To lie or not to lie?

The diamond necklace Mathilde borrowed from her friend

When is it ok to lie? Is lying ever the answer? In the story, The Necklace, the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, lies about losing one of her friend's necklaces. Instead of telling her friend she lost the necklace, she decided to go out and buy a new one so she would never know it got lost. Mathilde thought her friend's (Mme. Forestier) necklace was made of real diamonds, so she had to use all the money her husband possessed and work tirelessly to pay off the necklace. It took her ten years to finally pay it off. After the ten years passed, Mathilde saw her friend. Since Mme. Forestier already had a new necklace, Mathilde decided it was okay to tell her the truth about it now. It turns out the necklace wasn't even made of real diamonds! Mme. Forestier told her "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs" (Maupassant, 48). Mathilde paid thirty four thousand francs for the necklace! Was the lie worth it? I think not!

Mathilde wishes to be at the top of her social class

 The purpose of Mathilde borrowing the necklace was for a ball her and her husband were going to attend. All Mathilde cared about was looking amazing for the ball. She wanted to dress like the wealthy. Her and her husband aren't among the wealthy though. They are considered to be in the "clerk class" of people, which is also known as the middle class. Mathilde longs to be rich. She wants to be among the "rich class". She couldn't attend the ball without looking her best. She went out and got a new gown and she borrowed the necklace. 

Was lying the right thing to do? Lying was not the right thing to do in this case because it ruined Mathilde's life! It took her ten years to pay the necklace off. TEN! If she told the truth, she could have found out the necklace wasn't made of real diamonds, which would have saved her a lot of time and money. Her friend may have been mad about the necklace getting lost, but it's not the end of the world. Overall, lying was not the right thing to do in Mathilde's situation.