And as before, rather than expressing openness about her true feelings, in the face of wealth she becomes embarrassed and ashamed, and this also proves her undoing, as if she had only been open about what had transpired with the necklace, then she would not have had to labor her entire life to pay back the debt.

Mathilde bankrupts her husband, by losing the paste necklace, but this selfishness is echoed early on when she insists upon a fine gown, rather than something she can really afford to attend the ball that proves her undoing. Unlike her husband, Mathilde is incapable of perceiving the needs of others, or the real value of money: "she thought for several seconds, reckoning up prices and also wondering for how large a sum she could ask without bringing upon herself an immediate refusal and an exclamation of horror from the careful-minded clerk," and he...
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