In The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant, Mathilde considers her life to be unfulfilling and is resentful because she thinks she deserves more out of her life. The vivid imagery throughout this short story portrays Mathilde as an egotistical selfish women and an ungrateful wife.

Mathilde is described as a pretty and charming girl who was "as if by a mistake of destiny" (De Maupassant 33), born into a family of clerks. Mathilde can be seen as egotistical when she claims she is "unhappy because she had fallen from her proper station" (De Maupassant 33). Mathilde believes she should live a life of "silent antechambers, heavy with Oriental tapestries, lit by torches in lofty bronze sockets, with two tall footmen in knee-breeches sleeping in large arm-chairs, overcome by the heavy warmth of the stove. She imagined vast saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who were famous and sought after, whose homage roused every other woman's envious longings" (De Maupassant 33). Through this vivid imagery we can picture the life that Mathilde really wants for herself, which is very materialistic. She is unsatisfied with her life now claims with her "natural fitness, instinct for what is elegant, and suppleness of wit" (De Maupassant 33) make her equals of the very greatest of ladies. Mathilde has very extravagant expectations of her life, and it makes her selfish and conceded.  

Mathilde is also very ungrateful for the life her husband has provided for her. She talks about her home and how "She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains" (De Maupassant 33). The imagery used here creates a setting in which Mathilde lives in. Mathilde also has a "little Breton peasant who did her humble housework" (De Maupassant 33) who she is not thankful for, and continues to complain of her lack of wealth and her humiliation. When her husband comes home at night he declares that he "doesn't know anything better than the good pot-au-feu" (De Maupassant 33), rather than being thankful for a hot meal at the end of the day with her husband, Mathilde dreams vividly of "delicate food served in marvelous dishes, murmured gallantries, listened to with an inscrutable smile, while eating the pink flesh of trout or the wings of a quail" (De Maupassant 33). Through these rich descriptions of her fantasies, Mathilde can be seen as ungrateful. 

 When Mathilde's husband brings home an invitation to a ball, he expected his wife to be delighted. Here Mathilde's ego and ungratefulness shine through. She throws the invitation down and starts sobbing that she doesn't have a dress suitable for the ball. "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" (De Maupassant 34).  Mathilde throws a fit and acts like a child, so dissatisfied with the act her husband tried to do for her. Her husband selflessly offers her his savings to buy a new dress. "He had grown a little pale" (De Maupassant 35) giving her the money but he wanted her to be happy so he made a sacrifice. Mathilde took the money, without even thanking him, and bought a suitable dress. Through Mathildes actions we can see how ungrateful and snobby she is, never appreciating her husband. Finally, when the ball is approaching and Mathilde has her new dress, she encounters another "problem", "It annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone, nothing to put on. I shall look like distress. I should almost rather not go at all" (De Maupassant 35). After everything her husband has done, from getting the tickets and giving her his savings, she is still ungrateful. When her husband suggests she wears flowers she says there is "nothing more humiliating" (De Maupassant 35), her ego shining through. She decides to borrow a necklace from a wealthy friend, and after looking through her selection (which is vaster than her own) she states "Haven't you anymore?" (De Maupassant 35) as if the jewels she has been presented aren't good enough for her, her ego showing through once again. When she finally chooses one she likes, she looks at herself in the mirror and "remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself" (De Maupassant 35). Through this imagery we can see Mathilde is very egotistical and full of herself. 

At the ball Mathilde had made a great impression. "She was prettier than them all, gracious, smiling, and crazy with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, endeavored to be introduced" (De Maupassant 36). Mathilde finally put her ego to rest and felt like she belonged at this ball. She danced all night with other men, leaving her husband asleep in a deserted anteroom, once again showing how ungrateful she was for him and all the trouble he went through for her. Later in the night when it was time to leave, her husband fetched her wrap which he brought for her "it was a modest wrap of common life, whose poverty contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress" (De Maupassant 36). The wrap brings Mathilde back to reality and the life she really lives in, opposed to the one she had pretended to be apart of for the night. At the end of the night Mathilde realizes she lost the diamond necklace she borrowed from her friend and sends her husband off to look for it. When he returns late at night with "a hollow pale face" with nothing Mathilde's life takes a drastic turn. The imagery used to describe the scene goes from a "gay" night, one of the best of Mathilde's life, to a terrible tragedy. To buy a new necklace for her friend, Mathilde and her husband must use their savings, take out loans, and work multiple jobs. Mathilde thought her life was so rough, and that she lived like such a peasant, until she had to do real work and pay for her mistake  "She came to know what heavy housework meant  she had become a women of impoverished households strong and hard and rough. She had frowsy hair, skirts askew, and red hands" (Maupassant 38). The imagery described proves that Mathilde is no longer a beautiful house wife who sat around all day dreaming of another life. 

Her selfish and egotistical attitude and ungratefulness towards her husband and the lifestyle she had, ultimately led her to self-destruction. If she had been appreciative of what she had instead of prying for more, the night could've gone differently, and the necklace may have never been borrowed, lost, and repaid. One night ruined Mathilde's life, but it was due to her attitude and lack of respect to her surroundings.

