The House of Mirth

Last updated
The House of Mirth
The House of Mirth-FirstEdition.JPG
First edition, 1905
Author Edith Wharton
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreNovel
PublishedOctober 14, 1905
Charles Scribner's Sons
Media typeprint
ISBN 978-1-716-71037-7

The House of Mirth is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century. [lower-alpha 1] The House of Mirth traces Lily's slow two-year social descent from privilege to a lonely existence on the margins of society. In the words of one scholar, Wharton uses Lily as an attack on "an irresponsible, grasping and morally corrupt upper class." [2]

Contents

Before publication as a book on October 14, 1905, The House of Mirth was serialized in Scribner's Magazine beginning in January 1905. Charles Scribner wrote Wharton in November 1905 that the novel was showing "the most rapid sale of any book ever published by Scribner." [2] By the end of December, sales had reached 140,000 copies. [2] [3] Wharton's royalties were valued at more than half a million dollars in today's currency. The commercial and critical success of The House of Mirth solidified Wharton's reputation as a major novelist. [3]

Because of the novel's commercial success, some critics classified it as a genre novel. Literary reviewers and critics at the time categorized it as both a social satire and novel of manners. When describing it in her introduction to Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth: A Case Book, Carol Singley states that the novel "is a unique blend of romance, realism, and naturalism, [and thus] transcends the narrow classification of a novel of manners." [4] [lower-alpha 2] The House of Mirth was Wharton's second published novel, [2] preceded by two novellas, The Touchstone (1900) and Sanctuary (1903), and a novel, The Valley of Decision (1902).

Background, theme, and purpose

In The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart attracts the attentions of a married man. House of Mirth 3.jpg
In The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart attracts the attentions of a married man.

Wharton considered several titles for the novel about Lily Bart; [lower-alpha 3] two were germane to her purpose:

A Moment's Ornament appears in the first stanza of William Wordsworth's (1770–1850) poem, "She was a Phantom of Delight" (1804), that describes an ideal of feminine beauty:

She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleam'd upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament:
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful dawn;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.

CLXXIV: She was a Phantom of Delight, first stanza (1804) [5]

"A moment's ornament" [lower-alpha 4] represents the way Wharton describes Lily's relationship to her reference group as a beautiful and well-bred socialite. Her value lasts only as long as her beauty and good-standing with the group is maintained. By centering the story around a portrait of Lily, Wharton was able to address directly the social limitations imposed upon her. These included the mores of the upper crust social class to which Lily belonged by birth, education, and breeding. [7]

The final title Wharton chose for the novel was The House of Mirth (1905), taken from the Old Testament:

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Ecclesiastes 7:4

The House of Mirth spotlights social context as equally important to the development of the story's purpose, as the heroine. [lower-alpha 5] "Mirth" contrasted with "mourning" also bespeaks a moral purpose as it underscores the frivolity of a social set that not only worships money, but also uses it ostentatiously solely for its own amusement and aggrandizement. At the time the novel takes place, Old New York high society was peopled by the extraordinarily wealthy who were conditioned by the economic and social changes the Gilded Age (1870–1900) wrought. Wharton's birth around the time of the Civil War predates that period by a little less than a decade. As a member of the privileged Old New York society, [lower-alpha 6] she was eminently qualified to describe it authentically. She also had license to criticize the ways New York high society of the 1890s had changed without being vulnerable to accusations of envy motivated by coming from a lower social caste. [lower-alpha 7] She accused her peers of having lost the sense of noblesse oblige of their forebears.

Wharton revealed in her introduction to the 1936 reprint of The House of Mirth her choice of subject and her major theme:

When I wrote House of Mirth I held, without knowing it, two trumps in my hand. One was the fact that New York society in the nineties was a field as yet unexploited by a novelist who had grown up in that little hot-house of tradition and conventions; and the other, that as yet these traditions and conventions were unassailed, and tacitly regarded as unassailable.

