I believe that Mathilde is materialistic and selfish. She took away happiness both from herself and her husband because "she burned with the desire to please, to be envied, to be attractive and sought after." This desire led to her downfall and her husband;s misery. I am in no way able to show compassion for this lady. The story starts out leading us to believe that Mathilde is a simple person without a lot …showed first 75 words of 509 total…

…showed last 75 words of 509 total…was a fake! It serves her right. Had she just sat back and realized that life is what you make of it, not what it makes of you, all this could have been avoided. Mathilde was so caught up in status and vanity that she created her own downfall. The only person I am left to feel sorry for in this story is her husband for not standing up for himself and telling her no.