Della Young and Mathilde Loisel are both charming women who are in similar economic situations. They are poor couples who when faced with a challenge, go about it in contrasting forms. Della, as described in The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, sacrificed her only prized possession for a simple Christmas gift for her loving husband. The Necklace a story written by Guy De Maupassant, describes a mindset, in which Mathilde, a woman who wished for palaces and fine dresses, spent all of her husband’s hard-earned money for one night’s worth of luxury and pleasure. Without a doubt, Della and Mathilde are very contradictory characters despite having the same environment to live with. Throughout, there are various comparisons between the two main characters of the texts, The Gift of the Magi and The Necklace, in which both Della and Mathilde encountered the bitter reality of a frugal lifestyle, but dealt with what they experienced differently.
To begin with, Della from The Gift of Magi is characterized as a giver because she sacrificed her most prized procession in order to please her beloved husband. Although the fact that Della and her husband have financial issues, they put in effort to make sure that they are both content. As stated in the text, “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all” (Henry, 1). With the holiday season around the corner, Della had to count every single penny she had in her saving to buy her husband a small gift as a sign of gratitude and love for him.
Of course, she didn’t have the money for it. Della, in turn, spares her most valuable possession to earn some more money. This can be seen in page 107 when Della states “…nobody could ever count my love for you…” (Henry, 133). This excerpt from the passage demonstrates Della’s character by illustrating how selfless she is. She gave up something that held emotional value to her and she did so without any evident hesitation. The affection presented throughout the passage between Della and her husband truly presents the unconditional love that holds a significant place in her heart. In summation, Della is faced with a great deal of poverty and obstacles, but she values the happiness of her husband over her own.
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On the contrary, Madame Loisel from The Necklace desires nothing other than the luxurious and extravagant life the wealthy live. Due to her selfishness, she spends the majority of her life paying debts for a “diamond necklace” she had lost. Instead of owning up to her mistakes, she missed out on the life she could’ve been living without paying loans. To her disappointment, the alleged diamond necklace she had lost was made of paste, meaning that the hard work could’ve been avoided. As noted in the text, “…you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine… Why, at most it was only worth five hundred francs!” (Maupassant, 223). This excerpt indicates how Madame Loisel spent years of hard work to pay back loans after loans to only find out it was all for nothing. If she hadn’t been so self-centered, she could’ve refrained from this situation in the first place. Alternatively, she ended up “…heavy, rough, harsh like one the poor” (Maupassant, 233). Certainly, this displays how greedy and materialistic Madame Loisel is by taking things she has for granted. In the end, she was exactly what she resented so deeply: worn-out and still undeniably poor.
As previously mentioned, Della from The Gift of Magi was depicted as a caring character who put her husband’s happiness before her own. She appreciates the little things she has on life while providing for her husband as well. Unlike Della’s selfless personality, Madame Loisel from The Necklace is a self-centered woman who cherishes wealth and the materialistic aspects of life. Instead of owning up to her actions, she didn’t tell Mrs. Forestier that she lost her diamond necklace. She puts an effort to take matters into her own hands and maintain her ideal lifestyle.
This indeed doesn’t go as planned when Madame Loisel has to put in work and labor to pay back the loans she owed. Subsequently, she lived the lifestyle that she dreaded. Although their actions differentiate, they have a lot more in common than they are credited. They both have loving husbands who sacrificed something to help their wives out in order to make them content. They also have low economic status in society and are forced to tackle the obstacles thrown their way. Overall, Della seems to be the stronger out of the two. Della sacrifices what holds sentimental value in her heart to give her husband a gift, and she does so with no evident hesitation nor regret. She doesn’t lie and throw tantrums but, rather, works her way through her situations.
In culmination, although they do face similar financial issues, they differentiate in how they handle these situations. Della is grateful for her husband who loves her unconditionally. Whilst Madame Loisel cherishes the materialistic things in life and flaunting her expensive item any chance she gets. She doesn’t appreciate the sentimental things in life. Both of these characters show how one should be grateful for what they truly have. It’s not the monetary things in life or how important one is in society; but rather, the emotional things we hold dear in our hearts, the things that can’t be bought with any money.
