‘The Necklace’ and ‘The Red Room’ Comparative Essay Example
The purpose of this essay is to examine and draw comparisons between two fictional short stories: 'The Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant and 'The Red Room' by H. Our analysis will delve into the commonalities and distinctions present in these literary works.
G. Wells narrates the events of Guy de Maupassant's short story 'The Necklace', where Monsieur Loisel and his wife, who belong to a lower social class, are invited to attend a party hosted by individuals from higher classes such as "The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Rampouneau". The story depicts their encounters at the said event.
Loisel and his wife, Madame Loisel, were invited by the Ministry to spend the evening at the palace on Monday, January 18. Although Madame Loisel was very pretty, she came from a lower class family and had no dowry or m
...eans of gaining recognition. Consequently, she felt unhappy and unsatisfied because she couldn't showcase her beauty or blend in with her peers. When Loisel informed her about the invitation, he hoped that it would excite her.
Despite her husband's hopes, Loisel was not delighted. Instead, she threw the invitation on the table with annoyance and murmured that she had nothing to wear. With an irritated eye, she declared to her husband, "What do you want me to put on my back to go there?" It seems that Loisel is ashamed of her possessions. As the day of the party approached, she appeared sad, restless, and anxious. However, her dress was ready.
Loisel is discontented because she lacks jewelry to wear, expressing that she's bothered by the absence of any gems or stones available. Her spouse suggests as a
final attempt that she reach out to an old acquaintance to attend the event. M. Loisel contacts a trustworthy, affluent acquaintance named Madame Forester with the hope of borrowing a piece of jewelry, urging, "Find your friend, Mme."
When it comes to trust, we see two different attitudes. In one example, a woman named Forester is trusted enough to borrow jewelry from. The recipient of her generosity exclaims with joy. Meanwhile, in "The Red Room," a skeptic doubts that any ghost could scare him despite others insisting otherwise.
'This indicates that he is incredibly valiant, brave, and daring. However, some believe his bravery crosses the line. "It's up to you," the man responded repeatedly. I inferred that the elderly individuals sharing the space with the man perceive him as excessively self-assured.
The protagonist, who is 28 years old, is confident in his ability to overcome any fearsome challenge, such as conquering the enigmatic 'Red Room.' Despite the room's mysterious and shrouded past, the determined character embarks on his mission to uncover any supernatural or eerie elements within it. Despite the old individuals urging him against it, he remains steadfast in pursuing his objective. The author of this tale is H. G.
The characters featured in 'The Red Room' are carefully detailed by Wells, as evidenced by his descriptions such as "second old man entered, more bent, more wrinkled, more aged even than the first" and "his eyes were covered by a shade, and his lower lip, half averted, hung pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth." This attention to detail serves to reinforce the story's ghostly theme. Both authors also use various linguistic devices such as repetition and
personification. In particular, repetition is utilized extensively in 'The Red Room.'
The repetition of "your own choosing" by each character on the first page of the story suggests intentional creation of suspense and speculation about the presence of something in the room. H. G. Wells incorporates repetition again on a different page, conveying that the old people belong to a different and older age, where spirituality was different from our current age, implying that they are non-human creatures.
Repetition is utilized by both G. Wells and Guy de Maupassant in their works. Wells employs it to generate reader curiosity about the contents of a room and to build anticipation by describing the appearance of older people in an "older age." Maupassant, on the other hand, amplifies the unhappiness of Madame Loisels with repeated use of the word "unhappy." Additionally, personified verbs are employed by both authors to create a sense of suspense in the reader. The idea of something lurking in a room is suggested when Wells uses a personified verb to describe a black shadow that "sprang back to its place" on page 47.
Both stories employ literary techniques to convey a sense of the supernatural. In "The Red Room," the personified verb "wink" implies the mirror has a ghostly presence. Meanwhile, "The Necklace" uses personified verbs like "pounce" to suggest that poverty is a looming threat that drives Madame Loisel's tragic fate. Additionally, fear is emphasized in both stories through the use of capitalization.
In 'The Red Room', repetition is used in conjunction with the statement, 'There is fear in that room of hers - black fear, and there will be - so long
as this house of sins endures'. This emphasizes the final message that committing a sin allows one's fear to take over. The moral message of 'The Necklace' is that material possessions are often valued too highly and are ultimately worthless. Envy, lies, and deception are sinful and leave one morally bankrupt. These Victorian values highlight the importance of punishing those who commit sins. In contrast, 'The Red Room' reflects Victorian values by depicting superstition as frowned upon. The protagonist's active search for the supernatural and subsequent loss of rationality suggests that he is responsible for his own downfall. Allowing pride such power is a sin, which can be both literally and metaphorically damaging.
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