|
Mathilde is the wife of a poor honest clerk who provides a fairly decent living for his wife. Inspite of his small pay cheque he provides her with a neat house, a help to do the domestic work and entertainments on some evenings.
On the other hand, Mathilde has dreams that are larger than life. She is unhappy with her lot. She often sees herself in large rich houses with maids, and footmen, with silver ware and tapestry with spacious rooms and beautiful gradens.
One fateful evening Loisel comes home with an invitation to dinner at the palace of the Ministry. Mathilde is deeply concerned about what the others would think of her. She spends 400 francs, money saved carefully, on an evening gown. Not satisfied she goes to her friend Jeanne. She borrows what she thinks is a diamond necklace.
After a most wonderful evening at the palace they return home by a cab. She soon notices that the precious necklace is lost.
No amount of painstaking search reveals the jewel. They go to the jewellers, pay up 18,000 francs that his father had left him, borrow another 22,000 francs and buy a similar diamond necklace. Jeanne does not notice the difference.
The Loisels spend the next 10 years paying off their debt. They have aged before their time and have lost the spark of life.
Finally, all of sudden Mathilde meets her friend. To her chagrin, she learns that all that effort was in vain. The necklace had been paste jewellery worth only 500 francs.
| 
