The central conflict of ‘The Necklace’ revolves around the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, and her internal struggle between her desires and her reality. Mathilde is a woman who longs for a life of luxury and wealth, feeling that she deserves a more glamorous existence than what her modest circumstances provide.
This conflict is primarily characterized by her feelings of envy and dissatisfaction, which lead her to borrow a necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, in order to appear affluent at a high-society ball. When she loses the necklace, Mathilde’s life takes a dramatic turn as she and her husband enter a decade-long struggle to repay the debt incurred to replace it. This external conflict with her own choices and their consequences ultimately highlights themes of vanity, pride, and the harsh realities of life.
In summary, the conflict in ‘The Necklace’ is both internal, as Mathilde grapples with her desires for a more luxurious life, and external, as she faces the repercussions of her actions after trying to live beyond her means. Maupassant expertly illustrates how this conflict leads to Mathilde’s tragic realization about the true value of life and material possessions.