Introduction to 1936 Edition, The House of Mirth 32–33 [10]

Wharton figured that no one had written about New York society because it offered nothing worth writing about. But that did not deter her as she thought something of value could be mined there. If only the writer could dig deeply enough below the surface, some "stuff o' the conscience" could be found. She went on to declare unabashedly that:

[I]n spite of the fact I wrote about totally insignificant people, and 'dated' them by an elaborate stage-setting of manners, furniture and costume, the book still lives and has now attained the honour of figuring on the list of the Oxford University Press. . . . Such people always rest on an underpinning of wasted human possibilities and it seemed to me the fate of the persons embodying these possibilities ought to redeem my subject from insignificance.

Introduction to 1936 Edition, The House of Mirth 33 [10]

The central theme of The House of Mirth is essentially the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be. Thus, it is considered by many to be as relevant today as it was in 1905. [11] If its sole subject had been the excesses and lives of the rich and famous, by themselves, it is doubtful it would have remained popular for as long as it has. The House of Mirth continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication, possibly due to its timeless theme. That the life and death of Lily Bart matters to modern readers suggests that Wharton succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it." [4]

Plot

Poster for the serialized debut of The House of Mirth in Scribner's Magazine (1905) Scribner's for March, now ready. Everybody is talking of the house of mirth, by Edith Wharton in Scribner's. Are you reading it%3F LCCN2014649554.jpg
Poster for the serialized debut of The House of Mirth in Scribner's Magazine (1905)

Lily Bart is a beautiful but impoverished socialite, who is seeking a husband to secure her future. Her success is challenged by her advancing age — at twenty-nine, she has been on the "marriage market" for more than ten years — and her debts from gambling at bridge. While Lily admires the handsome and ambitious lawyer Lawrence Selden, he is too poor for her to seriously consider marrying; instead, her only prospects are the coarse and vulgar Simon Rosedale, a financier, and the wealthy but dull Percy Gryce.

Lily grew up surrounded by elegance and luxury — an atmosphere she believes she cannot live without. The loss of her father's wealth, coupled with the sudden death of her parents, left her an orphan at twenty. Lacking an inheritance or a caring protector, she adapts to life as a ward of her strait-laced aunt, Julia Peniston, from whom she receives an erratic allowance, a fashionable address, and good food, but little direction or parenting. Lily loathes the neglectful Julia and avoids her whenever possible but is forced to rely on her for her necessities and luxuries.

Lily learns that Selden and the vindictive heiress Bertha Dorset were once lovers. She also confides her money problems to Gus Trenor, a stockbroker and the husband of her childhood friend Judy, receiving from him a check for $5,000 and an investment of $4,000 in her name. Trenor tries to exploit his generosity to make a romantic move, but Lily spurns his attentions. Bertha still has feelings for Lawrence notwithstanding her recent breakup with him. When it becomes clear that Seldon still has feelings for Lily, she aims to ruin the latter's budding romance with Percy by filling him in on the most salacious and scandalous rumors about Lily's card-playing and past romantic life. This effectively frightens Percy away. Lily, unaware of Bertha's machinations, blames Judy for having been the one to set the match up.

In retribution for a social snub, Lily's cousin Grace Stepney informs Julia of rumors that Lily is having an affair with Gus to obtain money so she can pay off her gambling debts. This plants seeds of doubt and discomfort in Julia who, though shocked, chooses to accept the rumors without speaking to her niece.

The tragic heroine of The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart, lingers at the broad staircase, observing the high-society people gathered in the hall below. House of Mirth 1.jpg
The tragic heroine of The House of Mirth (1905), Lily Bart, lingers at the broad staircase, observing the high-society people gathered in the hall below.

Furthermore, Lily has soured her relationships with both Gus, who is angered by her spurning him, and Judy, because she refuses to visit her at Bellomont lest Gus confront her and reveal that she had manipulated him for financial gain.

