The Theme Of Greed In The Necklace

Greed to Grief: Maupassant’s Classic Fable Mathilde was a beautiful woman who was born into poverty. She seemed misplaced and had a strong desire to be of a higher status. Due to such matters, she was never satisfied with her life as it was. She yearned for more and sought after beautiful jewels and clothes. Mathidle constantly compared her belongings to those of the upper class women. She dreamed of attaining such treasures for herself. She was entirely unsatisfied with the life she was given. The story of The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant showcases a desperate tale of pride and desire leading to the detrimental turn of one’s own fate. Mathidle always yearned for wealth and social status. In her opinion, she did not have belongings fit for a woman with looks such as her own. She often dreamed of living a better life; a life for the rich. Her desperation for jewels and tapestries, clothing of the finest fabrics, and a social status of the rich ultimately controlled her. Maupassant characterizes Mathidle as blindly selfish when her husband brought her an invitation to the palace. “What do you want me to do with that? … I have no dress, and therefore I …show more content…
Upon losing the necklace she was forced to find a replacement fast so she borrowed what money she could to purchase a replica. She and her husband would spend the following ten years working to pay back their debt. “They dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof” (Maupassant). All the while they had faith that the necklace was a great treasure worth thousands of francs. However, the necklace was not worth more than five hundred francs; it was mere paste. When Mathilde finally admitted what had truly happened to the necklace, her friend was shocked. “Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!”