The Importance Of Timing In Edith Wharton's House Of Mirth

In the opening of “New Year’s Day,” Edith Wharton uses a combination of literary devices including flashback and juxtapositions to show that social values and customs of the day had changed since days gone by. The author is in the present time and uses flashbacks to show how things were looked at differently in the past. The author uses juxtapositions to compare the dissimilar past and present to help add vividness to the given image.

With a flicker of hope that the marriage will work and end the feud, Friar Lawrence remarks that, "this alliance may so happy prove to turn [their] households' rancor to pure love" (II iv 91-92). The blame can be placed on Friar Lawrence because he cares too much for Romeo and Juliet and eventually takes an extreme and risky approach to facilitate their union.

In “Debasing Exchange: Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth,” author Wai-Chee Dimock argues that the society portrayed in the novel, which is a reflection of 19th century upper class New York, revolves around the idea that the business ethics of the economic “marketplace” determines all aspects of the culture. More specifically, this causes all forms of social interactions to be viewed as “currency,” with the precise value of a certain act or relationship determined by whoever possesses the most power. As Dimock herself puts it, “as a controlling logic, a mode of human conduct and human association, the marketplace is everywhere and nowhere, ubiquitous and invisible” (375). While some might wonder whether the marketplace really is the ultimate guiding structure for this particular fictionalized society, Dimock contends nevertheless that this interpretation is a viable one, due to the marketplace’s “ability to reproduce itself,” and thus “assimilate everything… into its domain” (375). I myself find Dimock’s argument both interesting and useful in interpreting The House of Mirth because of the clarity with which she presents the often complicated, critical lens of Marxism.

Friar Lawrence is responsible for the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence is completely aware of the feud between the Montague and Capulet families, which does not deter him from organising the marriage of this young couple. With the hope of restoring peace between Montagues and Capulets by turning the “households' rancour to pure love” Friar Lawrence agrees to organise the marriage (II, iii, 92). Friar Lawrence expresses his doubts about this marriage only a few scenes later by saying, “so smile the heavens upon this holy act, that after-hours with sorrow chide us not (II, vi, 1-2).” Friar Lawrence hopes the heavens will approve of his decision to organise this marriage, as he does not want to regret it later. He says this as he recognises that Romeo is far too young to understand what love is and that he should not be in such a serious relationship. Even though Friar Lawrence knows that this marriage could have Romeo and Juliet punished by their families and that this decision

Edith Wharton’s brief, yet tragic novella, Ethan Frome, presents a crippled and lonely man – Ethan Frome – who is trapped in a loveless marriage with a hypochondriacal wife, Zenobia “Zeena” Frome. Set during a harsh, “sluggish” winter in Starkfield, Massachusetts, Ethan and his sickly wife live in a dilapidated and “unusually forlorn and stunted” New-England farmhouse (Wharton 18). Due to Zeena’s numerous complications, they employ her cousin to help around the house, a vivacious young girl – Mattie Silver. With Mattie’s presence, Starkfield seems to emerge from its desolateness, and Ethan’s vacant world seems to be awoken from his discontented life and empty marriage. And so begins Ethan’s love adventure – a desperate desire to have

This creates more rift between the young lovers and their families. This action also plays an important role in the tragedy itself. It appears that Friar Lawrence’s beliefs about similarities between plants and humans plays a role in the way that he perceives various situations, devising plans that went horribly wrong and contributed to the tragedy.

The first reason Friar Lawrence is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy is that he is only marrying them for his own selfish greed. [William Act iv, line 91-92] For example in this quote Friar Lawrence says “For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” This quote connects to my first reasoning because Friar Lawrence is talking about the hatred between the two houses. He only agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet because he knew that if it worked he could be the town hero. He’d be praised for bringing the two families together. Moreover, He caused many problems because of this marriage.

dead and killing himself. The two families might have understood there children’s to marry each other if it was coming from a Friar. Lawrence could have also told Paris to not marry Juliet when

Romeo and Juliet showed the theme of how love and fate go hand in hand. “So smile the heavens upon this holy act That after-hours with sorrow chide us not (II.6.1). Friar Lawrence saw how the promise of marriage was romantic and endearing, but also saw the future of marriage. Arguing, conflict and sadness. Because of this he warned Romeo and Juliet that even in the future something can wrong despite the fact that they love each other. “ Let me have

Friar Lawrence imprudently agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows that it will cause later consequences. At first, Friar thinks that “For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households rancor to pure love” (2.3.98-99), meaning that he thinks the marriage will bring about peace to the two opposed families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Immediately, however, he tells Romeo,” Wisely and slowly, they stumble that run fast” (2.3.101). Friar Lawrence warns Romeo that if he is too hasty, then it leads to bad consequences. Friar Lawrence is clearly aware that if he and he alone marries the two, then their marriage will collapse, yet he decides to marry Romeo and Juliet. This causes both of them to sink into depression after Romeo gets banished from the city of Verona, his home town. Without Friar Lawrence, the two would not have married, which would not lead to their depression and further

In addition, the second way Friar Lawrence impacts the play and moves it forward is he came up with the plan for Juliet to fake her death which led to tragedy. For example, in the story it states,”I could not send it, nor get a messenger to bring thee, so fearful were they of infection.” Generally, when someone knows the importance of something, they will try their utmost hardest to make sure it gets done. Secondly, in the story it states,”Hold,then:go home,be merry,give consent to marry Paris:Wednesday is to-morrow:to-morrow night look that thou lie alone; let no thy nurse lie with thee in thy chamber:Take thou this vial,being then in bed and this distill

In Henry James’s “Daisy Miller” and Edith Wharton’s “The Other Two,” the narrators each disclose the complications of their party’s social formalities during circumstances within their own society. In both short stories, Winterbourne and Waythorn try to figure out their adored ones character and motives but for different reasons. In “Daisy Miller,” it’s noticeable that Mr. Winterbourne ends up longing for Daisy Miller as he tries to fully categorize the character she’s carelessly ruining. While in “The Other Two,” the narrator examines a society of how a married couple, Waythorn and Alice, adjust to an awkward

Edith Wharton develops Lady Bart as a character who is a product of her environment, preyed upon by circumstance and fate. Lily's name, referring to a highly ornamental flower, immediately creates the image of a delicate creature who is grown in the rich soils of society and who, if uprooted from this societal soil, would wither and perish. Lily, as any living organism, is not simply a static figure in her environment. Instead, she is a true naturalistic character, responsive and subject to the conditions of her surroundings. For example, when Lily and Selden meet at Bellomont, "Lily's beauty expanded like a flower in sunlight" (108) and, "her face turned toward him with the soft motion of a flower" (109). Thus, although it can be argued that Lily is not a naturalistic character because of Wharton's emphasis on

Throughout The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, the relationship Mrs. Peniston has with Lily changes. After Lily’s mother dies, Mrs. Peniston, Lily’s aunt, takes her in. Mrs. Peniston “had the kind of moral mauvaise honte which makes the public display of selfishness hard”(36). Lily appreciates her aunt’s charitable actions, and is “grateful for the refuge offered”(36). She even says that she has “no intention of taking advantage of [Mrs. Peniston’s] good nature”(36). In the beginning, Mrs. Peniston and Lily get along well with each other. Both make efforts in helping the each other out, and they appreciate what the other does for them. Even though Lily would have preferred to have a fixed income, she is grateful that Mrs. Peniston “supplemented [her]

This passage demonstrates how deeply rooted wealth and marriage are to Lily’s character. Lily cannot survive without money and she can never find a perfect marriage. At the time of this passage Lily is