The Necklace

Characters: Mathilde Loisel sign meanings: ** => scene

Monsieur Loisel () => actions
Madame Forestier [] => For the actors and

(Michael) Narrator: Mathilde was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as if by an error of fate,
into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of becoming known, understood,
loved or wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and so she let herself be married to a minor official at
the Ministry of Education.
*in a dimly lit room Mathilde is sitting daydreaming*
(Elizabeth) Mathilde (sigh): I wish I was in a mansion with various types of elegant furniture, and luxurious
clothes.
(Crisper) Narrator: Mathilde had no dresses, no jewels, nothing; and these were the only things she loved. She
felt she was made for them alone. She wanted so much to charm, to be envied, to be desired and sought after.

(George) Narrator: She had a rich friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, whom she no longer wanted
to visit because she suffered so much when she came home. For whole days afterwards she would weep
with sorrow, regret, despair and misery. One day M. Loisel opens the door looking very happy, holding a
large envelope in his hand and gives it to his wife. And the letter says.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Rampouneau request the pleasure of
M. and Mme. Loisel's company at the Ministry, on the evening of Monday January 18th.
(Elizabeth) Mathilde (angry): What do you want me to do with that?
(Michael) Narrator: Her husband was confused as to why she was angry and said.
(Romild) M. Loisel: But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go out, and it will be such a lovely
occasion! I had awful trouble getting it. Every one wants to go; it is very exclusive, and they're not giving many
invitations to clerks. The whole ministry will be there

(She stared at him angrily)

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: And what do you expect me to wear if I go?

(Roa) Narrator: He was stumped, he did not think about that.
(Romild) M. Loisel (stammering): Why, the dress you go to the theatre in. It seems very nice to me-
(Mathilde suddenly started crying making Loisel stop)

(Romild) M. Loisel (stuttering): What’s the matter?

(Mathilde stood up wiping her wet cheeks)
(Mathilde replies calmly)

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Nothing. Only I have no dress and I can’t go to this party. Give your invitation to a
friend whose wife has better clothes than I do.

(Roa) Narrator: Loisel was deeply saddened by this and said

(Romild) M. Loisel: Let’s see, Mathilde. How much would a suitable dress cost, one which you could use
again on other occasions, something very simple?

(Aleck) Narrator: Mathilda starts calculating the cost that won’t immediately get refused and says
hesitantly

(Elizabeth) Mathilde (Hesitant): I don’t know exactly, but I think I could do it with four hundred francs.
(Crisper) Narrator: Monsieur looked pale, he had been saving that exact amount to buy a gun and treat
himself to a hunting trip the following summer, in the country near Nanterre, with a few friends who went
lark-shooting there on Sundays, but he said

(Romild) M. Loisel (smiles): Very well, I can give you four hundred francs. But try and get a really beautiful
dress.

(Aleck) Narrator: The next day Mathilde is wearing a beautiful dress in front of a mirror looking sad and
anxious, the day of the party drew near and her husband asked.

(Romild) M. Loisel: What’s the matter? You’ve been acting strange these last three days.
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: I’m upset that I have no jewels, not a single stone to wear. I will look cheap. I would
almost rather not go to the party.

(Romild) M. Loisel: You could wear flowers, they are very fashionable at this time of year. For ten francs
you could get two or three magnificent roses.

(Roa) Narrator: She wasn’t convinced by this and said.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde (sad): No, there is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot
of rich women,.

(Romild) M. Loisel (pinching his nose while saying): How stupid are you! Go and see your friend Madame
Forestier and ask her to lend you some jewels. You know her well enough for that.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde (says happily): Of course. I had not thought of that.

(Crisper) Narrator: The next day she went to her friends house and told her of her distress. Madame
Forestier walked to a mirrored wardrobe, taking out a large box, bringing it back, and opening it and said.

(Paul) Forestier: Choose, my dear

(Mathilde is looking and trying different fine jewelry)

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: You have nothing else?

