Why is Madame Loisel unhappy with her life at the beginning of "The Necklace"?

In "The Necklace," Madame Loisel is dissatisfied because she is

one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans.  She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded by a man of distinction....

For Mathilde Loisel, she has married beneath what she should have only because her father could not provide her a dowry which would have allowed her to marry a man of the aristocracy.  Instead, as beautiful as she is, she has had to settle for a husband from the bourgeosie, a government clerk. 

Since money and material possessions have prevented her from advancing in society and living the life she desires, Madame Loisel perceives material value possessions and social status as the quintessential values.  This perception, tragically, becomes Mathilde Loisel's nemesis.