Edith Wharton’s novel of manners The House of Mirth is a satirical representation of upper society. The personification of this satire is the character Lily Bart. The leader is led to believe that Lily is trapped by her upbringing in higher society, which is seen in Wharton’s use of characterization, imagery, and motifs throughout the novel. Wharton’s characterization of Lily Bart focuses on her beauty as the reason for her acceptance into high society. During the tableaux vivants at the Welly Brys’, Lily’s simple costume was the main focus of the men at the party: “This was the world [Lily] lived in, these were the standards by which she was fated to be measured! Does one go to Caliban for a judgement on Miranda?” (130). Wharton notes through …show more content…
Wharton’s concept of fate associated with Lily furthers the idea that Lily is trapped because of the predetermination of life and Lily’s upbringing culminate into Wharton’s trapped character of Lily Bart. The next time that Selden sees Lily again, it is on the train to Nice when he comments on her beauty: “[At the Brys’, Lily’s beauty] had had a transparency through which the fluctuations of the spirit were sometimes visible; now its impenetrable surface suggested a process of crystallization which had fused her whole being into one hard brilliant surface… to Selden it seemed like that moment of pause and arrest when the warm fluidity of youth is chilled …show more content…
The first time Lily’s indecisiveness was introduced was when she was talking to Selden: “ ‘I threw away one or two good chances when I first came out--I suppose every girl does; and you know I am horribly poor--and very expensive. I must have a great deal of money’ ” (8). Wharton creates Lily as a character that wants both love and money but is destined to have neither. Wharton creates Lily’s need for money from her fear of dinginess and necessity to marry money for power, inherited by her mother, but a fascination with love and happiness. This introduction of Lily’s mistakes early on shows that Wharton has Lily’s indecisiveness act as a character flaw instead of a temporary mistake in judgement. The next time Lily was indecisive was at Bellomont when she was wooing Gryce but drawn towards Selden: “[Lily] was like a water-plant in the flux of the tides, and today the whole current of her mood was carrying her towards Lawrence Selden” (50). At this point, Lily has Gryce in her hands and he would be her permanent acceptance into higher society with money and power. However, Wharton has Lily’s flaw come forth and draw her towards Selden, thus ruining her chances with Gryce and society. Even with Selden, though, Lily is unable to commit to love because she still desires money and power. Wharton creates Lily with her character flaw of indecisiveness to lead her down her fated
Despite the common cliché, ?don?t judge a book by its cover,? you never get a second chance to make a first impression, most first impressions are derived from appearance. Edith Wharton harshly juxtaposes the appearances of Mattie and Zeena, to such an extreme that it almost seems bias. From the beginning of the novel, Zeena is depicted as an old and ?repugnant? (46) housewife. Substantial background information is not given, nor causes for her worn out and ?bloodless? (53) demeanor. ?Though she was but seven years her husband?s senior, she was already an old woman.? (53) In harsh comparison, Mattie is portrayed as a youthful, vivacious woman, yet with natural beauty. This drastic juxtaposition is black and white, with no grey areas, just the strong Mattie and the feeble Zeena. However, the colors used to describe Mattie and Zeena are not black and white, they each ...
Ammons, Elizabeth. “Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome and the Question of Meaning.” Studies in American Fiction, Vol. 7, No. 2,
Set in 1881 Starkfield, Massachusetts, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome reveals a recurring theme in literature: “the classic war between a passion and responsibility.” In this novel, protagonist Ethan Frome confronts the demands of two private passions: his desire to become an engineer that conflicts with his moral duty to his family and his love for Mattie Silver that conflicts with his obligations to his wife Zeena. Inevitably placing the desires and well-being of his family before his own, Ethan experiences only “‘[s]ickness and trouble’” and “‘that’s what [he’s] had his plate full up with, ever since the very first helping’” (12). The reader understands Ethan’s struggles when he abandons his studies at Worcester, when he considers running
The creative writing techniques that Wharton uses within her writing enhance the story and make it worth reading. Wharton is very descriptive in almost every aspect of her story. This gives the reader another element to the story rather than just reading dialogue or general descriptions. A point where Wharton gets descriptive, is when she starts to explain Frome’s house and how “ the image (of itself) presents of a life linked with the soil, and enclosing in itself the chief sources of warmth and nourishment, or whether merely because of the consolatory thought that it enables the dwellers in that harsh climate to get to their mornings’ work without facing the weather, it is certain that the ‘L’ rather the house itself seems to be the center, the actual hearth-stone of the New England farm” (Wharton 11). This shows how detailed Wharton can get. It not only gives the reader a g...
