TO LIE OR NOT TO LIE

Say one of your best friends borrowed your favorite shirt and they lost it, would you want them to tell you? Here the question may arise, to lie or not to lie? Putting myself in the other persons shoes I would know for sure I would want to know if my shirt got stained, ripped, or lost, causing me to come out and tell the truth, facing any given consequences. However, not everyone thinks like that. Some people feel it is okay to lie all the time, others in certain situations, and some not at all. I was raised to be one of those “in certain situations” people. I was brought up to believe that it is better to tell the truth unless it could physically hurt you or somebody else, however, you shouldn’t spare someone’s feelings because you’re afraid of the re-precautions.

Unfortunately, Madame Mathilde did not think the same way I do and that cost her a fortune. In the story, The Necklace by Guy Maupassant Madame Mathilde was a gorgeous, and materialistic maid who was unhappy with her life situation. She feels that she is superior and believes she should be famous and of a higher class. Her husband, Loisel tried his best to please her and satisfy her expensive taste. After surprising Mathlide with tickets to a ball, she refused the proposal because she had no dress. So Loisel trying to please her, bought her a gorgeous, and elegant dress. Then still unhappy, Madame Mathilde was annoyed because she didn’t have any jewelry, she decided to borrow a stunning diamond necklace from her friend Madame Forestier. At some point on the way back from the ball, Mathlide lost the diamond necklace, and panicked into finding more time, she wrote to Foster and said that the clasp of her necklace broke and they were sending it to be mended. In the meantime, they went to a jeweler who offered them a real diamond necklace, almost identical to the original for 36,000 francs. After 10 years of working long and hard hours to come up with the money, she finally returns the necklace to its previous owner. Come to find out, the original was a fake, it only cost 500 francs.

 Although there could be numerous themes such as greed, jealousy, self-perception, and class, the main moral of the story is based off of lying. Madame Mathilde’s little white lie, which seemed harmless and in her eyes like the “right” thing to do, telling the truth would have saved her a lot of time and money. Some people might agree that the “right” thing to do is nothing but a personal opinion and perception, and that being the case her replacing the necklace was right. However, she could’ve gone about it in a more mature and confronting manner. Coming forward and telling Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace could also be considered the right thing to do because it would save trust, time, money, stress, and some could even say Madame Mathilde’s wellbeing.

I have to say that in this case, and most others, lying is not the right thing to do. Unless lying could save someone’s life, you should never lie to save someone’s feelings, or make them feel better about you. I don’t know anyone who wants their friends or family to lie to them. Lying disturbs trust in many relationships, and can often cause you them all together. This is why the right thing to do would have been for Madame Mathilde to not lie. And I’m sure she learned her lesson.