being surrounded by opulence—“exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments”—she is compelled to make do with her marriage to a man with a good job, a servant to help her with the most menial wifely duties, and a comfortable home with food on the table.

Despite all that she does have, she “suffers endlessly” because she wants so much more. Madame Loisel is unable to appreciate a husband who would go to great lengths to secure an invitation to a party just to make her happy, who would give up the money that he was saving for something for himself so that she could have a new dress for this one night, and so on. He is grateful for what they have, and she is not.

The necklace she borrows from her friend, Madame Forestier, embodies extent of Madame Loisel’s desire for luxury, at any cost. The necklace is a symbol of her lust for wealth: she cannot recognize that what she already has in her life has true, real value, just as she cannot recognize the worthlessness of the necklace, which is not actually a diamond at all. She thinks that she knows what is truly valuable, but she does not. The irony of the necklace’s actual cheapness underscores the idea that we should be grateful for and recognize the good things in our lives rather than being so focused on acquiring more.

Irony is a very effective device in literature and exists in two forms. Verbal irony is a method in which "statements often convey a meaning exactly opposite from their literal meanings."  In situational irony, which is what gives "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant its stunning twist in the final lines, "actions often have an effect exactly opposite from what is intended."

Madame Mathilde Loisel is a woman who feels misplaced in her life.  She settled for a marriage with her husband Monsieur Loisel solely because she was not able to marry "higher." She resents the simple home they share and its sparse, plain furnishings, and while her husband dines heartily, she dreams of the riches and finery of the life she feels she should have had.  So resentful is she of her present situation that she even spurns a friendship because the woman is wealthier than she, and the envy this creates for her causes her intense suffering.

When her husband presents her with an invitation to a ball, and then with the money to buy a new dress that she feels will be worthy of the image she wishes to present, she still feels she cannot go without the proper jewelry.  Her husband, wanting nothing more than to make her happy, suggests she borrow a piece from her friend Madame Jeanne Forestier.  Rifling through the jewelry, she fastens on a beautiful diamond necklace.  With this stunning piece adorning her, Mathilde feels she can truly look the part she wishes to portray.

At the ball, Mathilde lives out her fantasy.  She is admired, envied, complimented, and sought after.  However, when arriving home, she realizes with horror that the necklace is missing.  Following fruitless searches, she and her husband buy a replacement, and Madame Forestier is not told of the loss.  This begins a ten-year endeavor to pay back the debts accrued. Mathilde, during this time, knows poverty, sacrifice, and back-breaking work, and the woman she becomes is a mere shadow of the woman she was before the ball.

When she encounters Madame Forestier after the debts are finally paid, her friend is shocked to see these alterations, and when Mathilde relates the story of the missing necklace, the replacement, and the years of toil and deprivation, Madame Forestier reveals the stunning truth - that the lost necklace was simply costume jewelry, worth a mere fraction of the replacement piece.

This is the situational irony of "The Necklace."  The piece of jewelry that Madame Loisel used to escape the life she had for the duration of the ball was the vehicle for her descent into the life she now lives - "an effect exactly opposite from what (was) intended."

The necklace might be considered a symbol of wealth, of vanity, of deception, of illusion, of false values, high society, an illusion to Cinderella, or something else. The story is bitterly ironic. Not only does Mathilde suffer from paying a fortune for a necklace that is made of fake jewels, but her poor husband, who was only trying to make her happy, is dragged into the pit of despair along with her. Irony is often, if not always, like a bad joke. It is like a joke that would be funny if only it were not so painful. It would take a very cruel reader to laugh at Monsieur and Madame Loisel for what happened to them. That is why the story is ironic and not funny. They work and slave for ten years to pay for a replacement necklace that was only worth about five hundred francs, something like a hundred dollars in American money at the time. Not only that, but Mathilde loses her beauty, grace, charm, and even her dreams during that terrible time.

It is true that she is punished for her vanity, but she isn't much different from the rest of us. It is hard to laugh at her when it is so easy to understand her. The rich people she reads about, as well as her friend Madame Forestier, make her feel envious. She knows she is as good as they are, if not better. She knows she is prettier and sexier and more attractive in many ways than her friend Madame Forestier and than all of the women who will be going to the Minister's Ball. But aren't we all a little envious of people who have more than we do?