“For the first time in his life he sees her in a new light: he sees her as no longer the listless creature who had lived at his side in a state of self-absorption, but a mysterious alien presence an evil energy secreted from the long years of silent brooding…” (Wharton 117) Edith Wharton is best known for her books Ethan Frome and The House of Mirth. Wharton was often compared to another writer in her time, Henry James. Even though this occurred, she considered her books one of a kind. She was pleased with her work, but the critics were not. Often, she received poor reviews, but this did not stop her; in fact, she then went on to be the first woman to win The Legion of Honor Medal. Wharton also won the Pulitzer Prize and a gold
Edith Wharton grew up with a wealthy family who lived in a controlling society which prohibited women to achieve anything a man could. This book, published by Wharton in 1911, is one of the few pieces in her fiction novels
Garcia, Angela. "Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome." American Writers Classics. Ed. Jay Parini. Vol. 2. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004. 89-108. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Feb. 2014.
The time and way people are brought up in society makes a huge difference on how they will climb up the social scale in life. In the classic novel House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton and Call it Sleep, by Henry Roth the main characters experience totally different upbringings into society. While Lily Bart is brought up into a high class society, David is born into an immigrant family in a part of the city, which has similar people as his own country. The two characters in the novels both have different and some similar views on how to climb up on the social scale. Although they would give different advice to each other on how to climb the social scale, and have different views on life, one thing that would be common would be to have money.
Restuccia, F. L. "The Name of the Lily: Edith Wharton's Feminism(s)." The House of Mirth: Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Benstock, S. (ed.). New York, Bedford Books, 1994, 404-418.
Like Alice, who divorced was twice. Another example of how Edith and this particular story is compares to her life is Alice’s daughter is sick with typhoid and when Edith was 10 she suffered from typhoid fever and almost died. Also like Lily and most children her age Edith Wharton also had a governess. Wharton’s main concept in the story was the theme of divorce and survival of the fittest. By having the other two men being around the current marriage and dealing with some of struggles of divorced and being able to survive New York’s
The characters in the novel get caught up in a frenzy of hate, scandal, and love. Newland Archer is a wealthy societal man who views his wife, May, as the reason for his unhappiness. In addition, Newland Archer get swept into the scandal and falls in love with Ellen, who he sees as a route to independence. Ellen Olenska, the cousin of May, brings a tornado of scandal to New York and becomes the center of criticism in society. In The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, Archer and Ellen describe the desire for freedom in order to portray society as an oppressor.
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton is a book that gave the word “love” many other meanings, such as impossible, meaningless and incomplete. There were many unbearable obstacles that Countess Ellen Olenska, one of the main characters, had to face because of love. She was treated badly by many people and always longed for love but never obtained it. With everyone cursing her, betraying her and hurting her, there was one person who was always there for her. Newland Archer wasn’t only sympathetic towards her; he also began to fall in love with her. The love she always wanted. He was the man who truly cared for her and always helped her make decisions. Out of all the selfish people in New York who degraded her, including her very close relatives, Newland Archer was one person who was there to listen to her problems and helped her solve them.
The morals of the Victorian Era gained renown for their strict socials roles that existed for both men and women. However, Oscar Wilde rejected these morals as he not only wrote characters but also acted as a character who flippantly disregarded the strict moral code. In his play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde elicits a thoughtful laughter through the constant hypocrisy and non-sequitous behaviours of Lady Bracknell. Wilde uses her to explore the hypocrisy that he detested within Victorian Society, and through Lady Bracknell’s commentary on gender roles and marital roles, Wilde illustrates his own personal contentions with Victorian morals.
In order to analyze Austen’s treatment of class system in Persuasion, the novel can be split into two somewhat contradictory halves. Austen spends much of the first half of the novel attempting to convince the audience of the importance of a system of manners, upon...
In Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” the story of two unlikely lovers unfolds. Elizabeth Bennett, the second eldest of five sisters, unfortunately has a mother who wants her to marry rich. When Elizabeth first encounters Fitzwilliam Darcy they mutually dislike each other. The two characters undergo conflicts that revolve around each other. As the story progresses Mr. Darcy finds a likeness for Elizabeth that she does not return. After Mr. Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, that she rejects, he clears up all the mistakes that Elizabeth believed he had made. Elizabeth then realizes that Mr. Darcy evolves much like herself, she falls in love with him, and he finally proposes to her, which she accepts. Through Austen’s use of strong character’s she illustrates how society and class can produce prejudice between two people madly in love.