Summary

"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant starts with a description of a young woman, Mrs. Matilda Loisel. She is pretty and charming, but unfortunately she was born into a family of clerks. Because of her family's middle class stature, she has no hopes of becoming rich, famous or distinguished. Therefore, she agrees to marry a clerk in the Board of Education.

Matilda's modest life style makes her miserable. She suffers constantly because she feels that she should have been born into luxury. Everything about her surroundings depresses her, including her furniture and faded linens. Most women of her social stature would not even notice the things she sees as great flaws when surveying her apartment. She thinks about luxurious antechambers, with Oriental tapestries, bronze torches and servants who are made sleepy by decadent heating systems. Matilda longs for expensive bric-a-brac and...