(Paul) Forestier: Why, yes. But I don’t know what you like.
(George) Narrator: Suddenly she discovered a black satin box containing a superb diamond necklace. She
starts walking slowly and took the necklace with trembling hands. She fastened it around her neck, over
her high- necked dress, and stood lost in ecstasy as she looked at herself.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Would you lend me this, just this?

(Paul) Forestier: Why, yes, of course.
(Mathilde hugged her friend tightly, then left with the treasure)
(Michael) Narrator 1: The day of the party arrived. Madame Loisel was a success. She was prettier than all
the other women, elegant, gracious, smiling, and full of joy. All the men stared at her, asked her name, tried
to be introduced. All the cabinet officials wanted to waltz with her. The minister noticed her.

Talk and act at the same time :[Mathilde is dancing wildly, interacting with the other characters in the
ball and showing of her beauty to the others.

(Roa) Narrator: She danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of
her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness, made up of all this respect, all this
admiration, all these awakened desires, of that sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman's heart. ]

(Michael) Narrator 2:She left at about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been dozing since
midnight in a little deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were having a good time.
He threw over her shoulders the clothes he had brought for her to go outside in, the modest clothes of an
ordinary life, whose poverty contrasted sharply with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wanted
to run away, so she wouldn't be noticed by the other women who were wrapping themselves in expensive
furs. But Loisel held her back

(Romild) M. Loisel: Wait a moment, you’ll catch a cold outside. I’ll go and find a cab.
(George) Narrator 1: But she would not listen to him, and ran down the stairs. When they were finally in
the street, they could not find a cab, and began to look for one, shouting at the cabmen they saw passing in
the distance. They walked down toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. At last they found on the
quay one of those old night cabs that one sees in Paris only after dark, as if they were ashamed to show
their shabbiness during the day.

(Aleck) Narrator 2: They were dropped off at their door in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly walked up the
steps to their apartment. It was all over, for her. And he was remembering that he had to be back at his
office at ten o'clock. In front of the mirror, she took off the clothes around her shoulders, taking a final look
at herself in all her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace round her neck!

(Romild) M. Loisel: What’s the matter?

(Crisper) Narrator: He asked her already half undressed
(Elizabeth) Mathilde (stuttering) : I no longer have Madame Forestier’s Necklace.
(George) Narrator: Loisel stood up distraught.
(Romild) M. Loisel: What! … How! … That’s impossible!
[look in the folds of the dress, in the folds of the cloak, in the pockets, everywhere]

(Romild) M. Loisel: Are you sure you still had it on when you left the ball?
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Yes. I touched it in the hall at the Ministry.
(Romild) M. Loisel: But if you had lost it in the street we would have heard it fall. It must be in the cab.
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Yes. That’s probably it. Did you take his number?
(Romild) M. Loisel: No. And you, didn’t you notice it?
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: No.
(Aleck) Narrator: They stared at each other, stunned … At last M. Loisel put his clothes on again and said
(Romild) M. Loisel: I’m going back, over the whole route we walked, see if I can find it.
(Roa) Narrator: And like that he left. She remained in her ball dress all evening, without the strength to go
to bed, sitting on a chair, with no fire, her mind blank. Loisel came back at about seven o’ clock. He had
found nothing. He then went to the police, to the newspapers to offer a reward, to the cab companies,
everywhere the tiniest glimmer of hope led him.

(Aleck) Narrator: She waited all day, in the same state of blank despair from before this frightful disaster.
Loisel returned in the evening, a hollow, pale figure; he had found nothing. They decided to write a letter
saying they have broken the clasp of her necklace and having it mended to give them some time. But after
one week of not finding the necklace, they began lost hope of ever finding it. So they decided to replace
the jewel.

(Crisper) Narrator: The next day they took the box which held it, and went to the jeweler whose name
they found inside. But the jeweler said it was not him who sold the necklace and he must have simply
supplied the case. And so the couple went from jeweler to jeweler, looking for a necklace like the other
one, consulting their memories, reaching a shop at the Palais Royal with a string of diamond which seemed
to be exactly what they were looking for. They looked at the price and it was worth forty thousand francs,
but they could have it for thirty-six thousand.

