The pearl collar functions as a symbol of family legacy and, more critically, of Philip's compulsion to project his own desires onto Rachel. Passed down through generations of Ashley brides, the collar carries a specific ritual significance: Each woman wears it on her wedding day “as sole adornment” (230). When Philip retrieves it from the bank and presents it to Rachel on Christmas Eve, he is enacting a private fantasy of marriage that Rachel has neither invited nor agreed to. The collar therefore represents his inability to separate his desires from reality: a pattern that the novel identifies as the central flaw in his character.

Philip's godfather recognizes this issue immediately and demands the collar's return, realizing that its symbolism will be known to anyone who is familiar with the family. Philip, however, reads Nick’s demand as betrayal. As he unleashes his fury at his godfather and expresses anguish when Rachel unfastens the pearls, this scene reveals how thoroughly Philip’s emotions have overwritten his judgment. He cannot see the collar as an object with any social meaning beyond his own motives; to him, it is simply proof of love owed and love denied. Rachel's willingness to return it without protest only deepens the gulf between Philip and his godfather, as well as between Philip and Rachel. Her composure suggests that she always understood the collar's true significance and accepted it on different terms than Philip intended, though Philip fails to recognize this. The collar thus exposes the novel's central problem: the fact that Philip inherits both Ambrose's estate and his pattern of transforming a woman into a mirror for his own need.