To avoid having to spend time alone with her aunt, the Trenors, Simon Rosedale, or anyone else she considers a possible source of embarrassment or boredom, Lily begins to accept invitations from people with whom she would not ordinarily socialize. These include the Wellington Brys, who are newcomers to the New York social scene, and whose social rise is being engineered by Carry Fisher. Carry, a fallen aristocrat who supports herself by acting as a social secretary to usher newly wealthy people into fashionable society, invites Lily to social events hosted by Louisa Bry. Lily also attends the opera with Carry, Simon, and Gus. In the eyes of high society, Lily cheapens herself by voluntarily associating with her social inferiors. She returns briefly to Bellomont only to find that her peers now look at her with derision and disgust.

One of Julia's temporary servants, who is also the charwoman at Selden's apartment, sells Lily a package of torn love letters. These were written by Bertha Dorset years earlier, and they represent a chance for Lily to deal with her enemy. But instead of blackmailing Bertha into a positive relationship, Lily tries to neutralize the gossip by making herself useful to Bertha. Bertha, who is sleeping with Ned Silverton, relies on Lily to distract her husband, George.

The extent to which Lily's reputation is damaged becomes obvious when she publicly appears in a way that comes across as advertising her availability for an illicit relationship. Following Carry's advice, the Wellington Brys throw a large "general entertainment" [12] featuring a series of tableaux vivants portrayed by a dozen fashionable women in their set, including Miss Bart.

The pièce de résistance of this highly successful event turns out to be the portrayal of Mrs. Lloyd in Sir Joshua Reynolds' famous 18th-century painting (1775–1776). The portrait shows an attractive woman suggestively clad. [lower-alpha 8] [14] As the curtain opens on this last scene, the gasp of approval heard from the audience was not so much for Reynolds’ brilliant interpretation of Mrs. Lloyd as it was for the loveliness of Lily Bart herself — marking the pinnacle of her social success but also the annihilation of whatever reputation is left to her. For better or for worse, she has transitioned from a marriageable "girl" to a not-quite-reputable woman similar to Carry Fisher. Yet she does not do as Carry Fisher does and accept the loss of her respectability as the price, she must pay to maintain a position in society.

As Selden observes her in this elegantly simple tableau, he sees the real Lily Bart as if for the first time [lower-alpha 9] and feels the desire to be with her. He finds her alone in the ballroom toward the end of the musical interlude, as the collective praise from her admirers is subsiding. He leads her to a garden where he tells her he loves her and they kiss. Lily sighs, " 'Ah, love me, love me—but don't tell me so!' " and takes her leave. [lower-alpha 10] As Selden gathers his coat to leave, he is disturbed by Ned Van Alstyne's remarks, ". . . .Gad, what a show of good-looking women; but not one of 'em could touch that little cousin of mine. . . . I never knew till tonight what an outline Lily has."

Lily pleads with her aunt to help settle her debts and confesses her addiction to gambling. Julia feels taken advantage of and refuses to help her, except to cover the bill for her clothes and accessories. Feeling trapped and disgraced, she turns to thoughts of Selden as her savior and has a change of heart towards him as she looks forward to his next visit at four o'clock.

Instead, her visitor turns out to be Simon Rosedale who, so smitten by her appearance in the tableau vivant, proposes a marriage that would be mutually beneficial. Considering what Rosedale knows about her, she skillfully pleads for time to consider his offer [lower-alpha 11] Selden does not appear for his 4:00 appointment nor does he send word in explanation. Instead, she learns that he has departed for Havana and then on to Europe for a business trip.

To escape the rumors arising from the gossip caused by her financial dealings with Gus, and also disappointed by what she interprets as Selden's emotional withdrawal, Lily accepts Bertha's spur-of-the-moment invitation to join her and George on a Mediterranean cruise aboard their yacht; Lily is expected once again to hide Bertha's affair. Lily's decision to accept the offer proves to be her social undoing.

In order to divert the attention and suspicion of their social circle away from her, Bertha insinuates that Lily is carrying on a romantic and sexual liaison with George by instructing her not to sleep on the yacht in front of their friends at the close of a dinner the Brys held for the Duchess in Monte Carlo. Selden inadvertently help by arranging a night's lodging, under the promise that she leave promptly in the morning. The ensuing social scandal ruins Lily's reputation and almost immediately causes her friends to abandon her and Julia to disinherit her.

