In true keeping with de Maupassant’s style, "The Necklace" relies on irony to depict the difficult realities of its characters’ world. In addition, irony plays a crucial role in developing the theme of illusion and false appearances in this piece. Much of the irony in this story is situational, such as the scene in which Madame Forestier reveals that the diamond necklace is not made of diamonds at all:
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! My necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs! ..."
Mathilde has just spent 10 years working to pay off the debt that she and her husband accrued after purchasing a precious necklace to replace Madame Forestier's fake necklace. This is a perfect example of situational irony, since the necklace she and M. Loisel worked so tirelessly to replace was made of paste—that is, it was worthless. In keeping with her obsession with appearances, Mathilde's eventual misery is rooted in her longstanding belief that something must be valuable if it looks valuable. Now, though, she learns that things aren't always what they seem. This irony speaks both to the dangers of materialism and a lack of awareness about the world. Ironically enough, her vanity—which is the very thing that drove her to borrow Madame Forestier's necklace—is what drives her to ruin, since she's too proud to admit to Madame Forestier that she lost her necklace. If she could have humbled herself early on by telling the truth, she wouldn't have ended up ruining her life for 10 years in order to replace a cheap necklace.
