• What kind of a person is Mme Loisel — why is she always unhappy? • What kind of a person is her husband? S HE was one of those pretty, young ladies, born as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known, loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished; and she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education.
She was simple, but she was unhappy. She suffered incessantly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her apartment, the shabby walls and the worn chairs. All these things tortured and angered her.
When she seated herself for dinner opposite her husband who uncovered the tureen with a delighted air, saying, “Oh! the good potpie! I know nothing better than that…,” she would think of elegant dinners, of shining silver; she thought of the exquisite food served in marvellous dishes. She had neither frocks nor jewels, nothing.
And she loved only those things. She had a rich friend, a schoolmate at the convent, who she did not like to visit — she suffered so much when she returned. She wept for whole days from despair and disappointment. One evening her husband returned elated bearing in his hand a large envelope.
“Here,” he said, “here is something for you.” Matilda is invited to a grand party. She has a beautiful dress but no jewellery. She borrows a necklace from a friend ...and loses it. What happens then?