Abstract of the work

Mathilde is smart, beautiful and flexible, but the family background of a small clerk didn't make her live a life that she thought was worthy of her. When it came to marriage, she had no choice but to marry Loisel, who was also a small clerk. The tight life made her miserable, but it didn't affect her fantasy of living a prominent and remarkable life. By chance, the husband tried to win an invitation for his wife to hold a dance at home by the Minister of Education. For this dance, the husband sacrificed an opportunity to hunt and have fun and bought a beautiful robe for his wife; Mathilde also borrowed a "diamond necklace" from her friend Mrs Foretstier. At the ball, Mathilde got the "supreme" status at the ball as she wished, and achieved a few contented successes in her life. But as soon as the dance was over, bad luck followed: the borrowed necklace was lost! They borrowed everything, bought an expensive necklace that looked exactly like the one they lost, and gave it back to Mrs. Foretstier. Mathilde went through a lot of hardships to pay her debts, so she became strong. Ten years later, Mathilde met Mrs. Foretstier, only to know that the lost diamond necklace turned out to be fake.

Selected Works

There are some women in the world with good looks and good charm, but they were wrongly arranged by nature and grew up in the family of a small clerk. She is one of them. She has no dowry property, no legacy that can be expected, and there is no way to make a rich and prestigious man get to know her, understand her, love her and marry her; She had to be married to a small clerk in the Ministry of Education.

she has no money to dress up, so she is very simple; But my heart is very painful, just like the situation of a noble marrying; This is because women don't have a certain class or race. Their beauty, their charm and their charm can be used as their origins and family status. There is a hierarchy among them only because of their natural intelligence, aesthetic instinct and flexible brains, which can make the girls of the people keep pace with the noblest married women.

She always feels that she was born to enjoy all kinds of luxurious life, so she feels endless pain. The living room is so simple, the walls are unadorned, the chairs and stools are so shabby, and the clothes are so ugly that she is very painful to see. These situations, if not her but another woman in her class, may not even be paid attention to, but they have caused her great pain and made her angry. When she saw the little woman in Brittany who did housework for her, she would have many sad feelings and fantasies in her heart. She will think of the quiet reception room with oriental silk and bronze stilts shining on its walls; She would think of how two tall footmen in shorts and stockings in the reception room were awakened by the stuffy heat of the heating pipe and fell asleep in the spacious armchair. She will think of the big living room with ancient silk walls, which is furnished with exquisite furniture of precious antiques and those delicate and fragrant inner living rooms, which are specially designed for talking with her closest boyfriend at five o'clock in the afternoon. Those friends are, of course, famous people who are coveted by all women, eager to be favored and wooed by many parties.

Every time she sits at the round table where the tablecloth has not been washed for three days, the husband sitting opposite lifts the lid of the basin and says with satisfaction, "Ah! What a delicious stew! There is nothing better than this in the world ... ",she thought of those exquisite banquets, shiny silver tableware and tapestries hanging on the walls, which were woven with ancient figures and rare birds in the fairyland forest; She also thought of the delicacies served in expensive dishes; She also thought of eating pink perch meat or grouse wings while listening to her boyfriend whispering sweet words with an unfathomable smile.

she has no beautiful clothes, no jewelry, and nothing in short. And she, however, loves these things; She feels that she was born to enjoy these things. What she wants most is to please men, arouse women's admiration, be romantic and popular everywhere.

She has a rich girlfriend, who was a classmate at school. Now, she doesn't want to visit her anymore, because she always feels very miserable when she comes back. She will cry for days with sadness, remorse, despair and pain.

But one night, her husband came home with a big envelope in his hand and a smug face.

"take it!" He said, "This is something specially prepared for you."

She quickly opened the envelope and took out an invitation, which read:

A party is scheduled to be held in the headquarters building on January 18th (Monday), so please come on time. This is to

Loisel

Minister of Education George Long Ponno and his wife, who would like to know that

instead of being as happy as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table in anger. Think about it for me. "

"But, my dear, I thought you would be very happy. You never go out as a guest, this is an opportunity, and it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! I managed to get this invitation. Everyone wants it, it is hard to get it, and it is generally not willing to give it to small staff. You can see all those officials there. "

She glared at him with anger in her eyes, and finally said impatiently,

"What can you tell me to wear to go there?"

this, but he never thought of; He said hesitantly,

"What about the dress you wore to the theater? In my opinion, that one seems to be very good ... "

He couldn't go on. He was surprised and flustered when he saw his wife crying. Two big tears flowed slowly from the corner of his wife's eye to the corner of her mouth; He stammered,

"What's the matter with you? How do you pull? "

With a strong effort, she suppressed the pain, then wiped her cheeks wet with tears and said in a calm voice,

"Nothing happened. But since I have no clothes, of course I can't go to the party. If any colleague's wife can have better clothes than me, please send him the invitation. "

Embarrassed, he said,

"Mathilde, let's discuss it. How much does it cost to wear a decent suit and a very simple suit that can be worn at other opportunities? "

She thought for a few seconds, calculated the amount of money in her mind, and at the same time, considered what amount to propose so as not to be rejected by the frugal clerk on the spot, nor to frighten him out.

She finally said hesitantly:

"I don't know exactly how much it costs; But with 411 francs, you can probably do it. "

His face turned a little pale, because he happened to have saved such a sum of money to buy a gun, so that he could go hunting with some friends in summer and shoot larks in Nanterre Plain on Sunday.

But he still said this:

"All right. I'll give you four hundred francs. But you have to try to make a beautiful dress. "

The day of the party is coming, but Mrs. Loisel seems very sad, uneasy and worried. Her clothes are all ready. One night her husband asked her,

"What's the matter with you? Your temper has been so strange for three days. "

"I'm upset. I have neither jewelry nor jewelry, and I can't wear anything on my body. It's so shabby. I simply don't want to attend this party. "

He said,

"How many flowers can you wear? This is very beautiful in this season. For ten francs, you can have two or three very beautiful roses. "

this method didn't convince her at all.

