Mathilde's desire for wealth and social class has always been a prevalent issue in "The Necklace".  "She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank; and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and birth" (Maupassant, 33). By looking at the irony and symbolic meaning behind "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, we can see that Mathilde let the idea of the necklace and what it stood for get to her head, and cloud her judgment, ultimately leaving her and her husband in complete despair. Mathilde saw herself as "the black satin box", however on the inside she became a substitute for high society's ideal of material, because through innate desire to climb the unattainable social ladder. 

 Mathilde's obsessive need for a higher social ranking puts her into trouble with her husband when she suddenly feels as though she needs all these expensive items to go to a ball. She wanted to be the woman "whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire" (Maupassant, 33) because this is what she dreamed of her whole life. Mathilde got a fancy gown, and when that was not enough, she found a necklace made of all diamonds to borrow from Madame Forestier. But Mathilde was so focused on being glamorous and envied for one night that she did not recognize the necklace was a fraud. By losing the necklace, Mathilde and her husband spent their life savings and working hard for many years to pay for a new "diamond" necklace. This all reveals the irony within the necklace. The fake diamond necklace made Mathilde's life glamorous and amazing for only a short period of time, whereas the real diamond necklace put her life into despair. "She danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success  and of that sense of complete victory which is so sweet to a woman's heart", (Maupassant, 36) she felt all of this simply because of "wealth" she believed to be wearing. For once in her life Mathilde felt lavish, however she took that feeling and the desire to feel that way far enough to have it ruin the rest of her life. Without the necklace Mathilde was just a woman still in her gown, however, ordinary as ever, which is clearly shown by the line, "And he went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without fire, without a thought", (Maupassant, 37). Years later she saw Madame Forestier, "still young, still beautiful, still charming", (Maupassant, 38) and when Mathilde approached Madame Forestier, she did not recognize her "Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you are changed". (Maupassant, 39) The once beautiful and young Mathilde had turned old and sorrowful all because of one necklace. Her narcissistic behavior is so prevalent because she feels that her beauty and personality are being wasted on a life she should not be living. But in the end, she does indeed waste her beauty and personality all for a fake necklace, and the idea of being wealthy for a night. The worst irony of it all was that Mathilde and her husband spent so many years of their lives working to pay off what was actually just a worthless necklace.

The necklace symbolizes many things for Mathilde that were proven to have negative outcomes, such as grief, greed, desire and who she is as a person. "All of a sudden she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to be with an immoderate desire", (Maupassant, 35) Mathilde is similar to the black satin box, fancy and lavish looking on the outside, however inside, is fake. She tried so hard to appear wealthy and lavish, when on the inside she was just an ordinary housewife; and that, she couldn't change. The necklace was a major symbol of grief and pain for Mathilde and especially her husband, "He compromised all the rest of his life, risked his signature without even knowing if he could meet it". (Maupassant, 37) The necklace also symbolizes Mathilde's never-ending desire to put on the facade that she was of a high social class, revealing how greedy she truly was. This greed that Mathilde had, blinded her judgment to see just how poor the choices she made were, which she later discovered. Mathilde's greedy desire to appear wealthy is all represented by her objectifying the necklace, and putting it on a pedestal. 

Mathilde believes that objects have the power to change her life, because she seeks any possible way for her life to be improved. She only sees what she does not have (going back to how she is greedy), and envies every woman who has what she so strongly desires. "All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry", (Maupassant, 33) Mathilde holds herself to be a woman who was "by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks", (Maupassant, 33) believing that she deserves to be wealthy and have a lavish lifestyle. She does not think she can be happy without being the best. When she gets a taste of the luxurious life, she instantly becomes addicted to the idea of being the woman she always thought she should be. 

The craving for social status and materialistic wealth leaves people blind to the importance of what they actually have. For Mathilde, the diamond necklace, both fake and real, were more than just a necklace. It was the tipping point of Mathilde's overly greedy desire to live lavishly, even though one night cost her the rest of her life.  

