“The greatest Sacrifice is when you sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else” -Anonymous. In the two short stories “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and “The Gift of the Magi” by O.Henry together show the life of two woman living a low class life in a society where caste systems matter and with husbands that truly care about them. Yet they have a short amount of similarities they have many differences that set them apart from one another. Though Mathilde and Della live life’s that showcase their husbands love, their low income life, and their beautiful looks; they have different personalities than some may believe.
To begin, making sacrifices are hard and some may say that people do them in order to achieve a certain goal or accomplishment. In Mathilde and Dellas cases its shown how they also do something with a certain goals in mind but still their sacrifices as well as their accomplishments were far to different. Mathilde lied about the necklace she lost and in order to get out of her sneaky lie she had to take a loan in order to buy a new one, leaving her and her husband in debt for 10 years. “Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty. From the very first she played her part heroically. This fearful debt must be paid off. She would pay it.” (De Maupassant 1).
The result of her lie pulled a great toll on her life as well as her relationship with her husband. They were in debt with no money and their miserable life had lasted for ten years. On the contrary, Della sacrificed her hair which is her most prized possession but she sacrificed it selflessly for her husband. She did it in order to have the money to buy him a nice Christmas present. “ I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present.” (Henry 2). Della sacrificed her hair only to be able to buy her husband something nice. Even with their living situations it is proven time and time again that Della would do anything for her husband, even cut off all of her hair. To conclude, both Della and Mathilde made sacrifices to accomplish something,yet, there were differences on how their choices affected their life.
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Following that, it is clear that Mathilde and Della both have husbands who truly love them but how they reciprocate their husbands love is different. Mathilde feels she could have married better and she doesn’t reciprocate her husband’s selfishness.“ ….but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her; for women have no caste or class ….” (De Maupassant 1). This clearly states that Mathilde did not want to live such a low class life. On the other hand, Della loves her husband and does anything to please him. “It’ll grow out again — you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice — what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.” (Henry 2) This proves that Della was so worried that her husband wouldn’t be happy with her hair cut and that he might think it looks bad, even though she cut it for him. In all,Mathilde and Della both have husbands who love them but how they care for them in return their care is different.
Equally important, Mathilde and Della both are considered beautiful woman yet they lose their beauty. Being that Mathilde is so selfish and her 10 year mistake had left her with a drawn out look, considering how much work she had to do when she was in debt. “ She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans.” ( De Maupassant 1) This is showing how she worked so hard to live such a ruling life that she ultimately lost everything including her looks.
As for Della she lost her looks as well yet the looks that she lost were only gone because she gave them up as sacrifice to make her husband happy. “The other was Della’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.” (Henry 2) Thus proving that she took so much pride in her hair that she believed it was more beautiful than expensive jewelry. It was her pride that she cut; leaving her less stunning and more average because the one thing that made her stand out was her long hair. In all, the two of them were beautiful because of the things that made them stand out and because of the decisions they made changing their look.
Mathilde and Della live a life of low class, caring husbands, and looks that set them apart from others. Della shows repetitively her love for her husband who she endlessly cares for and her selfish behavior that proves she doesn’t care how much money they have just that they are together and she tries her best to please him. Mathilde on the other hand proves her selfishness and her bratty personality and yet she put her and her husband in debt for 10 years because she had all to do but lie about her mistake. Yet, people are fond to believe mistakes bring out the best in people and even if she doesn’t look the best and she is still married to a man of low caste maybe he has learned her lesson. In all, the two characters have many differences; yet, they also share a lot in common.