Goe, and catche a falling starre,
Get with child a mandrake roote,
Tell me, where all past yeares are,
Or who cleft the Divels foot,
Teach me to heare Mermaides singing,
Or to keep off envies stinging,
And find
What winde
Serves to advance an honest minde.
John Donne

This seems to be how Maupassant makes his tale ironic. We don't want to see Mathilde suffer and lose her beauty. We don't want to see her husband spending the whole day working at his job and then trying to make a few extra sous doing copy work at home by candlelight. And most of us, unfortunately, know what it feels like to be in debt, robbing Peter to pay Paul, borrowing money to pay back borrowed money. It is torture. If the situation gets bad enough it can keep people awake nights with pounding hearts, when they should be resting, storing up physical and mental energy for the battle for survival that will begin again tomorrow. It is ironic that the necklace wouldn't have really been worth a fortune even if it had been made of real diamonds. Maupassant seems to be saying that life itself is of vastly more value than mere objects.

Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little stones and rarities? and what works of ostentation are undertaken, because there might seem to be some use of great riches?
                                               Francis Bacon, “On Riches”

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant is an ironic story in the sense that Mathilde Loisel was ultimately brought down by what she wanted most in life — expensive things. Mathilde was a pretty girl who was raised in a modest family, but she always wanted to be rich. Even when she married a clerk, she still desired riches out of her reach. One day, Mathilde's husband brought her an invitation to a lavish party, but Mathilde did not want to go because she did not think she owned anything enough to wear to the party. Her husband encouraged her to wear her best ball gown, but she did not think it was good enough. She went to Madame Forrestier and borrowed one of her best necklaces for the party. Mathilde loved the necklace and the attention it brought her at the party; she finally had the fame she always coveted. It was not until after the party that Mathilde realized she lost the necklace. In a panic, Mathilde and her husband went to a jeweler to attempt to replace the necklace. An exact replica would cost 36000 francs, far more than the humble clerk's salary. The couple borrowed money at usurious rates. Mathilde worked as a maid to help pay off the loans. The couple did this for ten years. After ten years, Mathilde ran into Madame Forrestier again. Madame Forrestier commented that Mathilde looked terrible, and Mathilde explained she lost Madame Forrestier's necklace and bought her another one to replace it. At that point, Madame Forrestier told Mathilde the necklace was a piece of costume jewelry made of paste that cost less than 400 francs. This is the irony of the situation. Mathilde coveted fame and riches her entire life, but was miserable when she got it. The jewelry she borrowed thinking it was worth so much was something she could have easily bought in a novelty shop.  

Some of the examples of symbolism in "The Necklace" are:  The necklace is a symbol of wealth and power for Madame Loisel.  This represents a world she longs to be in but will never be able to reach.  The apartment that she lives in with her husband is a constant reminder of what she feels is a miserable life that she doesn't deserve and that she was not born to.  Another symbol is the sholder wrap her husband went to put on her shoulders after the reception which again was a reality check as to who she really was and her social class in life.  She was ashamed to have her husband put it on her with the beautiful dress and necklace she was wearing.  It was a total contradiction of who she was trying or posing to be.

The main theme of "The Necklace" a contrast between greed and generosity. Madame Loisel, the protagonist, lives a modest, yet comfortable middle class life with her husband. However, she feels that her lack of luxury is a very great injustice. Her life is comfortable enough to afford one servant, but she wishes for several. She has plenty of food, but she dreams of "delicate meals." Her husband can barely afford to buy her a ball gown, but she insists on having jewelry to go with it. When she first sees her friend's diamond necklace, "her heart [beats] covetously." Her greed stands in marked contrast to the generosity of her husband and Madame Forestier.

The necklace itself represents the theme of appearances versus reality. While sufficiently beautiful to make Madame Loisel feel comfortable during the ministerial ball, the necklace is actually nothing more than paste and gilt. Thus, it is not the reality of wealth or high social class that is important for Madame Loisel, just the appearance of it.

It is difficult to explain an example of dramatic irony in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. Dramatic irony is a literary device in which the reader or audience knowns something in a piece of literature, about a character or their situation, that the characters do not. In “The Necklace” there is never an overt time when the author tells the reader something that the characters are not aware of. There may be an implied action that could be considered dramatic irony. When Madame Loisel’s friend readily agrees to allow her to pick out a piece of jewelry and lends her what seems to be a very expensive diamond necklace one might infer that she is being extremely benevolent or the jewelry is not what it seems. The reader receives the news that the necklace was an imitation at the same time that the character does therefore it is a better example of situational irony than dramatic irony.

In situational irony, the outcome of an event is the opposite of what is intended.

Monsieur Loisel intends to bring his wife happiness through the invitation to the ball, which was hard for him to come by, as well as giving her 400 francs for a new dress and advising her to borrow a piece of jewelry from her friend Madame Forestier. Madame Loisel hopes to make an impression which will perhaps lead to more invitations and more of the high life she craves.

