Femininity Through Views of Marriage In the House of Mirth

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Recommended: Portrayal of women in literature

The early 18th century in America is notably a great prosperous period. Since the use of money played a crucial role on where you stood in the social ladder, many people in that time period used their money for that reason. This was a problem since most of the society tried to climb up the social ladder. Nevertheless, as men mostly used money to manage their status in society, women used marriage to grant themselves a wealthy life. In The House of Mirth, written by Edith Wharton, the role of women in society is seemingly expressed through their characteristics. Different aspects of femininity are introduced by how Wharton depicts women in the society. By looking at how Wharton portrays women in the society, readers will have a representation on the role of women as they deal with their morals, money, privileges and affections.

In the beginning of the novel, Wharton introduces Lily Bart as an alluring and delicate woman with a desire to live a prosperous life. We also see that Lily recognizes that her solution to save herself from a life that “to her last breath she [means] to fight against” is marriage (39). In this novel, marriage is prevalent because, as said before, women used marriage to grant themselves a wealthier life. “In her youth, girls had not been supposed to require close supervision. They were generally assumed to be taken up with the legitimate business of courtship and marriage”(127). Lily understands that for her to marry a rich man and have a prosperous life, she would have to give up her privileges and affection. However, to love someone she has no affection toward is always a problem for her, especially when she has her love for money. This is why her duality keeps her from reaching her goal – she’s indecisiv...

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... the nest, the man’s faith as well as the woman’s courage” (320). The courage mentioned here is sacrificing the desire for money for love and social status for freedom.
The House of Mirth is significant in describing the historical context of the society in the prosperous period. In it, the picture of femininity through marriages in the 1900s is portrayed clearly with the different characteristics of women in society. Each of the female types Wharton shape are female stereotypes and that was mainly appropriate for the time at which the book was introduced. The novel creates the world of women where their morality, love, and freedom are valued in different situations and in different level of society. From there, people will have the right look of the effect of marriage on women’s decision and how they solve their problem when their real selves come back to them.

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