Group-1
Formalis approach
Title of the literary piece
~The necklace~
SETTING
•Place: Paris, France (mostly the Loisel apartment and high-society locations)
•Time: Late 19th century
•Mood/Atmosphere: At first hopeful and glamorous; later gloomy, ironic, and tragic
PLOT
•Exposition: Mathilde Loisel is introduced as a beautiful but unhappy woman who dreams of wealth and luxury.
•Rising Action: Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from Madame Forestier to wear to a fancy ball.
•Climax: Mathilde discovers that the necklace is lost after the ball.
•Falling Action: The Loisels replace the necklace with an expensive one and live in poverty for ten years to pay the debt.Denouement.
•Resolution: Mathilde learns that the original necklace was only an imitation and worth very little.
CONFLICT
•External Conflict: Mathilde vs. society (her desire for wealth and social status)
•Internal Conflict: Mathilde’s dissatisfaction and pride versus her actual poor life
POINT OF VIEW
•Third-person limited (focused mainly on Mathilde’s thoughts and feelings)
CHARACTERS CHARACTERIZATION
•Protagonist: Mathilde Loisel – proud, materialistic, and discontented
•Antagonist: Mathilde’s own pride and desire for social status (also fate/society)
THEME
•The danger of pride and vanity
•Appearance vs. reality
•The consequences of dishonesty
•Social class and materialism