Dishonesty and greediness are two words that most people encounter at some point in their lives, and Mathilde comes face to face with both of them, and she suffers the consequences of her actions. In the short story, “The Diamond Necklace”, a woman learns that honesty is the best policy, and that greediness can cause many unnecessary troubles.
This fable unfolds with a thorough characterization of its main character, Mathilde Loisel. Mathilde is beautiful and charming, but was born into a family of clerks and married a clerk as well, and the thing she desires most is to be wealthy. In hopes of pleasing his wife, Mathilde’s husband arrives home from work with an invitation to an exclusive, elegant ball, thrown by the Minister of Education. Thinking
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Mathilde has to learn the hard way that greediness does not result in good outcomes. She also learns that honesty is always the best policy, and with these lessons she has to go through the consequences of her actions. Along with being greedy and dishonest, Mathilde is also very ungrateful for all of the hard work that her husband has put in to support her. “Hard work doesn’t build character for her; it signifies a lack of power and status on the part of the worker.” (Miller) The fact that her husband is simply a lowly clerk is very bothersome to Mathilde, even though he is a very hardworking man with great character. No matter how much he cared for her the way a husband should, she was never happy. “He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought to go home in, modest garments of every-day life, the poverty of which was out of keeping with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this, and wanted to fly so as not to be noticed by the other women, who were wrapping themselves up in rich furs.”