The Role Of Women In Edith Wharton's The House Of Mirth

Women in society sometimes are subject to objectification, meaning they are treated as a mere object; unequal to men. In the novel, The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, this holds true, except, women are said to be equal to men, but are not treated in this exact manner. Lily is apart of the upper class society of New York and attends parties, gambles all her money, and throughout the whole book tries to marry a rich man. Wharton’s feminism is apparent in the way she treats Lily; Lily gets through society, merely by keeping up her appearances. Beauty and appearance are everything in this society, if you are beautiful you will get far in society, however, the only thing Lily is lacking is wealth. In the novel, feminism is present with the idea of appearances and the symbol of money is used to convey that men are needed to control a women’s social stability.

At the turn of the 20th century, the social and economic climate of urban America saw a boom in industry and productivity. Within this microcosm of economic prosperity, social elites participated in a constant exchange of opportunities, ideas, and social exploitations. In Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, the atmosphere of high society deeply emulates the atmosphere of the market itself. Wharton utilizes economic terminology and vocabulary in this novel to establish the principles of courtship in post-Victorian society. In this society, women, marriage, and social favors serve as commodities which are traded back and forth between the masters of both the monetary and social economies.

The women of the story are not treated with the respect, which reflects their social standings. The first image of the women that the reader gets is a typical housewife. They are imaged as “wearing faded house dresses and

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).

Edith Wharton wrote and set The House Of Mirth in the American Gilded Age. Wharton uses Lily Bart, the protagonist, as a symbol for a common unmarried women living in that time period. However, Wharton’s

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

The House of Mirth, written by Edith Wharton, depicts the social system and how it functioned during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Through looking at the social rise and fall of Lily Bart, the protagonist, one can see how education, gender, and social status determine value and success. By the evident contrast between upper class and lower class values in the novel, the theme of performance is illuminated. Each character in the novel is performing—Lily, especially—and does so as a way of socially furthering themselves. This is due to the fact that in the novel, social status determines value; value increases as social status increases. This idea of performance correlating with social status and personal value aligns with Louis Althusser’s thesis regarding ideology: ideology is determined before birth and is performed. Ideology forms as soon as one is addressed and responds; Lily responds “yes” to each person who addresses her, but each address puts her in a different performance, causing her to be a reciprocal of these ideologies. Lily faces an internal conflict of which ideology she belongs to: was she pre-determined with an upper class ideology, or lower class ideology? Is she the person who is addressed by Percy Gryce, or Nettie Struther? This ideological struggle is conveyed most clearly when she interacts with Lawrence Selden, who challenges her values and beliefs. Two versions of Lily exist within the novel that perform and speak to each ideology.

Yet, this very society that demand its women be superficial creatures that merit worth only by appearance is also one which immediately rejects a woman who seems intent on marrying a man with wealth-the one course open to women who wish to be accepted in society.  This may be where one of Lily's character qualities prevents her from being able to join such a society.  She is no good at hiding her desire to marry a man of wealth.  In fact, she even tells Selden, her true love, that she "is very expensive" and "must have a great deal of money" (Wharton  31).  These kinds of admissions make Lily appear to be the one thing this superficial society cannot bear-a scheming adventuress out to snag a rich

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

The theme of the female body is first introduced at the beginning of the novel when Lawrence Selden sees Miss Lily Bart at the train station and carefully analyses

Most women desire to be rich and think it should be an aspiration in their life. As they get older they want to be remembered for something truly beautiful when they leave. Not all women have the same aspiration, but it is very dominant with some women to have money and be showy. Clearly, in both literature pieces “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, one will find that both Amanda and Mathlide want the “high life” for themselves and their household. Together, they have several similarities. Amanda Wingfield, a character in Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie and Mathilde Loisel, a character from the short story, “The Necklace” are totally different yet so alike in many ways such as their

The late Irish poet Oscar Wilde once stated, "In the world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.” This quote accurately describes human nature to the extent that man is never fully satisfied with his current possessions. In fact, most people who rely on materialistic items for happiness are typically desolated and miserable. This story is based on an archaic view on women, where women have no caste or hierarchy. The people grade women based off their looks and beauty. Money “practically makes nobility” (Shmoop). It “enables the user to pay for the high life” (Shmoop) and confine the person with luxurious items known to man. Money controls the life of people,

A woman’s heaven on Earth became the department store in 1838 in Paris. The department store became a haven where women of the wealthy middle class and the Bourgeois could spend their free time there and feel safe, much like they did at church. It also became an expansion of a woman’s sphere in both her work life and in public. But since the department store was first erected, it begs the burning question: why would the women of Paris feel safe in the department stores? Why would the lower middle-class girls work in the department stores where the hours were long and the salary was minimal? The department stores changed the way women were viewed in both society and by each other because they became “modern women” rather the “traditional

Newland’s intentions to expose his fiancé to the intellectual pursuits of life illustrate society’s propensity to objectify women rather than to treat them as individuals. For instance, May Welland is seen as a project for Newland; he is obsessed with freeing her from the confines of the patriarchy and her potential to become different. As an enlightened man, Newland scorns his society’s hypocrisy. “‘Women ought to be as free as we are-’” envisions Newland (Wharton 37). Indeed, Archer acknowledges the difficulties that women face and wants his relationship to be different. He

Work was a passion of his. He aspired to attain a position of power in business, and, as a result, she had found herself entertaining corpulent bosses who sported dainty wives; affluence personified. She resented him for putting her through such evenings – they would sneer when she said she hadn’t a career, and stayed at home. Catherine wasn’t like the wives of the other businessmen: she was aging, plain. But these fresh, young twentysomethings adorned their unprepossessing husbands – husbands whose sole attractive feature was his wallet. But in time these women would be traded in, replaced with a newer model when the men desired sexier pastures. She had seen him gaze longingly at these luscious women, desiring one himself. She was not oblivious to what he got up to. Many nights he had returned from work, somewhat later than usual, armed with the claims of a new client. But the palpable reek of cigar smoke and lingering perfume told otherwise.