In "The Necklace," written by Guy de Maupassant in 1884, Mathilde is introduced as a woman both born and married into a lower-middle class. Although she is married to a husband she loves, their class limits their relationship. For example, when the couple is invited to a formal ball, Mathilde's first reaction is to break down and cry due to her social status which conflicts with the ball. Realizing her wardrobe contains nothing that would be appropriate for the ball, she tells her husband, "Only I have no dress, and therefore I can't go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I" (23). Since Mathilde is of a lower class, she is susceptible to repercussions associated with being dishonest-more so than others. In the story, an act of dishonesty will enforce this. "The Necklace" has an overhanging theme of the danger of dishonesty and reveals that in the end, dishonesty is never worth it. Maupassant incorporates word choice, imagery, and juxtaposition to reinforce this theme, which is important because it exemplifies Mathilde's deteriorating quality of life due to dishonesty.

From the beginning of the story, we can see that Mathilde is upset about the fact that she was born into a lower class. Unlike many others in lower-middle class society, Mathilde has not grown accustom to the lifestyle, and is bitter about her situation every day, making her extremely susceptible. That author takes note of this, saying, "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all of the luxuries" (de Maupassant, 22). The word choice used by the author of "ceaselessly" was much different than saying "she often suffered." By using the word "ceaselessly," the author suggests that Mathilde suffers continuously and always, she will always be bitter that she was born into a lower class and has to deal its permanence. We also find out that Mathilde is unique in lower class society, because the other members have come to accept this. The author says "From the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains. All of those things, of which another woman of her rank would never have been conscious, tortured her..." (22). With the word choice of "conscious," the author depicts how other women in the same lower class don't think twice about their invaluable possessions, and their inability to sought after a better life. It has become such a big part of their daily lives that they don't even bat an eye to these occurrences. However, Mathilde has not. She suffers ceaselessly, never ending, and will forever think of how her life would have been had she been born a different rank. The author introduces this susceptible character that can't afford to be dishonest in decision-making, but does so anyways.

Despite Mathilde not being able to bear her current status as a lower class woman, she still decides to be dishonest, making her life even more unbearable. The author's main theme of the passage is dishonesty and through imagery, the author portrays this message in the passage. After losing the necklace and deciding to replace it instead of confronting the lender, the couple take on an even more laborious and uncomfortable lifestyle (26). Mathilde is of course already miserable in her current lifestyle, and she is absolutely miserable in her new, even more impoverished and rigorous lifestyle. The author depicts her new lifestyle via imagery. After stating how she will be involved in heavy housework her servant used to embody, he goes on to extend his statement, "She washed the dishes, using her rosy nails on the greasy pots and pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts, and the dish-cloths...she carried the slops down to the street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for a breath at every landing" (27). The author could have simply stated that after her decision to pursue dishonesty, she had to embody undesirable and difficult tasks. Instead, he goes on to describe her new tasks and give actual examples of her new grueling housework. This makes the theme much more powerful with imagery, and doesn't just tell a reader that there will be repercussions to dishonesty, but expands into listing both vivid and undesirable repercussions.  This not only enforces the authors theme of always dishonesty, but enhances it as well. Shortly after in the passage, the author describes how Mathilde must now save more than ever. The author continues to use imagery, "And, dressed like a woman of the people, she went to the fruiterer, the grocer, the butcher, her basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, defending her miserable money sou by sou" (27). With use of a imagery, the author expands on how not only must Mathilde make errands, but must do this while conserving as much money as possible. The author gives us reason to believe that her old problems of materialism and embarrassment of her socio-economic status have now transformed into backbreaking labor and the near-inability to come home with food. By using imagery, the author both supports and enhances his theme of dishonesty. The use of imagery gives the reader a visual of actual repercussions of being dishonest that Mathilde is subjected to, showing her reduced quality of life as a result.

After displaying the hardships the couple must first go through when deciding to be dishonest, the author touches on how the decision of being dishonest has taken a toll on the couple years later with the use of juxtaposition. After not seeing her lender Mme. Forestier in years, she finally sees her in public. Right away, she recognizes her beauty and her bit of youth, "It was Mme. Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming" (de Maupassant, 27). After all of these years Mme. Forestier looks like she practically hasn't even aged, which we can assume is because of her elegant lifestyle. Meanwhile, this isn't the case for Mathilde, "'Good day, Jeanne...' 'But-madame!-I do not know-You must have mistaken' 'No. I am Mathilde Loisel.' Her friend uttered a cry. 'Oh my poor Mathilde! How you are changed!'" (27). After all of these years of labor for a petty dishonest decision, the author shows how the consequence of this mistake his impacted her entire life, embodying the theme of honesty. The author uses juxtaposition in this example to pair these two descriptions side by side in order to draw a parallel. Through earlier descriptions in the passage, the reader is aware of the fact that Mathilde is a good-looking lady. By use of juxtaposition, the author gives the reader a glimpse of what the Mathilde could still look like had she just been honest and told Mme. Forestier about the necklace. However, since she is dishonest , it is obvious that the consequences have taken a toll on her body and her identity as a whole, "I have had days hard enough, since I have seen you, days wretched enough" (27). Here, the author reminds us that consequences to being dishonest are not just temporary, but permanent. The use of juxtaposition as a literary device paints an alternate picture in the readers mind as to what Mathilde could have been had she been honest about the necklace in the first place. This highlights that not only has her quality of life decreased, but the fact that it didn't have to.

Mathilde was dishonest in "The Necklace" and unfortunately had to pay a large consequence. Through imagery, word choice, and juxtaposition, the author illustrates the repercussions this susceptible character was exposed to. The use of the literary devices was essential because they displayed the outcome of the overlying theme of the piece, dishonesty. The author makes the reader question how different the story would have been if Mathilde were honest in the first place. Unluckily for Mathilde, she finds out at the end of the story that the necklace was only made out of paste and was worth close to nothing (28).
