The irony of life as seen in jewelry

The theme of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Jewels” is that life can be full of irony. I think the author actually went a bit overboard on this topic. Although I did not enjoy less for its excess. Each of the ironies shown in “The Jewelry” reveals how people keep secrets from each other or from themselves, and/or reveals how people ignore a situation that bothers them if they receive enough compensation. That compensation in this story is money.

The plot moved from one irony to the next to reveal any of these characteristics in M. Lantin and/or his first wife. The opening paragraphs reveal how respectable Mr. Lantin’s wife is supposed to be. But even so early in the story, the author states that “the young woman seemed to be the very ideal of that pure and good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future.” That “…it seemed to be…” lets the reader know that the young woman was not the pure woman everyone took her for. This shows that the girl was hiding something, although we don’t find out what that something was until later in the story.

The second irony we run into in this story is the fact that they “…seemed to live in luxury”, and indeed they did. Unbeknownst to M. Lantin, his paychecks were being supplemented by his wife’s lovers. They were paying for their good food and good wine. I think if he had opened his eyes and looked at the household finances; he would have known the money came from somewhere other than his paycheck. In this regard, M. Lantin was being deceived both by himself and by his wife. But why not, he was happy!

And that brings us to our third irony. If Mr. Lantin had not stopped going to the theater with her wife, another man would not have had the opportunity to flirt with her and become her mistress. In all other respects, except in the theater, and then in jewelry, the wife of M. Lantin was devoted to him. In paragraph five, she says that “It would be impossible to conceive of any attention, tenderness, playful caress that she did not lavish on her husband…” she was in love with her as well as loving her husband. She devoted herself to him, except for her time in the theater. So, if M. Lantin had been in the theater with his wife, then his mere presence would have stopped any business, if only because his wife’s attention had been on him or the theater, not on the theater. another man. (Intermission would have been long enough for anyone to do it! Not to mention while Mr. Lantin was at work.)

And then, of course, there is the jewelry itself. The fact that the jewels are real, while she had been acting like they were fake. Even to the point of letting the light catch the crystal and saying, “Now look at them, look how well the job was done. You would wear it like real jewelry,” when he would scold her for wearing the jewelry. to be “adored with her natural beauty and grace” from her. I’m sure she had fun dressing her husband in the jewelry and making fun of him using her lover’s gifts.

Then when she died, and Mr. Lantin found out the jewelry was real. The jewels that the woman’s lovers gave him paid for Mr. Lantin’s debauchery. After realizing that he was rich, M. Lantin completely forgot about his wife’s affairs and deluded himself into thinking that everything was fine as long as he was rich. So much so, that six months after the death of his wife, he remarried a good and upright woman who made his life bitter.

That is the ultimate irony of this story and of life. That we are happier having fun and not worrying about what we do or who we do it with. That we laugh, play and enjoy life to the fullest whenever and wherever we meet. And when we limit ourselves to a certain moral standard with no room for change, understanding or at least the ability to agree to disagree; we end up making our lives and those around us miserable. This is the ultimate irony of life!

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