Undeterred by such misfortunes, Lily fights to regain her place in high society by advising Mr. and Mrs. Gormer on their entry into the aristocracy, but when the couple learn from Bertha the "scandalous" personal background of their new secretary, they are quick to chase her out rather than risk losing their new standing. Only two friends remain for Lily: Gerty Farish (a cousin of Lawrence Selden) and Carry, who help her cope with the social ignominy of a degraded social status while continually advising Lily to marry as soon as reasonably possible.

Despite the efforts of both Carry and Farish, Lily rapidly descends through the social strata of New York City's high society. She obtains a job as personal secretary of Mrs. Hatch, a disreputable woman who very nearly succeeds in marrying a wealthy young man in Lily's former social circle. It is during this occupation she is introduced to the use of chloral hydrate, sold in drugstores, as a remedy for malaise. She resigns her position after Hatch blames her for the failure of her engagement. Lily then finds a job in a milliner's shop; unaccustomed to the rigors of working-class manual labor, her rate of production is low, and the quality of her workmanship is poor, exacerbated by her increased use of the drug. She is fired at the end of the New York social season, when the demand for fashionable hats has diminished.

Meanwhile, Simon, reappears in her life and tries to rescue her, but Lily is unwilling to meet his terms. Simon wants Lily to use the love letters that she bought from Selden's servant to expose the love affair between Lawrence and Bertha, thus crushing a potential rival and allowing him to further ascend up the social ladder. For the sake of Selden's reputation, Lily does not act upon Rosedale's request and secretly burns the letters when she visits Selden one last time.

Lily is stopped on the street by Nettie Struther, who Lily once helped get to a hospital. Nettie is now married and has a baby girl, and she invites Lily to her apartment to work as a nursemaid for her daughter.

Eventually, Lily receives a ten-thousand-dollar inheritance following Julia's death, which she uses to repay Gus. Distraught by her misfortunes, Lily is now crippled by drug dependence. Once she has repaid all her debts, Lily takes an overdose and dies; perhaps it is suicide, perhaps an accident. As she is dying, she hallucinates cradling Nettie's baby in her arms. That very morning, Lawrence arrives at her quarters, to finally propose marriage, but finds Lily dead. Among her belongings are bank receipts proving her dealings with Gus were honorable and that the rumors that destroyed her were false from the beginning. This realization allows him to feel sympathy for her, and he is clearly distraught at her death.

Characters

Lily Bart— Wharton paints Lily, the heroine of her novel, as a complex personality with a given name that suggests purity and a surname that implies defiance. [lower-alpha 12] and the foolishness that the title of the novel implies. The combination of the social pressures and conventions of her reference group and her refusal to "settle" numerous times to save herself portend a fateful destiny where she becomes complicit in her own destruction. [16] Wharton depicts Lily as having an aesthetic purpose in life—a fine specimen to be looked at and admired. Her extraordinary beauty should have served her well to find a wealthy husband with the requisite social status that would have secured her place in upper-class New York society. However, her inner longing to become free of her society's social conventions, her sense of what is right, and her desire for love as well as money and status have thwarted her success in spite of a number of eligible admirers over the ten years she has been on the marriage market. Challenges to her success are her advancing age—she is 29 as the novel begins—the loss of her father's wealth, and the death of her parents which has left her orphaned without a caring protector, her constant efforts to "keep up with the Joneses"(4), [lower-alpha 13] the very modest but erratic "allowance" from her strait-laced Aunt Julia, and her gambling debts which make her the subject of vile gossip. To protect Lawrence Selden's reputation, she refuses to use damning evidence against her nemesis, Bertha Dorset, which would have recouped her ruined social standing. This leads to a tragic yet heroic ending.

