Essays by Cassidy H.
House of Mirth
by Edith Wharton
Marriages revolve around social and financial security. There is a more desperate note among women when it comes to marriages, for women have two options: marriage or spinsterhood. Many want the financial stability that a marriage would bring them, and strive for the best option. Lily shows her eagerness to have a lavish lifestyle, and recreates herself in order to appeal to Mr. Gryce. It is well known that Mr. Gryce is not an agreeable person, Mrs. Trenor even states that no one could imagine Lily putting up with Gryce unless she intended on marrying him (81). Many women deal with undesirable husbands in order to have that wealth, but there is a point where certain traits outbalance others. This is true of the proposed betrothal between Mr. Rosedale and Lily Bart. Mr. Rosedale is fully aware of her dislike for him, even if she tried to dispel it, and he proposes a marriage based completely on social and financial needs. Rosedale states that it’s a business deal with mutual benefits on both sides (193). Her repulsion is only overcome closer to the end of the book; her financial needs outweigh her revulsion towards him.
WEALTH'S DISTORTION
Works Cited
Wharton, Edith. House of Mirth. 1905. Public Domain Book.
Fig. 1 House of Mirth cover. Penguin Classics. "Book Cover Monday" A Diligent Observer. 2010. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.
While love is fought against in House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, it is one of the only things in the book that can not be distorted by financial or social wants. While many compete for the richest husband or contrive of ways to bring themselves to a higher social standing; it all falls through in the end. Lily’s parents show that only material needs are met in this society, for Lily’s father is dead the moment that he can not provide for the family (34). It is romanticism, but love is the only thing that overcomes this society ruled by money.
Love does not exist in the marriages of the rich; if one marries for love then riches do not matter. Lily’s mother recognizes this and abhors marrying for love, for if someone marries for love, there is a chance of being poor (41). Lily’s fight against dinginess, while it ultimately fails, is also a fight against her love for Selden. Lily feels free when she is with Selden, but he does not come with the glamour and financial freedom that Gryce or Rosedale supply. In essence, Selden is liberating and the upper class sweeps her away in currents that eventually drown her. The depression she is thrown into is caused by her materialistic wants. If she had chosen Selden, she would have at least had something that was undistorted by money and based on truth, unlike what her relationship with Gryce or Rosedale would have been. Selden states, “When it becomes the thing worked for it distorts all the relations of life” (75). This is precisely what happens to Ms. Bart when she sets her sights on being rich; Selden is unaffected by the distortion because he is bystander and not a participant like Lily.
Fig. 2. Three panel comic strip of House of Mirth. Lisa M. Brown. Three Panel Book Review. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2016
Marriages play a significant role in the social life of the rich, and are distorted because of the reasoning behind them. For the women and men in House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton, marriage is for financial and social security. Women compete for the money, not for the man. Lily Bart even states that she had fallen in love with several fortunes, but only one man (69). Everything is shallow and superfluous, like in Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald, and relations are distorted because of this materialistic view.