The necklace brings out Mathilde as a woman who is trapped by society. She has lack of opportunities only because she was born in a poor family, daughter of a minor civil servant. She is restrained by social class to never reach the status of which she dreamed. In the story, she is brought out to be a person who is extremely beautiful, but this matters little on who she could marry. This story was set in the nineteenth century, but how much are women held back by today’s society?

In the modern world, people aren’t restricted to a certain financial status; being born poor doesn’t mean that you must remain poor. In most cases nowadays, women have equal opportunities (if not more) than men. They are not trapped by what society thinks they should do or not do as opposed to ancient times. During that era, the society set very high standards for people. Many high class people were very aristocratic (grand) in their manners and their rules for the society. People, such as Mathilde, who blindly followed the elite class and were influenced or impressed by them could never seek happiness. This modern day and age consists of very famous people who have risen from the ashes of poverty into the flames of wealth such as the late Michael Jackson and also president Obama, who has made a positive influence to the world.

In most traditional settings, women are still denied opportunities especially due to cultural beliefs, but this has not stopped a lot of women to break away from these traditions and cultures and achieve great things. Once upon a time, ladies were only meant to be seen, not heard. However, modern civilised society gives various rights to women hence providing equality and balanced levels to both genders. Over the many years, tremendous things have been done by women such as “The Iron Lady of the 1900s”-Margaret Thatcher, who became the first ever female Prime