The Age Of Innocence By Edith Wharton

Both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome provide an insight into the moral ideas that have shaped New England. One major theme of The Scarlet Letter that helps to portray this is the theme of Puritanism. The religious nature of the morality shaped the society’s reaction to Hester’s affair. A major theme of Ethan Frome that helps to portray this is the theme of duty and morality vs. desire. Ethan feels he has a moral duty to remain with his wife, Zeena, even though he truly desires to run away with Mattie. The ideas of morality presented in The Scarlet Letter and Ethan Frome are similar in that they both portray adultery as greatly immoral; however, they differ in the reason behind these ideas of morality.

In The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton portrays gender through the juxtaposition of Ellen and May. May is the type of woman who personifies innocence. She always keeps up with her appearance and personality even when she

Born in 1862, Edith Wharton Newbold Jones was brought up within the graceful, wealthy yet conservative, confining circle of New York society, which fostered sexual repression and prided itself on the innocence of its young girls. Edith Wharton herself was discouraged from expressing her emotions or developing her intellect which was supposed to be very unbecoming traits in a woman. This is the reason why she stressed in her fiction the need of growth, and has shown how painful and frustrating this process can be for a woman. This process of growth and development is revealed in her major works, Ethan Frome (1911), and Summer (1917) (Balakrishnan 1).

Through choice of detail and diction, Edith Wharton justifies Frome’s adultery by juxtaposing the warm, charismatic nature of Mattie to the cold, barren one of Zeena. While his wife speaks in a “monotonous” (129) “flat whine” (32) her cousin’s “suffuse[s] him with joy” (44). Despite the fact that both women are frail and sickly, Zeena’s “puckered throat” and “protruding wrists” (47) disgusts Ethan, while Mattie is so “small and weak-looking that…it wr[i]ng[s] his heart” (106). Throughout the novel, Wharton’s choice of detail drastically contrasts the two women, one a vivacious, vigorous beauty, the other a walking, whining corpse. From their physical looks alone, Zeena is hard to love—sterile and dark—while Mattie—fertile and warm—is easy to. The author intentionally feeds this bias, allowing the readers to feel the same temptation that Frome has in the novel. However, he

Wharton's representation of the power of the social class of turn-of-the-century New York is expressed through the struggle between the individual and the collective force of society. The "rules" of society define each individual's place, and it is the group that reflects shared beliefs and dictates behavior. This dichotomy is multi-layered, reaching all the way down to the deep internal struggle of the individual human being. Lily's struggle with her individuality and the need to play by the rules causes her to commit social blunders and become an innocent victim of society's harsh cruelty.

In the beginning of the novel, Archer acts according to the molded product he is supposed to be. Archer was proud to be a New Yorker, someone in the upper class with refined taste and morals. This ended when Countess Olenska returned to New York, in want of a divorce with her husband in Europe. The New York family wanted to prevent this divorce because of propriety. They send Archer, a lawyer, to convince Ellen against it. As the story goes, Archer falls in love with Ellen because of her mysteriousness of unconventionality. By acting as the family’s messenger, Archer “sabotages his own quest”. Due to inconvenience, Archer wants to overthrow the principles he once lived by (Hadley 37). He suddenly realized “That terrifying product of the social system he belonged to and believed in, the young girl who knew nothing and expected everything, looked back at him like a stranger through May

The pressure of conformity affects individual expression and varies in degrees in which it impacts an individual’s life. Regardless of time period, conformity is able to force individualists to abide by the social standards inculcated into society and deemphasize the importance behind individualism. In the 1920s, New York City adopted a structure parallel to conformity in its figurative hierarchy after the grief and devastation of World War I. With fear of the unknown, a reestablishment of tradition and routine followed, including an adaptation to the use of silences. The individuals with class and power used silence as a vehicle to conform and unify but, free-willed individuals gave another purpose to silence. It became a tool to express

