning that she will not be asked to lend her several valuable items. Mme. Forestier knows the necklace is only worth about 500 francs. The word "certainly" also sounds a bit ironic. Mme. Forestier is somewhat amused by the fact that her friend thinks she is getting a fabulously expensive diamond necklace. It is as if Mme. Forestier is saying, "Why, yes," and then to herself, "if you're naive enough to think you're getting a real diamond necklace. The word "certainly" has many implications in this line of dialogue.

The fact that poor Mathilde Loisel actually believes she is wearing an exquisite diamond necklace at the ball enhances her enjoyment of the affair because it makes her feel even more beautiful than she is. This feeling shows in her face and in her posture, making her appear more alluring to all the men--most of whom, except for a sophisticated few, probably think the necklace is real too.

Maupassant's story depends heavily on the surprise ending. He not only does not hint that Mme. Loisel will find out she has ruined her life over a fake necklace, but he deliberately misleads the reader by calling the piece of fake jewelry "a superb diamond necklace." This might be described as the opposite of foreshadowing. (It might also be called "cheating.")

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What elements of foreshadowing are in "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant?

In the short story "The Necklace," Guy de Maupassant uses Mathilde Loisel's feelings to foreshadow future doom.

Mathilde's most significant feelings are in reaction to the invitation her husband acquired to the gala affair hosted by the Minister of Education and her belief that she doesn't have anything appropriate to wear. Even after her husband sacrifices his savings of four hundred francs to allow her to buy a new dress, she returns to her state of feeling gloomy when she realizes she has no jewels to wear with the dress. The first statement she makes to express her feelings about not owning any jewels that serves to foreshadow future doom is, "I shall look absolutely no one," meaning that she'll look like no one worth knowing (p. 3). The irony of her statement is that, by the time her 10-year ordeal is over, she certainly does look like an old, impoverished, haggard nobody even though, currently, she does not. Her statement draws attention to how she looks and serves to foreshadow what she will sadly look like in the future.

Her second statement that serves as foreshadowing is, "[T]here's nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women" (p. 3). The irony of her statement is that, at the time she says this, she isn't truly poor and doesn't look poor even though she doesn't have the socioeconomic status she dreams of having; however, after the ball, she certainly is forced to become extremely poor. Again, her comment about how she looks serves to foreshadow what she will sadly look like in the future.

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What instances of foreshadowing occur in "The Necklace"?

The answer below is a good one, I would like to add that her enviousness toward the life she does not have foreshadows the life that she will fall into later. She thought that her life was terrible and she was probably what we know as upper middle class which was far too meager a life in her opinion. These thoughts are what foreshadow her eventual fall into utter poverty. She complains that she has only one maid and dreams of having scores of them, when eventually she has to do all her housework herself. She day dreams about being beautiful and admired by all and in fact loses her admired beauty. The ease with which Mme. Forrestier lends the diamond necklace also foreshadowed the inexpensive nature of the thing, which we find in the end is in fact a fake.

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What instances of foreshadowing occur in "The Necklace"?

There are several elements of foreshadowing in the wonderful story "The Necklace."

Start with the opening line: "The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks."


This lets us know fate will play a role, that slips will play a role, and that she really should look like a clerk, as she does by the story's end.

 

The first line of the second paragraph says why she dresses plainly; this is stated almost as a universal, and it will be true again by the end of the story.

 

A bit later, the story says, " She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that." This is foreshadowing through irony. She loves only that—and it will be taken from her.

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What are examples of foreshadowing in Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace"?

First off, see the links below for other very good discussions about this same question.

I would say there is very little foreshadowing in this story. To use foreshadowing would eliminate the sense of shock which comes over the reader after the final lines of the story, when Madame Forestier reveals the necklace was really a fake. De Maupassant does, however, hint at the reason for the necklace's loss immediately after Madame Loisel leaves the ball. She has had an incredible time and has been the most popular woman there, invited to dance throughout the night—so much so that her husband ends up sleeping in a sitting room until the ball is finished.

When Monsieur Loisel goes to place the "modest garments of everyday life" around her shoulders, she recoils and rushes away from him. She is so narcissistic that she doesn't want the other women to see her "shabby" coat. De Maupassant writes,

He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought for going home, modest garments of everyday life whose shabbiness clashed with the stylishness of her evening clothes. She felt this and longed to escape, unseen by the other women who were draped in expensive furs.

Loisel held her back.

“Hold on! You’ll catch cold outside. I’ll call a cab.”
But she wouldn’t listen to him and went rapidly down the stairs.

More than likely, Madame Loisel loses the necklace in her haste to leave the ball and not be revealed as middle class. The same conceit which made her long to be wealthy and admired eventually plunges her into poverty as the necklace is lost in her speedy retreat.

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In "The Necklace," how does the jeweler scene foreshadow the end?

The day after Madame Loisel loses what she thinks is a highly valuable necklace, she goes to the jeweler whose name is inside the necklace's empty case. She hopes that the jeweler can help her find an exact replacement for the missing necklace before Madame Forestier finds out. Unfortunately, the jeweler is not much help. He closely consults his sales records and finds that he hasn't recently sold any such item matching the necklace's description; he must have only supplied the case. This is ominous news indeed, but Madame Loisel is either too slow to draw the necessary conclusions or perhaps just so desperate to track down a replacement that she doesn't catch on.

At any rate, the episode at the jeweler's foreshadows Madame Loisel's subsequent discovery, many years later, that the lost necklace wasn't really a valuable piece of jewelry at all, but a fake. If it really had been such a precious item it would have been supplied along with the case.

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