In the short story, The Necklace, a greedy and selfish woman brings financial ruin upon herself and her husband. They go from a comfortable lifestyle in a slightly shabby apartment to an impoverished existence in an attic apartment. Mathilde Loisel was born to a lower middle class French family, but she wished that she could have of noble birth. Her longing for a better life caused her great grief. When she could have been happy with her situation in life, instead she would dream of a grand home and wealthy, dignified friends. When she borrowed a diamond necklace from a friend and lost it at an elegant party, she brought downfall to her husband and herself. Not only does Guy de Maupassant use the necklace as a vehicle for the hard times that the Loisels had to endure, but he also uses it as a symbol to teach a lesson about the repercussions of greed, ruin, and regret. To begin with, Maupassant displayed the necklace as everything that Mathilde had ever desired. The necklace was superband [Mathildes] heart throbbed with desire for it (Maupassant 6). Mathilde had her choice of bracelets,a pearl necklace,a Venetian cross of finely worked gold and gems (Maupassant 6), but instead she chose to take the most expensive and finest looking bauble in her friends jewel box. The diamond necklace revealed to the reader that Mathilde no only wanted the finest things, but she also wanted the most luxurious and expensive ones to be found. While she could have had the most beautiful jewels, her hunger for glamour and her desire to appear wealthy caused her to choose a simple diamond necklace. After she lost it at the party, she could not go to her friend and explain the loss. Instead, she and her husband conspired to purchase a new one to replace it. If Mathilde had been happy with her new and beautiful dress instead of desiring for the finer things in life, then she would not have brought ruination upon herself and her husband.Maupassan...