Lawrence Selden—A young lawyer who, although not wealthy himself, is able to move easily within and without Old New York's elite social circles through kinship with old-line New York families. He has known Lily since her "coming out" eleven years earlier. For all this time he has been in the background of her life. He views the comings and goings of New York's high society with the detachment and the objectivity of an outsider —a characteristic that Lily not only admires but also that allows her to view those people in her surroundings in an objective, critical and a not-so-flattering way. She becomes fascinated and envies his independence from the "tribe" and the freedom that has given him. [lower-alpha 14] Her encounters with Selden underscore the conflict between her inner voice —her self-hood at its core— and the outer voices of her reference group. It is from Selden's description, assessment and admiration of Lily's outward characteristics that we glean those attributes that contribute to New York high society's perception and misperceptions of who she is. He can be brutally honest about Lily's superficiality and artificiality and simultaneously appreciate the sparks of freedom and spontaneity that temper these negatives. These mutual admirable qualities give way to their romantic regard for one another. He is not, however, free from the social pressure of rumor. Though he has shown Lily consistent friendship, he abandons her when she becomes the victim of appearances that put her virtue, as an unmarried woman, in question.

Simon Rosedale—A successful and socially astute Jewish businessman—the quintessential parvenu—who has the money but not the social standing to be accepted into the circle of New York's leisure class. Building his fortune in real estate, Rosedale makes his first appearance in the story when he observes Lily leaving his apartment building after what appears to be a tryst with one of his tenants. Rosedale is interested in Lily because not only is she beautiful, but what is more important, she is also a social asset in gaining him a place in high society. She reflects that she has put herself in his power by her clumsy dress-maker fib and her refusal to allow him to take her to the station which would have given him the prestige of being seen by members of the society with whom he was aspiring to gain acceptance. As his social ascendency continues, he offers Lily marriage which would provide her a way out of her financial dilemma and her precarious social standing; she puts him off. His cleverness and business acumen serve him well to achieve a higher and higher rung on the social ladder. Lily, however, is on her way down to the point that Rosedale is no longer interested in marrying her. Despite the differences in their social standing , Rosedale by the end of the story shows compassion for Lily. He offers her a loan when he runs into her after she has lost her hat-making job—an offer she refuses.

Percy Gryce—A conservative, rich, but shy and unimaginative young eligible bachelor on whom Lily, with the support of her friend Judy Trenor, sets her sights. Percy's less than titillating personality notwithstanding, Lily works out a strategy to catch him at week-long festivities at Bellomont. Her fortuitous and successful encounter with Percy on the train to Bellomont further encourages her in pursuit of her goal. Her strategy gets interrupted, however, when Selden at week's end also appears on the scene unexpectedly. Lily then decides, on the spur of the moment, to set aside her well-thought-out tactics to pursue Percy in favor of spending some time with Selden. When, at a more rational moment, she returns to pursuing Percy, his mother-in law-to-be tells Lily at Jack Stepny's and Gwen Van Osburgh's wedding about his engagement to Evie Van Osburgh.

Bertha Dorset (Mrs. George Dorset)—A petite and pretty high-society matron whose husband George is extremely wealthy. She is first introduced catching the train to Bellomont where she boards with great fanfare and commotion. She demands that the porter find her a seat with her friends, Lily and Percy. Once at Bellomont Judy Trenor intimates to Lilly that Bertha is manipulative and also unscrupulous such that it is better to have her as a friend rather than an enemy. It is well known that Bertha is bored with her husband and seeks attention and love outside the confines of marriage. At Bellomont Bertha continues to pursue Selden in an attempt to rekindle the flame of an adulterous affair they have been carrying on but with which he has become disenamored. As Book I ends, she invites Lily to accompany her on a Mediterranean cruise to distract her husband so she can carry on an affair with Ned Silverton. Bertha understands, as a married woman, she must keep up appearances and ruthlessly impugns Lily's reputation to mask her own adultery. She spreads false rumors that besmirch Lily's virtue among their friends. Lily, as an unmarried woman without a protector, has little she can do in her own defense.

