In Guy de Maupassant's short story The Necklace, the author uses glittering symbolism, striking foreshadowing, and strong irony; illustrating that greed and materialism lead to ones downfall.

In The Necklace, the diamond necklace itself is the symbol that Mathilde lusts after that eventually leading to her and her husbands downfall. Mathilde lived an average life with her husband and took the things she had for granted.  He got her tickets to a ball and new dresses because she always wanted that kind of lavish lifestyle.  However, she still wanted more and, as a result, borrowed a gorgeous diamond necklace from one of her wealthy friends.  When she loses the necklace after the ball, she tries to preserve herself and her social standing as best as she can by finding a replacement necklace.  "I brought you back another just like it. And now for ten years we have been paying back for it. You will understand that it was not easy for us, who had nothing. At last, it is done, and I am mighty glad."   The one she ends up getting is thirty-six thousand francs that she and her husband spend 10 years working to pay off .  

This necklace is a sham like everything else in Mathilde's life throughout the work.  It's illusion of wealth and beauty lures her in with a promise that if she wore it, she too would be wealthy and beautiful.  It deceives her and results in her loss of whatever mediocre wealth and beauty she had previously.  This diamond necklace represents all of her hopes and dreams of being a member of the upper class while also simultaneously representing her reality of the middle class . 

De Maupassant uses some foreshadowing to hint that something bad is going to happen to Mathilde as a result her wanting the necklace.  After her husband shows her the invitation to the ball and gives her four hundred francs for a new dress, she still isn't satisfied and goes out to borrow some jewels from her wealthy friend, Madame Forester.  "All at once she discovered, in a box of black satin, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with boundless desire. Her hands trembled in taking it up. . . . Then, she asked, hesitating, full of anxiety; 'Can you lend me this, only this?'" .  De Maupassant is hinting slightly at the fact that something bad might happen to this necklace since it is the only piece Mathilde asks to borrow. 

De Maupassant's entire work The Necklace is littered with irony.  In the beginning of the short story, the first several paragraphs talk about Mathilde's lust for the finer things in life.  She wants all the sophistication and fancy of the upper class but doesn't realize how good she actually has it.  She and her husband are well off but she takes everything she has for granted.  Even after her husband worked hard to get her the invitation and handed her four hundred francs, francs he was planning on saving to buy himself a gun, for a new dress, she still wasn't satisfied.  She had to go to a friend who was better off than she was to borrow a faux diamond necklace that she then proceeds to lose and spend ten years of her life working to buy a replacement.  What was once thought of as precious and dazzling turned out to be nothing more than a bit of plaster.  So there is the situational irony presented of the diamonds only being fake when she paid thirty-six thousand francs for a real diamond necklace, and there is the irony that someone who so lusts over and who seems to know so much about the finer things in life wasn't able to tell fake diamonds from real ones.  The real diamonds, although thirty-six thousand francs, turned out to cost Mathilde and her husband so much more than just the physical money.  It cost them their youth, beauty, and the lifestyle they had before.  They went from being well off in the middle class to actually being poor and having to work even harder sans servants .  

There was some severe situational irony going on especially towards the end of the short story but, it is also a little ironic the friend, Madame Forestier, didn't even bother to mention anything.  "Madame Forestier, much moved, took her by both hands; 'Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine were false. At most they were worth five hundred francs!'"   She let them go on for a good ten plus years working to buy her a new real diamond necklace without even bothering to tell them that it was a fake she could quite possibly easily get replaced for five hundred francs .  

Materialism and greed lead to ones downfall like what happened to Mathilde in Guy de Maupassant's work The Necklace.  The author illustrated that theme using the necklace as a symbol for Mathilde herself, foreshadowing the downfall, and by multiple ironic instances.  The two major ironic instances of the short story being the diamond necklace turning out to be a fake and, the fact that Madame Forestier didn't say anything to either Mathilde or her husband while they were working to replace the fake.  Their greed got to the best of them and as a result, it ruined them. 
