Kenrik Ng

IB-A, SL

Comparison of character traits between Oedipus from Oedipus the King and
Mme. Loisel from the Necklace

Sophocles’ play Oedipus the King and Guy de Maupassant ‘s story of The

Necklace are two stories in which the main characters are proud, yet in the end,

transform into their true selves. Oedipus, king of Thebes, tries to hunt down the

murderer of his father and because of it, even accused his friend and a prophet for

the killing. At the end of the story, he learned that it was he who killed his own

father so he stabbed his own eyes and saw the truth. Mme. Loisel is similar to

Oedipus in that she always ambitions herself in what seems almost impossible to

happen, her becoming rich. When she realized that she had lost the necklace her

friend had trusted her with, she refuses to let go of her pride and paid the price.

After years of hard work, she became an entirely new person by being susceptible to

simplicity.

Oedipus is a proud man. His words are confident and strong. He stands tall all

the time and his people look up to him. He knows his value to the people of Thebes,

especially after solving the riddle of the Sphinx. The pride in his heart fueled his

search for the truth of the murder of his father, King Laius and because of his pride,

it leads him to the truth, which is his downfall. By forcing the search, he delivered

those he cared about to unknown and unforeseen fates of their own. After realizing

the truth, he blinded himself from the physical world but because of his “blindness”,
he sees the truth. Before, when he still had eyes, the prophet Tiresias characterized

Oedipus as “blind” because he refused to see the truth right in front of him.

Mme. Loisel is very materialistic woman. At the start of the story she is

unhappy with the luxuries she already has. She always dreamt of having things

which were nearly impossible for her to have. “She dreams of great drawing rooms

hung with old silks, of fine furniture filled with priceless curios, and of small stylish,

scented sitting rooms just right for the four o’clock chat with intimate friends, with

distinguished and sought-after men whose attention all women longed for” (The

Necklace, p.1). Another thing to point out was that she also wanted all the attention

to herself. That was why she did not want to go to the party, because she doesn’t

have a good dress to wear. She also borrowed a necklace from a friend, which she

later lost. In losing the necklace, she could have just ended the problem by telling

her friend that she had lost it, but because of her pride, she did not and had to work

towards buying a new one. After doing dirty work for 10 years, she changed. She

was no longer the woman who sought after material things and dreamt of others’

attention. Now, she is simple and faces the reality that her life is really like this.

In conclusion, both Oedipus and Mme. Loisel have changed. Not only

physically, but mentally as well. Though both of them have changed, they cannot

change the past nor what they have done. As the saying goes, “Yesterday is history,

tomorrow is a mystery”, what they have done will forever be scarred in their
legacies but they can try to improve their images in the future and because of their

changes, it makes it relatively easier for them to do so.