Human behavior can often be explained through various rationales and schools of thought.
Whenever a person’s behavior seems to appear outside a well-known rationale and school of thought, then their action draws attention.
This is why Rose throwing the necklace off the boat into the ocean draws so much attention. It would be expected that Rose would keep the necklace for herself or her children and grandchildren.
Better yet, Rose would be expected to sell off the necklace and use the money for a cause of her choice. Another option would have been to will the necklace to a museum given its rich history. Instead, she does the unexpected and throws it off the boat leaving the world with the question, why?
About the Necklace in the Movie
The necklace Rose had was created out of a heart-shaped pendant and is fondly known as the heart of the ocean. The diamond on the pendant was a portion of the blue diamond of the crown which was originally worn by Louise the XVI.
After Louise was executed, the diamond was broken to fit in the heart-shaped pendant attached to a necklace. Consequently, the name of the diamond was changed to the heart of the ocean.
It was then bought by Nathan Hockley for his son Caledon.Caledon was in love with Rose and had intended to give her the necklace at a gala where he would also propose to her.
However, at one point, Rose almost jumped off the stern of the titanic, and Caledon felt the need to demonstrate his love to her. He gave her the necklace as a symbol of his love for her.
Though sooner than he had intended, it served the same purpose he had intended. When the titanic got into an accident and most passengers died, Rose managed to survive and she still had the necklace with her.
The necklace was assumed to have been lost in this accident, until when Rose appeared to say she still had it.
Why did rose throw the necklace in the ocean?
After watching the Titanic Movie and reading about Rose, I conclude that she threw the necklace in the ocean because it is consistent with her character. Her character informed her to keep the necklace for so long after the titanic sank and her lover died.
Her character also informed her decision to go all the way to the ship to narrate her version of the titanic rather than do it over the phone or have the crew come to her for the story.
Her character caused her to narrate her story without revealing the necklace and it culminated in her throwing the necklace out of the boat instead of doing a myriad of other things people would suggest she should have done.
Some of the tenants of her character that informed her decision are hard work, loyalty, adventurous, and mysterious. All these come together to inform her decision all the way to this decision that no one seems to understand. What are these tenants of Rose’s character?
Rose was an immigrant in the US after crossing from her homeland through the titanic and being saved after the ship sunk. She needed to get a source of money to survive in this new land.
One of the easiest ways she could have made the money was by selling the necklace, but she did not. This is a testament that she was hard working and was willing to hold on to what she treasured rather than pawn it for survival.
In the same breath, she believed in hard work and did not want anyone to take advantage of the necklace after she had passed on.
To make sure of this, the only solution was to throw it into the ocean, out of reach from anyone who would dream of putting their hands on it and making a fortune out of it. At the time of doing this, the necklace was worth slightly more than $250 million in today’s currency.
If she had not thrown it into the ocean, after her death, or even while alive, people would have wanted to get it and sell it for one reason or the other. Rose however would not have anyone benefit from anything other than hard work, so she decided to toss it into the ocean.
The second tenant of Rose’s character is her loyalty. This is first seen in her relationship with Jack and Cal while on the Titanic. Cal was a rich young man who was madly in love with her and was willing to give her anything she desired.
However, she was in love with Jack who was not as wealthy as Cal. She was loyal to Jack and it is seen as the story on the Titanic unfolds as she consistently shows her love was not for sale, but it was for the man that had impressed her the most and that was Jack.
Her loyalty is the same thing that caused her not to sell the necklace because she felt it did not belong to her. Though Cal had given her the necklace, it was meant for an engagement that never happened, which meant it had not fully become hers.
Selling it or giving it out would mean she is passing on a gift that she had not been given or bought which would be wrong. His character, therefore, dictated that the only remedy to uphold her loyalty was to toss it off the boat into the oblivion of the ocean.
We see the adventurous nature of Rose right from her being on the Titanic on its maiden trip. She was moving into a new land and which further shows how adventurous she is.
While in the boat, she refused to be confined to a man she did not like merely because he had professed his love for her and given her a token of the same.
Instead, she went ahead and had her lover, who was a painter; sketch a picture of her naked. This is a very bold and adventurous move from her.
Clearly, old age did not numb her adventurous instincts as we see her take a trip back into the ocean to tell her story on a research boat that sat right on top of the Titanic’s wreckage.
It, therefore, is not a surprise when her adventurous instinct kicked in and she decided the best way to handle the heart of the sea is to toss it into the same sea that had claimed the lives of her fellow passengers on the Titanic.
It was as if to say, if anyone wanted to own the heart of the sea, they would have to embark on an adventurous journey into the deep sea.
Rose makes mysterious decisions that for most people defy logic and beg explanation. For instance, when pitted with the decision between Cal and Jack, against all odds, she chooses Jack.
Further, when she decides to express her love for Jack, she does not do it in the ordinary fashion of penning a love letter or reciting a poem. Instead, she appears in his room and strips into a kimono while wearing the necklace given by Cal.
She eventually strips off even the kimono and remains with the necklace and Jack paints her. This is a mysterious way to demonstrate your love to another. It is in this same trait of being mysterious that after narrating her story on the titanic, she tosses it off the boat.
Worthy to note, this boat was owned by Brock Lovett who had made a career out of looking for the heart of the sea. Is there a greater way to show a person with a mysterious and adventurous spirit that to fly into the boat of the person looking for a necklace, and then toss that same necklace off his boat? I think not.
Conclusion
It is easy to dismiss Rose as irrational when she throws the necklace off the boat. This necklace was very valuable and had the potential to change her life or the life of anyone who chooses to.
Many have proposed that she should have sold it and used the proceeds for charity. Others have proposed that, at the very least, she should have willed it into a museum and allowed it to be a symbol of the history behind it.
Nonetheless, Rose’s character could not allow her to do any of those things.
She was too courageous to sell the necklace and live off the profits or even leave them to members of her family.
She was too loyal to her lover jack to dispose of the very thing that stood as a symbol of their love for each other.
She was too adventurous to do what a million other people would have done if in similar circumstances.
She was too mysterious for any of us to have anticipated what she would do.
Truly, no one can authoritatively say why she threw it off the boat. Looking at her behavior over time, however, I have conclusively demonstrated that it was consistent with her character.
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Stephanie is a jewelry lover when she was a teenager. Her major was fashion design when she was in college. She is a jewelry designer at SOQ Jewelry and other design companies. Now she is also a writer for our website. She writes a lot of designs&brands posts with very actionable tips.