[Opinion] Necklace

Loisel, the main character of the short story ‘‘The Necklace’’, by French author Guy de Maupassant, is a lady who nowadays would be considered “high maintenance.” Her husband is a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education in Paris, barely managing to afford her luxuries. One day, when her husband comes home with an invitation for the both of them from the Minister, his news does not please her. Instead she throws the invitation card and scolds, “What do you suppose I am to wear at such a party?” Her big eyes are already filling with tears. Her husband bought her a 400-franc gown with money he had saved to buy a shotgun.

As the party drew closer, she ended up borrowing a diamond necklace from her friend. At the party, all the men stared at her and she danced with almost all of them. When she returned home triumphant after the party, however, she realized the necklace was missing. After scraping together some money left to her by her father, and borrowing the rest, it took her ten years to buy the same necklace, worth 36,000 francs, and return it to her friend. However, when she bumped into her friend again, her friend told her, “The necklace you borrowed was a 500-franc fake.”

The short story “Mr. Know-all” by Somerset Maugham tells of a genuine necklace given to her by a man with whom she committed adultery. Aboard a ship, Mr. Kelada meets Mr. and Mrs. Ramsy, who were living apart, one in New York and the other in Kobe, Japan for one year. He interferes by saying that the pearl necklace Mrs. Ramsy is wearing is truly magnificent. When the husband says the necklace is an $18 fake, they bet $100 for it. Mr. Kelada reaffirms the necklace to be genuine and at the moment he tries to open his mouth he sees the lady looking at him with imploring eyes and pretends that the pearls are fakes. The next day, in his cabin, there was a $100 bill and a letter pushed through his door flap.

The pearl necklace, which Byeon Yang-gyun, President’s former chief secretary of policy planning, purportedly gave to Shin Jeong-ah, the fake professor, is a hot topic. Considering that the credit card receipt and warranty card was enclosed with the seized necklace, it is evident that the necklace is genuine. The prosecution regards the necklace as decisive evidence which proves the relationship to be inappropriate. The fact that the Somerset Palace, a serviced residence where Byeon stayed, shares the surname of the author, is too bizarre to be a coincidence. The hotel is 800m away from Shin’s studio apartment. Like the president said, the case reads just like a novel.

Yuk Jeong-su, Editorial Writer, sooya@donga.com