How important is the Countess in the story? Do you think she is fair in her treatment of the girls?

How important is the Countess in the story? Do you feel she is fair or unfair in her treatment of the girls? Are they fair or unfair to her?

The countess was important because her necklace was the reason for Christian Gravot and Sylvies crime against Maud. She treated the girls like they were not important. She was selfish considering only her own needs and losses.

I agree with Karen .

I really enjoyed her presence. She was everything that Maud was not and yet she shared with Maud a lot of her ideas. I thought she was generous and yet still very concerned about herself and her future marriage. I didnt find this unreasonable behavior.

Alicew I think you are thinking of Tanya. The countess was the rich woman with the large house and the famous jewels that Christian and Sylvie stole.

The countess provided just the right amount of "counter interest" She was aloof, rich, sure of herself and somewhat haughty. However I liked her and I think that she cared about the two women. Did she treat them fairly and equally? NO. Was the theft of her jewels due to the girls...well not really. She too carried a lot of baggage from her background and had to be assertive in her choice of men. The nicest person? No...but certainly not a terrible person either.

I think she was important to the story and an excellent way of portraying the life style and thought processes of the very wealthy of the time which was a giant contrast to that of Maud and Yvette's life style and thought processes. I think she was not fair and simply used her wealth and power to take hostage a lot of Maud's future work. She was totally aware that Maud had not stolen her jewels and that Morel had and still wanted to make Maud pay a price.

i think the story comes full circle with the Countess. She provides the reason for Maud's connection with the Morels and then at the end, she enables Maud and Yvette to leave without worrying about ever being found out.

The Countess provides the basis for the theft, so I felt she was important. I found her very self-serving and uncaring with how she dismissed her maid with no reference and really wasn't very nice to Maud. I found her treatment of the girls in the end out of character and contrived to wrap up the story.

The Countess was important to the story. After all it was her jewels that most of this story was about.
To me she seemed like a very nice woman right up to the end of book when she got a little strange.

I agree with dorothy's assessment of the Countess in that she provided the crux of the plot and then added to the characters' surprising twists of action. I always kind of felt that deep down she was anxious to do the right thing even though she didn't come off that way. She did resolve some issues for everyone in the end which helped to close the story to a satisfying ending.

The Countess had no feelings for the girls. She was very a very selfish person. Everything she did was for herself or her amusement. I did not blame her for that, this was the society she came from. Without her presence the story could not have concluded as it did.

The Countess was important to the plot of the story. But on another level she continued the idea that those of a lower social class were unimportant. She could be kind to Maud and give her the photographs of the paintings, but she couldn't comfort her when she found out that she avoided being murdered by Morel. The Countess was more concerned about the diamonds being taken from her (and she didn't seem to really even care for them that much). She didn't seem to want justice to occur for Maud.