Edith Wharton is “well-known for her portrayal of the moneyed classes of the old New York” in her writings, stories, and novels. The story The Other Two is not the exception. In this story, she portrays what it was to be a woman or what society and men expected them to be. “The point of view in The Other Two is omniscient, although very closely identified with its center of consciousness in Waythorn” (Lewis). Because the story is told from Mr. Waythorn’s point of view, the reader can see the sarcasm and comic side that Wharton likes to use. She describes through this writing style what was the most important thing a woman could offer to society in that time, which was looks and appearances. The Other Two shows the importance that society

Newland declares to the table that women have the right to be “as free as [men] are” (Age of Innocence 38). As the women talk further about Ellen, Newland states that he is sick of the “hypocrisy that would bury a woman” for preferring to be with her husband, contrary to what others believe (Age of Innocence 37). Newland sees a small connection between the women’s opinions and his own relationship with Ellen. He begins to see he must make a choice between Ellen and May, unbeknownst to him that his choice will be what is “socially acceptable” to old New York (“Edith Wharton” 2). Newland then decided that May should have the same “freedom of experience” he has (Age of Innocence 42).

To begin, Wharton uses female protagonist May Welland, in order to portray how she is confined to societal norms put in place by a patriarchal society. The qualities May is attributed with are a direct epitome of a perfect woman: innocent, youthful and pure. Although May’s character plays the innocent role on the surface, it is evident that she is a conniving wife to Archer Newland—who believes that May is unaware of his affair with Ellen. Ironically, the ‘innocent’ lady is an all-knowing one too. May was born into a family that ushered her into being a woman with no say, which in result was the reason she kept silent behind her husband's affair and acted in unseen ways. For instance, when Ellen

The only one that dares to defy these rules is Countess Olenska who “was apparently unaware of having broken any rule” (45) whenever she acts out of line. Newland is drawn to Ellen because she does not abide by the customs and because she appears more human than the other people. When Newland compared Ellen’s face to those of the older women at a dinner “[the elderly women’s faces] stuck him as curiously immature compared with hers. It frightened him to think what must have gone to the making of her eyes” (44) because they reveal many unpleasant life experiences while the older women seemed doll-like because of their sheltered life. Ellen’s experience with hardships gives her a sense of genuineness that no others have. Even May, who “looked like a Diana, just alight from the chase” (46) is unable to be as real as Ellen is. May has the ethereal beauty of a goddess and is repeatedly associated with purity. She is considered by society to be the perfect woman because of these traits, but doesn’t have the individualism and humanity that Newland finds admirable in Ellen. She represents a dream of the unconventional and of passion, which Newland wants, but cannot have. As Newland gets closer to the Countess, he feels smothered by May,

Both Daisy Miller by Henry James and The Age of Innocence, based on the novel by Edith Wharton are either social commentaries or love stories set in corrupt society. The male leads, Newland Archer and Winterbourne, help to show, assuming the goal is commentary, the dishonest and frivolous nature of society. Newland and Winterbourne’s stories and characters run on corresponding motives, as they are the offspring of that society.

The Age of Innocence, written by Edith Wharton, is about the upper-class society of New York City in the 1870’s. The novel follows the life of an upper-class lawyer named Newland Archer. He is going to wed May Welland, who comes from another upper-class family. As the novel progresses Newland starts to become intrigued with May’s cousin, the poor Ellen Olenska. Ellen is called “poor” because she is shameful in the eyes of the society that surrounds her. Ellen left her husband and moved back to New York City to be with her family. Divorce is not acceptable in the 1870’s high society like it is today. Newland tries at first to protect Ellen from the bad reputation that she will perceive if she divorces

Third Person Limited Omniscient Point of view: One of the Most Effective Way to Represent the theme of the Social Pressure The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton is a retrospective story which depicts the high-class society of New York in 1870s where the protagonist, Newland Archer struggles to decide his path between his own desire and the social ideologies. Newland defies the social norm by the scandal of immoral conduct with an insubordinate woman even if it affects his livelihood and social status extremely. However, he ironically determines to follow the social norm by choosing his family over Ellen Olenska in the epilogue. The theme of Archer’s conflict between himself and the society that surrounds him is revealed more evidently

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