The False Gems

The two marriages in Guy de Maupassant's short stories "The False Gems" and "The Diamond Necklace" there are many pieces of evidence as to how different the two women are, and how they imagine their lives and make the best or worst out of things.

In "The False Gems" Monsieur Lantin met a young modest, pure and lovely girl. He eventually married her. Madame Lantin took care of their house; she paid the bills, and took real good care of her husband. She made it possible for them to live in some-what of luxury. Madame Lantin goes way beyond her means to make her husband happy. She has made her dreams come true. She lives how she always thought she would. Even after she passes away, she still takes care of her husband. The 'imitation jewelry' she received from men for being their escort makes it possible for her husband to retire and live the rest of his life they had lived all along maybe even better.

However; In "The Diamond Necklace" Mathilde Loisel, a pretty and charming young lady who felt as if she was born to enjoy many of the great delicacies and luxuries of life, married a petty clerk much like the family she had been born into. Since there was no rank for women, "Natural Ingenuity, instinct for what is elegant, a supple mind is their sole hierarchy..." that make the simple women of the people the equals of the greatest of ladies of their time.

Madame Loisel was very unhappy. She was distressed by her home the bareness of the walls, the ragged chairs, and the ugliness of the curtains hanging in the windows. She dreamt of much more luxurious things. She often thought of Oriental tapestries, bronze candelabras, and ancient silk hung throughout the reception halls. She envisioned dainty dinners including shiny silverware, and pretty plates filled with trout or quail. Unlike Madame Lantin she did nothing to provide these things for her and her husband. Everything she thought was of pure imagination, something she could never have. "She had no gowns, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that. She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after."

All- in - all the marriages are different because of the actions and imaginations of the wives. One has an imagination that knows how to make the best out of the situations in her life, and the other has an imagination that will never get her anywhere because it's only in her dreams. In order to make one's self happy one must go out and act upon the life that one wishes to have.