The short story, ‘The Jewelry’, by Guy De Maupassant examines the theme of life being full of irony and never knowing what you are really dealing with. One may perceive something and think it is amazing until they see the reality of the situation and then truly understand what they were dealing with and how the person or thing they thought were something turned to be something completely different. The short story is filled with many ironic situations. Irony is the difference between what the reader expects to happen and what actually happens in the story. The three types of irony are situational, verbal, and dramatic. Situational irony s when something happens in the story that is not supposed to happen. Verbal irony is when something is said but should be interpreted literally. It has a different meaning than what is said. Dramatic irony is when the reader knows something is going to happen but the characters do not know.
The plot of the story was filled with irony and helped the reader develop characteristics of the characters that were not mentioned. In the beginning of the story, the author lets the reader how any man would like her. She is beautiful, respectful, charming, and “the young girl seemed to be the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future”. When the author says ‘seemed to be’, it reveals that is not really who she is and is hiding something. When someone says ‘seemed to be’ it doesn’t mean that she is what they are saying she is. It means that she is putting up a persona to show the people the noble side of her when in reality she is something completely different. She is hiding something from everyone and it is not until the end of the story in which it is revealed what she really is hiding.
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The next irony is that they ‘seemed to live in luxury’ which they did because of Lantin’s wife income. It mentions in the story that “she ruled his home with an economy so adroit that they really seemed to live in luxury”. M. Lantin never questioned where she was getting all the money from since he only made “3,500 francs a year” and there was no way he could have paid for all the “false jewelry” that she had. He was happy and content with his life. He has all he ever wanted, a beautiful wife and a happy life. His pride and happiness made him oblivious to what was actually happening with his wife. His wife had a lover who was paying for her jewelry which turned out to be real, food, and wine. If he were to pay more attention to her and notice what she was doing and where she was coming from, he would have noticed that something was off and that she had a potential lover, but instead he let his happiness and pride take over which led to him being cheated on.
When thinking about how she had the time to meet up with her other lovers it becomes obvious from the beginning of the story. M. Lantin said that she had a “love of the theater, and [a] passion for false jewelry”. He did not like going to the theater and would tell her to go with her lady-friends but she would refuse until one day she finally listened to him and went without him. This gave her the opportunity to interact with other men without him being there or seeing her. If he would have gone with her to the theatre, she wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk to other men and meet her new lover who was buying her all the jewelry she had. It is mentioned that “it would be impossible to conceive of any attentions, tenderness’s, playful caresses which she did not lavish upon her husband…”, meaning that she did not give her husband attention either and instead gave it to someone else. She loved her husband but at the same time loves someone else too.
Lastly, one of the biggest ironies of the story was the fact that the jewelry was real. The husband used to be upset with her and wouldn’t want her to wear the “fake” jewelry and wanted her to be “adorned with one's natural beauty and grace”. It turned out all the jewelry she was wearing is real and it wasn’t her husband that gave it to her. After he sold all the jewelry after his wife died, he did not care at all about his wife’s affair and only cared about how rich he was now. He wanted to tell everyone about it, even the people he didn't know. He never liked going to the theater but he went by himself for the first time and it was the first time that he had gone “without feeling bored by the performance” and shortly after that he got married. It’s ironic because when his wife went by herself, she found a lover and when he went by himself, he also found a lover and got married after six months. His second wife was virtuous and upstanding and made his life miserable, but his former wife was not virtuous and made him very happy.
All in all, the irony in this short story allows the reader to fully understand the characteristics and without it the story would be missing lots of key details about the characters. It shows that life is not always about seeing the good in people you love. In order to completely understand someone, you need to also examine their flaws and realize they are not perfect, because no one is perfect. If you let your happiness and pride to make you insensible to ones flaws, you may end up like M. Lantin and not know what your wife is doing when she is not with you.
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