Madame Loisel is a triumph at the ball. However, rather than leading her up the class ladder, the ball, ironically, leads her to a lower standard of living. She loses the diamond necklace she borrowed, and, from having to borrow money to replace it, the couple becomes poor repaying the loan. An event that was supposed to bring happy memories transforms into a source of misery.

Even more ironically, the Loisels didn't have to suffer at all, because the diamond Mathilde borrowed was a cheap fake. This final irony conveys the author's message that Mathilde attributed too much value to externals, like jewels, and was unable to discern where true worth lay.

The irony in "The Necklace" is based on the fact that Madame Loisel and her husband spend ten years of toil and privation paying for a necklace which turns out to be a cheap imitation. The critical point in the story is reached when Madame Forestier tells Madame Loisel:

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs! . . . "

It is not only Mathilde Loisel who is shocked, but the reader as well. The reader as been led to believe that the borrowed necklace was genuine and that it was worth approximately 36,000 francs.

This type of irony is called situational irony. It involves an incongruity between what is expected and what actually occurs. Irony is usually like a bad joke. It would be funny if it were not so painful. Mathilde paid a fearful price for the few moments of triumph she enjoyed at the Minister's ball. But no reader would feel like laughing at her and her poor husband. The reader feels pity for both. As Maupassant describes her towards the end of the story:

Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households--strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window and she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so admired.

No doubt in addition to feeling mortified at the realization that she had wasted ten years of her life and sacrificed her beauty for a trifle, Mathilde Loisel must remember the night of the ball and wonder how many of the partners she danced with were aware that her necklace was nothing but an imitation. She is not only mortified about the present when her friend reveals the truth about the imitation necklace, but she must also feel mortified in retrospect at the realization that many of the important men and women must have known she was an imposter, not unlike Cinderella at the ball in the fairy tale.

In the first paragraph, the narrator notes that Mathilde is a charming girl and "by a mistake of destiny" was born to a family of clerks. The suggestion is that usually such a charming girl is born to more wealthy families. So, the actual result (that she was born into a poor family) is ironic considering that such a girl is usually expected to come from wealthy families. (This would be situational or cosmic irony.) 

Verbal irony is usually defined as speech or language that means something other than which it seems to express. This is often confused and/or compared with sarcasm. For example, saying someone is "as strong as a mouse" is verbal irony because although the words used seem to express strength, the meaning is actually the opposite. There seem to be no clear examples of verbal irony in "The Necklace." The characters are very direct in what they are saying. 

Dramatic irony occurs when the spectator or reader is given some information about which one or more characters is/are unaware. Mathilde feels like she should have born into a richer life and she continues to crave that life despite being poor. However, this is not really dramatic irony because the reader and the character are aware of the same things. If anything, this is an example of situational irony or maybe even cosmic irony if the reader (or Mathilde) considers that God or some spiritual power has deemed her to be born into poor circumstances yet with a craving for a richer life, thus the gods are toying with her. 

Even the ironic twist at the end of the story is not verbal nor dramatic irony. The statement is direct, not misleading. And the reader discovers the ironic twist when Mathilde does, not before she does, so it is not dramatic irony. ("Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!") Again, the ironic twist at the end would be an example of situational irony. Mathilde had originally been enamored with a cheap necklace, not noticing that the diamonds were not real. There are no overt clues to the reader or Mathilde that the necklace she lost was cheap. So, the outcome (discovering that the necklace was cheap after all that effort to replace it) was unexpected and therefore an example of situational irony. (The only possible clue, and therefore evidence of some vague dramatic irony, is that Mme. Forestier was so easily willing to lend Mathilde the necklace in the first place.)  

Guy de Maupassant's short story "The Necklace" follows the tragic tale of Madame Loisel, a woman who longs to be part of the aristocracy and who pays dearly for that desire. After she spends years pining away after the fancy parties thrown by those far wealthier and more important than her, Madame Loisel's husband secures her an invitation to one of these parties. Still, Madame Loisel is not happy until she has been given the money to purchase new attire for the affair and until a friend of hers (Madame Forestier) agrees to allow her to borrow a diamond necklace to wear to the party.

However, while at the party, Madame Loisel loses the necklace. Rather than come clean about her mistake, she drives herself and her spouse into financial ruin in order to pay for a replacement. It is only much later that she learns from Madame Forestier that the necklace she had lost was not made of diamonds at all—it was a fake made out of paste. 

This type of irony is situational irony because the outcome of the story is very different than what Madame Loisel (or the audience) may have anticipated. The party she attends in the hopes of increasing her social standing instead ruins it. It is her obsession with wealth and social position that ultimately drives Madame Loisel into poverty and a fall from social grace—certainly the opposite of what she intended!