(Michael) Narrator: And so they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made an
arrangement that he would take it back for thirty-four thousand francs if the other necklace was found
before the end of February.

(George) Narrator: “I have eighteen thousand francs which my father left for me. I’ll borrow the rest” He
thought. And he did borrow, asking for a thousand francs from one man, five hundred from another, five
louis here, three louis there. He gave notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers, with every type
of money-lender.

(Michael) Narrator: He compromised the rest of his life, risked signing notes without knowing if he could
ever honor them, and, terrified by the anguish still to come, by the black misery about to fall on him, by the
prospect of every physical privation and every moral torture he was about to suffer, he went to get the new
necklace, and laid down on the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs.
When Madame Loisel took the necklace back, Madame Forestier said coldly

(Paul) Forestier (coldly): You should have returned it sooner, I might have needed it.
(Crisper) Narrator: She was relieved that her friend did not open the case. If she had detected the
substitution, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Would she have taken her for a
thief? These thought’s raced through her mind.

(Aleck) Narrator 1: From then on, Madame Loisel knew the horrible life of the very poor. But she played
her part heroically. The dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their maid; they
changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof.

(Roa) Narrator 2: She came to know the drudgery of housework, the odious labors of the kitchen. She
washed the dishes, staining her rosy nails on greasy pots and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty
linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she hung to dry on a line; she carried the garbage down to the
street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. And, dressed
like a commoner, she went to the fruiterer's, the grocer's, the butcher's, her basket on her arm, bargaining,
insulted, fighting over every miserable sou.
(George) Narrator 1: Each month they had to pay some notes, renew others, get more time.
Her husband worked every evening, doing accounts for a tradesman, and often, late into the night, he sat
copying a manuscript at five sous a page. And this life lasted ten years. At the end of ten years they had
paid off everything, everything, at usurer's rates and with the accumulations of compound interest.

(Roa) Narrator 2: Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become strong, hard and rough like all women
of impoverished households. With hair half combed, with skirts awry, and reddened hands, she talked
loudly as she washed the floor with great swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the
office, she sat down near the window and thought of that evening at the ball so long ago, when she had
been so beautiful and so admired. What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who
knows, who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed for one to be ruined or saved!

(Michael) Narrator 1: One Sunday, as she was walking in the Champs Élysées to refresh herself after the
week's work, suddenly she saw a woman walking with a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still
beautiful, still charming.
Madame Loisel felt emotional. Should she speak to her? Yes, of course. And now that she had paid, she
would tell her all. Why not? And so she walked up to her and said.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Good morning, Jeanne.

(Aleck) Narrator: Forestier was shocked to be addressed so familiarly by this common woman as she did
not recognize her.

(Paul) Forestier (stammering): But – madame – I don’t know. You must have made a mistake.
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: No, I am Mathilde Loisel.
(George) Narrator: She uttered a cry as the realization hit her.
(Paul) Forestier: Oh! … my poor Mathilde, how you’ve changed! …
(Elizabeth) Mathilde Yes, I have had some hard times since I last saw you, and many miseries … and all
because of you!

(Paul) Forestier: Me? How can that be?

(Crisper) Narrator: She was shocked to hear those words as she could hear the years of pain in her friends
voice.

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: You remember that diamond necklace that you lent me to wear to the Ministry
party?

(Paul) Forestier: Yes. Well?

(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Well, I lost it.
(Paul) Forestier: What do you mean? You brought it back.
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it.
It wasn't easy for us, we had very little. But at last it is over, and I am very glad.

(Roa) Narrator: She was stunned, taking in the information being said to her.
(Paul) Forestier: You say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?
(Elizabeth) Mathilde: Yes; you didn’t notice then? They were very similar.
(Crisper) Narrator: She took both her hands while crying and said.
(Paul) Forestier: Oh, my poor Mathilde! Mine was an imitation! It was worth five hundred francs at most!
…
END