LITERARY ELEMENTS: THE NECKLACE

CHARACTERS

• Madame Mathilde Loisel- wants to be rich, married to minor clerk (middle class), selfish, pretty, looked like she could have fit into the upper class

• Monsieur Loisel- clerk, treated his wife well (gave her money to buy a dress, invitation to the ball), loves her

• Madame Forestier- Mathilde’s friend, upper class, owner of the necklace

INFERENCE

• Inference- any process of reasoning from a premise to a conclusion• Example: Sally arrives at home at 4:30 and knows that

her mother does not get off of work until 5. Sally also sees that the lights are off in their house. Sally can infer that her mother is not yet home.

• Susannah's co-worker took off the day before and comes in with a sunburn. Susannah can infer that her co-worker was at the local beach.

WHAT CAN YOU INFER…

• About Madame Loisel’s values?• The dress, the necklace, the lies, the debt• Money, jewelry, being seen as upper class= material things

more than family

• About Monsieur Loisel’s feelings towards his wife?• He loves her- works hard for her, keeps her secret, gets

tickets to the ball, pays for nice things when he can• He values his wife’s happiness

• About Madame Forestier?• Money, things, also friendship because she lets Mathilde

borrow the necklace• OR- doesn’t value friendship because it was a fake necklace

CHARACTER MOTIVATION

• Motivation- why we act the way we do; a reason to act in a certain way• What was Mathilde’s motivation for• Weeping when she received the invitation?• Borrowing jewelry instead of wearing flowers?

• What was Monsieur Loisel’s motivation for• Advising his wife not to tell her friend about the lost

necklace?

IRONY- WHICH KIND IS SEEN IN “THE NECKLACE”?

• Review: Irony- a special kind of contrast between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.• Three kinds:• Verbal- you knowingly say something that means

something different• Dramatic- understood by the audience but not the

characters• Situational- your actions have the opposite effect

intended