Greed in Guy De Maupassant's "The Necklace"

In "The Necklace," Guy De Maupassant presents a theme in which money-oriented tendencies and greed will never satisfy, but if one allows it to, the retributions from indulgence can teach. Provided that many members of society battle with theses themes in day to day life it is especially preeminent. In the story, Mathilde is working and thinks back, "What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!".

Though Mathilde is working to pay off her debt, she is still reminiscing about the night at the ball. She glorifies it, when she still dreams of it even though this event leads to her downfall and once imminent debt. She doesn't seem to regret anything about the night except her losing the necklace, and she does not understand it is her desire to appear as someone other than herself so much that it nearly consumed her.

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Mathilde fails to learn from her failures despite the privations she has gone through.

This idea is supported when Maupassant writes "Yes, I have had days hard enough, since I have seen you, days wretched enough—and that because of you!". By blaming Madame Forester, she neglects to acknowledge what would have happened if she had not borrowed the necklace in the first place. However, if Mathilde had simply told Madame Forester that she had lost her necklace, she would have immediately discovered that it was a cheap reconstruction and that she would not have sacrificed her and her husbands, already modest funds to purchase a substitute.

Ultimately the significance of "The Necklace" sheds light on one of society's many anthropogenic plagues, greed, and materialism. In addition, Mathilde doesn't recognize the repercussions of short- mindedness and materialistic tendencies.

Expanding on that point, Maupassant stressed a very significant teaching where selfish desires can cause irreparable damage to an individual and perhaps those in their life as well, alike to Mathilde and her husband's circumstances. Maupassant teaches a poignant lesson that instant gratification can be profoundly detrimental andthat by acknowledging one's self-inflicted ramifications, individuals can implicate a shift in their need to fulfill such shallow fascinations. "The Necklace" also sheds light on one of society's many anthropogenic plagues, greed, and materialism.