Irony permeates this story. Verbal irony occurs when someone says the opposite of what he or she means. In the following sentence, the last part is an example of a kind of verbal irony. The narrator states that Madame Loisel went away with her "treasure."

She flung herself on her friend's breast, embraced her frenziedly, and went away with her treasure.

Of course, the "treasure" is not what Madame Loisel thinks it is. She believes she is borrowing a real diamond necklace, when, in fact, she is borrowing a fake. This demonstrates that her idea of a "treasure" is shallow and superficial: she has no idea of real worth, either when it comes to a necklace or to what is most important in life.

The first part of the above sentence illustrates situational irony, which occurs when a situation works out to be the opposite of what was expected. Here, Madame Loisel shows she is thrilled over a necklace that is about to ruin her life. Rather than make her happy, as she expects, the necklace will make her miserable.

Situational irony occurs again after the Loisels impoverish themselves to replace the necklace. Rather than a gateway into a better life, the beautiful objects and fancy events Madame Loisel crave lead to a life of drudgery:

She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and dishcloths, and hung them out to dry on a string . . .

The chief situational irony, however, occurs when Madame Loisel discovers that the necklace she borrowed was a fake, worth only 500 francs.

As for dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows what the characters do not, I would argue there is none. The entire story pivots on the reader being as surprised as Madame Loisel to find out the necklace is made of paste. 

Verbal irony is expressed by Mathilde when her husband brings home the invitation and she says "I have no gown, and, therefore, I can't go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I am." Mathilde doesn't really want her husband to give the invitation away, she is being sarcastic which is the most common form of verbal irony. She wants a new dress.

Situational irony is expressed most clearly in the ending of the book when Mathilde learns that the necklace she has gone into poverty to replace was actually a fake. Situational irony is when an outcome is the opposite of the expected outcome.

Dramatic irony is expressed through Mathilde's rejection from a part of society she so desires to be a part of. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that the characters do not and we can see her rejection more clearly than she. We can also see that her life really isn't that bad, which she has trouble recognizing because she is so worried about the things others have.

In "The Necklace," a marvelous tale of the falsity of materialism as a value, Guy de Maupassant employs with perfection the incongruity between what is stated and what is really meant (verbal irony), or between what is expected to happen and what actually does happen (situational irony), or between what the reader and audience know, but the character does not (dramatic).

SITUATIONAL IRONY

In the exposition, Maupassant portrays the materialistic Mathilde Loisel,who grieves for herself because she feels that she has been born for "all the niceties and luxuries of life."  When her bourgeois husband, a government clerk, brings home an invitation, he expects Mathilde to be happy, but she is not.

In another instance of situational irony, Madame Loisel's dreams of a better life worsen because of her vanity and desire for material objects.   By insisting that she wear some pretty jewelry, Mme. Loisel is told by her husband to borrow from a friend. When she does borrow a beautiful necklace, Mme. Loisel loses it and this lost causes her untold grief.  So, in her quest for materialism, she is left with less than what she originally had as she and her husband pay dearly for her loss.  (She moves from bougeoisie to poverty.)

In yet another instance of situational irony, Mme. Loisel assumes that people of the upper class only value expensive things.  When she  first sees the necklace that she does borrow, Mme. Loisel asks

"hesitatingly, pleading, 'Could I borrow that, just that and nothing else?'"

because she believes that it is very costly. She cannot imagine that Mme. Forestier would have an inexpensive article simply because she likes it.  Ironically, of course the necklace is not expensive.

This situational irony leads to the final, most crucial situation irony.  At the end of the narrative, Mme. Loisel finally has lost her false pride which has kept her from telling Mme. Forestier that she has lost the jewelry lent to her and she approaches Mme. Forestier on the Champs-Elysees one Sunday.  When she confesses the loss and then boasts of having paid for it by working and sacrificing, Mme. Forestier looks at her with pity, saying,

Oh, my poor Mathilde.  But mine was only paste.  Why, at most it was worth only five hundred francs!"

VERBAL IRONY

Because she does not have what she believes is the proper attire, Madame Loisel tells her husband,

"Give the card to some friend at the office whose wife can dress better than I can."

Mme. Loisel, of course, hopes by saying this that her husband will offer to buy her a new dress. Then, as the day of the party nears, Mme. Loisel complains that she has nothing to wear on her dress:

"I'll look like a pauper:  I'd almost rather no go to that party."

Again, by saying this Mme. Loisel means that she wants some jewelry so she can go.

