The Necklace

The Necklace Essay Questions

  1. 1

    In what ways is Mathilde Loisel responsible for her own downfall?

    Mathilde Loisel is a woman who is dissatisfied with her life. While she lives a humble lifestyle, she is blessed with a husband who truly loves her, beauty as well as a modest household. However, her desire to cultivate an appearance of wealth and luxury lead her to borrow a necklace and lose it, resulting in her economic downfall. Ironically, even though Mme. Loisel is concerned with her own appearance, she ends up destroying herself by failing to recognize that the original necklace only appeared to be expensive: this led her to replace a cheap necklace with an extremely expensive one that she and her husband could not afford.