Mrs. Peniston (Julia)—Lily's wealthy, widowed Aunt –sister to Lily's father. Mrs. Peniston embodies "old school" morality and has a family pedigree that goes back to the industrious and successful Dutch families of early New York. Although she maintains an opulent residence on fashionable Fifth Avenue, she does not follow fashion or renovate constantly to maintain a chic appearance. In Lily's eyes, the Peniston home is therefore dingy. Mrs. Peniston's "Old New York" lifestyle requires keeping her drawing room neat, eating well and dressing expensively. She harbors a passive attitude and does not actively engage in life. Although she spends time in the country during the first part of the book, by the last half of the book she is a shut-in with significant heart problems. When Lily arrived in New York in financial distress after the death of her mother, Mrs. Peniston took pleasure in the public display of her generosity by agreeing to take Lily on for a year after her mother died—much to the relief of the extended family. She found, to her surprise, that she liked the volatile Lily. She therefore continued to support Lily for over a decade during Lily's fruitless search for a wealthy, socially connected husband. She indulges and passively enables Lily's habit of gallivanting with her fashionable friends, and ignores the way Lily avoids and abandons her. Although Lily is clearly Julia's favorite, displacing her previous favorite Grace Stepney, Julia never makes any verbal or written promise to provide for Lily in the long term. Although Lily and her friends believe that is "understood" that she will inherit most if not all of Julia's fortune, Julia herself never made such a statement. Indeed, her forbearance is stretched to the limit when rumors reach her that Lily gambles for money and is encouraging attention from married men who compensate her for it. As upset as Julia is by evidence of Lily's immoral behavior, she does not immediately ask Lily for details because it is easier to discredit the messenger. When Lily comes to Julia asking for money to pay various debts, including what Lily passes off as gambling debts, Julia refuses. The relationship is permanently damaged, and when Lily sails away with the Dorsets instead of cleaning up the social and financial mess she has made, Julia does not write to Lily or attempt to repair the relationship. When word reaches her that Lily has been publicly accused of having an affair with George Dorset, and when Lily continues to gallivant in Europe instead of returning home, Julia disinherits Lily in favor of the more loyal Grace Stepney. By the time Lily returns to New York, Julia has died, and nobody knows about the disinheritance until her will is read.

Judy Trenor (Mrs. Gus Trenor)—Lily's best friend and confidante— is the stereotypical high-society matron, married to Gus Trenor, a successful business man. She frequently hosts large parties and social events at their country home, Bellomont. By engaging in gossip Mrs. Trenor keeps up on the social scene. She acts as matchmaker between Lily and Percy Gryce. She uses Lily as her surrogate private secretary and spends much of her day making sure that every detail of her events is done to perfection. This includes poring over lists to decide which guests are the most desirable to invite, which have been "stolen" by another conflicting event, and which unmarried men and women should be set up together. She invites Selden to Bellomont on anonymous advice to keep Mrs. George Dorset entertained. Judy suffers from frequent headaches and avoids noisy environments such as the opera. She must sometimes cancel minor engagements on short notice, and prefers to stay at Bellomont when her head hurts.

Gus Trenor—Judy Trenor's husband—a massive man with a heavy carnivorous head and a very red complexion. He is a successful stock market speculator and an advocate of Simon Rosedale's acceptance in high society circles although he considers him a bounder. He is also a notorious flirt and looks for attention in relationships with women outside of his marriage. Gus becomes enamored with Lily, a frequent guest at his wife's weekend social events. He uses his financial investment skills and a large sum of his own money in a risky investment for Lily which she agrees to. The proceeds from this speculation will help her pay her gambling debts and other expenses necessary to keep up appearances. The investment pays off for Lily financially, as Gus intends that it should, but the friendship turns sour when Lily is unwilling to exchange romantic attention for money the way Gus believes she tacitly agrees to do.

