Saturday, August 20, 2011

What is Mathilde's problem in "The Necklace"?

Mathilde has several problems in the story, but all of them stem from her dis-contentedness with her station in life. She desires to be wealthy, beautiful, admired, and envied. She believes that she was meant to be these things and that somehow, somewhere along the way a mistake was made. She is not happy with anything in her life and her life is not meager by any means. She has a maid, but not enough. She has a house, but it's not fancy. She doesn't work, but she doesn't attend social functions. She has a husband, but he isn't good enough.

Because of her attitude toward her place in life she manages to get a fine gown and begs her husband for jewelry to match. He suggests she borrow and she borrows a "diamond" necklace from her rich friend Mme. Forestier. Upon losing the necklace Mathilde's pride will not admit the fact to her friend and she and her husband go into debt for 10 years so that they can replace what they thought was a pricey necklace. She becomes poor, she drops several stations in life. She works, she loses what beauty she had, she lives a life of poverty. When she meets Mme. Forestier on the street she tells her how the necklace changed her life and Mme. Forestier reveals to her that the necklace was a fake. She learned her lesson the hard way!

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