"No ... there is nothing more humiliating than showing a poor face among those rich wives."

Her husband suddenly shouted:

"You are really confused! Why not go to your friend Mrs. Foretstier and borrow some jewelry from her? Take your friendship with her as an example. "

She cried happily:

"That's true. I did not expect it at all. "

The next day, she went to her friend's house and told her about her troubles.

Mrs. Foretstier immediately went to her big closet with a mirror, took out a big jewelry box, brought it over and opened it, and said to Mrs. Loisel,

"Choose! Dear. "

The first thing she saw was several bracelets, and then a pearl necklace, a gold cross inlaid with jewels made in Venice, with extremely fine workmanship. She wore these jewels and tried them in the mirror, hesitating and reluctant to take them off and return them to her owner. She kept asking:

"Don't you have anything else?"

"yes. Find it yourself. I don't know what you like? "

Suddenly she found a very beautiful diamond necklace in a black satin box. An excessive desire made her heart jump. Her hands trembled when she took it. She wore it around her neck, outside her clothes, and looked at herself in the mirror and saw God.

Then she was very anxious and asked hesitantly,

"Can you lend me this? I only borrow this one. "

"Of course."

She put her arms around her friend's neck, kissed her warmly, and quickly ran away with the baby.

it's time for the party. Mrs. Loisel is very successful. She is more beautiful than all women, beautiful and charming. She always wears a smile on her face and is almost crazy with happiness. All the men stared at her, asking for her name and asking for an introduction. Everyone in the minister's office will dance with her. The minister also paid attention to her.

She has been intoxicated with joy, thinking nothing but dancing excitedly and crazily. Her beauty triumphed over everything, and her success was full of brilliance. All these people were attentive to themselves, flattering and drooling. The woman thought that the sweetest victory was completely in her hands, and she danced in this happy cloud.

she didn't leave until four o'clock in the morning. Her husband has been asleep in a deserted small living room since twelve o'clock. There are three other gentlemen lying in the living room, and their wives are enjoying themselves.

He was afraid that she would go out and catch cold, so he put the clothes he brought on her shoulders. They were everyday household clothes, and that kind of shabby clothes was very out of proportion to the beautiful dance clothes. She felt this at once, and she was anxious to run out of the door in order not to call attention to the ladies wrapped in luxurious leather clothes next to her.

Loisel still held her back:

"Wait a minute. You'll catch cold outside. I'll call a carriage. "

But she didn't listen to him and quickly walked down the stairs. When they got to the street, there was no taxi there; So they got up and saw the carriage passing in the distance, and they chased and shouted at the driver.

They walked all the way to the Seine, shivering and very disappointed. At last, I found an old carriage that did business at night by the river. This kind of carriage can only be seen after dark in Paris. They are so shabby that they seem to be shy when they come out during the day.

This car has been taking them to Martyrs Street, in front of their home, and they climbed the stairs sadly and went back to their home. As far as she is concerned, it's over. As for him, what he thought was that he should go to the Ministry at ten o'clock.

She took off the clothes that she put on her shoulders, which she took off in front of the big mirror, in order to see herself in glory again. But suddenly she let out a cry. It turns out that the necklace on the neck is missing.

Her husband had already taken off half of his clothes, so he asked,

"What's the matter with you?"

She was so scared that she turned to her husband and said,

"I … I … I lost Mrs. Foretstier's necklace."

He stood up in panic:

"What! ..... What! ..... This is impossible! "

so they searched everywhere in the pleats of skirts, in the pleats of great coats and in their pockets. I can't find it anywhere.

He asked,

"Do you really remember wearing it when you left the dance?"

"Yes, I touched it in the front hall of the Ministry."

"But if it is lost in the street, we should always hear the noise when we fall. Probably fell in the car. "

"yes, it's quite possible. Did you write down the number of the car? "

"no. What about you? You didn't pay attention to the number, either? "

"No."

they looked at me, I looked at you, and looked at you in great confusion. Finally, Loisel got dressed again. He said,

"I'll walk the section we just walked to see if I can find it."

then he left. As for her, she didn't even have the strength to go to bed, so she fell into a chair in her new dress for the party, without making a fire or thinking about anything.

at seven o'clock, my husband came back. He found nothing.

He immediately went to the police station and newspapers and asked them to offer a reward for him. He also went to the car shops that rented cabs. In short, he went to places where there was a little hope.

as for her, she waited all day: she was in a state of shock and fear in the face of this terrible disaster.

Loisel didn't come back until evening, and his face was thin and blue. Nothing came of it. He said,

"I have to write a letter to your friend and tell her that you broke the buckle of the chain and are looking for someone to repair it now. So that we can have time to cope. "

he said that she wrote the letter.

after a week, they have no hope at all.

Loisel was five years older at once. He said,

"I'll have to try to buy a string to compensate her."

the next day, they took the box containing the necklace and went to the jewelry store according to the font size printed in the box. The jeweler checked the accounts and said,

"Madam, I didn't buy this necklace here, only the box was matched here."

So they ran to the jewelry store one by one, looking for a necklace that was the same as that one by memory. The two men were worried and worried about falling ill.

in a shop near the palace, they found a diamond necklace, which looked exactly like what they were looking for. This jewelry was originally worth 41 thousand francs, but if they want it, the store can reduce the price and get rid of it for 36 thousand.

they asked the shopkeeper not to sell it for three days. They also agreed that if the original was found before the end of February, the necklace would be taken back by the shopkeeper at a price of 34 thousand francs.

Loisel has his father at hand.