The lovely Madame Mathilde Loisel "suffers incessantly" because she does not own expensive jewels. When her husband brings home an invitation to a ball, she becomes depressed even more so. She has nothing to wear to make her look beautiful.

Then, Madame Loisel remembers her friend Madame Forestier who owns jewels. Madame Loisel borrows what she believes to be an expensive necklace. She is radiant at the ball. She has a magnificent evening. All the gentlemen believe her to be the most beautiful woman there.

The irony in this short story is that Madame Loisel believes she is wearing an expensive necklace. In reality, the necklace is an imitation. It is a fake. Not knowing this, Madame Loisel feels she is elegant in her false necklace.

If only Madame Loisel had known that her beauty was exquisite because of her natural features, she could have saved herself ten years of hard work. As it turns out, she loses the borrowed necklace and works ten long years trying to pay off a debt she borrowed to replace the necklace.

Ironically, Madame Loisel works ten long years to pay for a genuine replacement necklace when the borrowed necklace was not real. The irony is in the fact that she wore an imitation necklace that made her feel pretty. The imitation necklace served its purpose although it did not cost a fortune.

When Madame Loisel learns that the borrowed necklace she lost was not real, she has already learned her lesson in humility. Her appearance is haggard from ten long years of domestic work. Yes, she has worked ten long years scrubbing floors to pay off the thirty-six thousand francs she borrowed to replace the lost necklace.

The irony is that Madame Loisel looked to be worth a fortune with the imitation necklace. Had she been contented with her natural beauty, she could have saved herself years of toil to pay for a genuine replacement necklace that substituted an imitation. Ironically, Madame Loisel learns a lesson on humility from a necklace that was not even real:

The story's greatest irony, however, is embodied in the necklace itself; while it appears to be a piece of jewelry of great value, it is really an imitation. The Loisels sacrifice their humble but sufficient home to buy an expensive replacement for a cheap original.

Situational irony refers to circumstances in which characters find themselves which suggest a specific outcome but that the opposite of such an expectation happens. A good example from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet would be when Romeo, having the best of intentions, intervenes in the duel between his best friend, Mercutio, and his sworn enemy, Tybalt. In doing so, he provides Tybalt an opportunity to fatally wound Mercutio. The outcome, therefore, is not what was expected. It is, ironically, exactly the opposite.

Dramatic irony occurs where the reader knows something that a character or characters does not. A good example is the play, Othello, by William Shakespeare. The readers are aware throughout of Iago's deceit and manipulation whilst Othello, Iago's victim, is completely unaware and only discovers the truth at the end.

In The Necklace, situational irony occurs through Mathilde's belief that the seeming wealth that she wishes to present will make her happy. She practically blackmails her husband into giving her money for an expensive dress and borrows a beautiful necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. The irony lies in the fact that her indulgence brings them greater grief than she could possibly have imagined.

Situational irony also lies in the fact that Mathilde asked her friend for the necklace so that she may further enhance her image. She truly believes that the item she chooses is the genuine article. When she loses it, she and her husband replace it and lose everything they have in the process. It takes them ten years to rebuild the life they had. It is only at the end that Mathilde discovers that the precious item had actually been a cheap copy. The money and time that they had wasted had all been for nothing.

There is an element of dramatic irony in the story. This occurs, firstly, when Mathilde writes to Madame Forestier that she could not return the necklace since she had to have the clasp repaired. We, the readers, know that the necklace had been lost, whilst her friend does not.

A second moment of dramatic irony occurs when Madame Forestier (Mathilde's friend) tells her, when she returns the necklace they had spent all their money to replace:

"You ought to have brought it back sooner; I might have needed it."

The readers know that it was impossible to return the necklace earlier since it had been lost. Also, Mathilde and her husband needed time to get the money in order to replace what they believed was a thirty six thousand franc necklace when, in fact, it was worth 'at the very most five hundred francs!'

The significance of the necklace being made of false gems does suggest that society places more importance on the superficial, than on what really matters.

That the necklace was a beautiful piece of jewelry is undeniable; it was beautiful enough to catch the attention of not one, but two women: Mdme. Forestier and Mdme. Loisel.

The ecstasy that Madame Loisel feels demonstrates her fixation with the superficial, rather than the appreciation that she should feel for the fact that her husband was good enough to be invited to an important dance.

..her heart throbbed with an immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it round her throat, outside her high-necked waist, and was lost in ecstasy at her reflection in the mirror.

The facetious way in which society interprets what is important is obvious in the importance given to a fake necklace that, in the end, ends up costing her superficiality ten years of her life.