Student Question
Why did Monsieur Loisel expect his wife to be pleased with the Minister of Education's invitation?
Quick answer:
Monsieur Loisel expected his wife to be pleased with the invitation to the Minister of Education's event because it offered a rare opportunity for luxury and social advancement, aligning with her dreams of glamour. He believed this event would allow her to mingle with influential people, potentially improving their lifestyle. However, Madame Loisel was dissatisfied due to her lack of suitable attire and jewels, which she felt would result in social embarrassment rather than admiration.
Why did M. Loisel expect his wife to be pleased with the Minister's invitation?
M. Loisel expected his wife to be pleased at the invitation from the Minster of Education because they were invited to a grand dress-up event, and M. Loisel knew how much his wife loved luxury and finery.
To his great surprise, she is not pleased, and he says to her that he thought she would be happy because:
You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. I had awful trouble to get it. Everyone wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole official world will be there.
Madame Loisel is unhappy, however, because she feels she has nothing suitable to wear and will, therefore, be looked down upon by the other women at the ball. She cannot bear the thought of not shining and standing out against other people. She is also unhappy that she has no...
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jewels to wear. When her husband suggests flowers, that is not good enough. Madame Loisel is not content to go to the ball and be able to look at other people and enjoy the event: she wants others to admire her. That is why she makes the fateful decision to borrow the diamond necklace.
In "The Necklace," why did Monsieur Loisel expect his wife to be pleased with the invitation?
Much like in the story of Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Maupassant's character Mdme Loiselle grew up expecting that her life would turn into everything she ever dreamed of.
Also, similarly to Mdme Bovary, Mdme Loiselle's husband was aware of the dissatisfaction of his wife. As husbands, both Bovary and Loiselle felt responsible for the mental condition of their wives. The men are meant to be providers, and the anchor of the household- if the wife is not happy, is proportional to the ability of the head of the household to provide.
Hence, both husbands in both stories came upon a chance to somehow provide their wives with a chance to reach that summit which they so much dreamed about: A brush with glamour.
Monsier Louiselle felt that, as a result of the invitation, hewould have finally been able to please his wife's dream of glamour. Unfortunately,she was already way too submerged in her own fantasy world to appreciate what he did for her.
Madame Mathilde Loisel is dissatisfied with her life. She was educated with women who had become wealthy while she had become poor. When her children are ill, she even has to attend to their nursing without getting help as well as to attend to the running of the household. This doesn't sound unusual to some in the current era, but it was unusual and bespoke a poor lifestyle in 1884. When Monsieur Loisel announces the invitation to the ball, Madame is struck with horror because, in their poor living conditions, she of course has no gowns appropriate for a ball. This sounds trite, and perhaps she was being small minded, but it was also true that appearing at a social event improperly clothed would gain social censure instead of social welcome. In other words, she'd have been a social outcast if she went to a ball in an everyday gown.
Monsieur Loisel isn't thinking of this aspect of social requirements. He is thinking about the fact that now his wife will have an opportunity to associate with the kinds of people that she was used to and misses. He is also happy for himself because the invitation means he is being marked out for advancement. Advancement in his career will eventually lead to a wealthier lifestyle, which is what his wife wants. These are the reasons Monsieur Loisel expected his wife to be happy.
Why did M. Loisel expect his wife to be pleased with the invitation in "The Necklace"?
A protege of Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant used in the short story "The Necklace" a treatment of main themes, conflicts, and characters that are quite similar to Flaubert's Madame Bovary. This being said, Monsieur Loisel is characterized in the same fashion as Charles Bovary: they are both men who are totally oblivious of their personal realities, and whose state of contentment blocks any inclination to question anything about their lives. In other words, they move forward blindsided and narrow-minded. There is a reason for this: it is to let the reader focus completely on the immense conflicts of the female main characters.
Therefore, the reason why Monsieur Loisel expects his wife to be pleased is because there is an overall disconnect in the Loisel marriage: Loisel is said to be happy with just eating his simple soup at nights, with not having a lot of money, and with his job at the ministry. Meanwhile, his wife
...was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth.
Hence, the reality that Mathilde holds as true is totally different from that of her oblivious, simpleton husband. The disconnect between reality and fantasy is big enough to result in Monsieur Loisel's complete disregard of the state of his marriage. Moreover, the historical context of the story denotes a time where the needs and wants of women were not really regarded as important. Mathilde was a victim of both herself and her circumstances.