Carry Fisher (Mrs. Fisher)—A small, fiery and dramatic divorcée. She is perceived as carrying "a general air of embodying a 'spicy paragraph';"(70) [1] and according to Mrs. Trenor, ". . .most of her alimony is paid by other women's husbands." (91) [1] She sponges money from Gus Trenor to cover her bills much to his wife's chagrin. Although Gus accepts romantic favors from Mrs. Fisher in exchange for paying her bills and investing her money in the stock market, he considers her a "battered wire-puller"(94) [1] in comparison to the fresh and unsullied Miss Bart. Carry is also known for bringing newcomers into high society such as Rosedale and the Wellington Brys, who had managed the miracle of making money in a falling market. After Lily has been expelled from the upper class by Bertha, Carry is one of the few people who still show compassion toward her, offering Lily support and job opportunities. Carry is an example of a woman who finds ways to earn money and to succeed in society despite being divorced and somewhat disreputable. Her presence in the story refutes the notion that Lily has no choice except to self-destruct.

Ned Silverton—A young man, whose first intention was to live on proofreading and write an epic, but ended up living off his friends. Ned's romantic relationship at the Bellomont house party is with Carry Fisher. Six months later, Ned accompanies Lily and the Dorsets on their Mediterranean cruise. He has an affair with Mrs Dorset, who manages to keep it concealed from most of society. Ned's increasing gambling addiction consumes not only his resources but that of his sisters, who live in poverty while he travels with Bertha Dorset. After the fling with Bertha ends, Ned participates in a scheme to help a purportedly wealthy but disreputable woman to marry the younger brother of Gwen and Evie Van Osburgh. This conspiracy, in which Lily is implicated, helps ensure Lily's downfall.

Evie Van Osburgh—A young, innocent, dull, and conservative, stay-at-home kind of a girl, heiress to a substantial fortune. Judy Trenor paired her sister, Gwen, with Percy Gryce at the Sunday-night supper at Bellomont. Evie ends up getting engaged within six weeks of their stay at Bellomont to Percy Gryce due to Bertha Dorset's match-making skills.

Gerty Farish—Selden's cousin. She is a kind, generous woman who occupies herself with charity work, but Lily despises her because of her less than glamorous appearance. In Book Two, Gerty becomes one of Lily's only friends, giving her a place to stay and taking care of her when everyone else abandons her. Lily does not wish to continue living with Gerty or combining resources because she is unwilling to lower herself to the standard of living Gerty can afford.

Jack Stepney and Gwen (Van Osburgh) Stepney—A very wealthy couple—guests at Bellomont just before celebrating their wedding at the Van Osburgh's estate six weeks later. They belong to Old New York's high society, although their money comes from Gwen's side. Prior to his marriage, the nearly bankrupt Jack has business dealings with Simon Rosedale and has tried to afford him entrée into New York's high society. After marrying Gwen, Jack becomes plump, conservative, and complacent. Jack is Lily's cousin so he agrees to shelter her for the night after Bertha kicks her off her yacht for ostensibly carrying on romantically with Bertha's husband.

Grace Stepney—Lily's middle-aged cousin lives in a boarding house and has spent most of her life waiting on Julia Peniston. Until Lily arrived, Grace was Julia's favorite: she shares Julia's conservatism and sense of propriety, and she is willing to help out during the fall cleaning. Grace attracts and remembers all manner of gossip related to high society in general and to Lily in particular, but does not generally gossip herself. Lily treats Grace very poorly, regarding her as insignificant. When Lily prevails on her aunt Julia to exclude Grace from a family dinner party, Grace retaliates. She relays to Aunt Julia the talk about Lily's attention to Gus Trenor in exchange for money that Lily used to pay gambling debts, and stops protecting Lily from the otherwise predictable consequences of Lily's actions. When Lily comes to Grace after the reading of the will, Grace does not have the money to give Lily the loan she is asking for because the assets Grace inherited from Julia are still tied up in probate. When Lily asks Grace to borrow money against Aunt Julia's estate and lend or give it to Lily, Grace refuses.

Critical reception

In the contemporary book review "New York Society Held up to Scorn in three New Books" (15 October 1905) The New York Times critic said that The House of Mirth is "a novel of remarkable power" and that "its varied elements are harmoniously blended, and [that] the discriminating reader who has completed the whole story in a protracted sitting, or two, must rise from it with the conviction that there are no parts of it which do not properly and essentially belong to the whole. Its descriptive passages have verity and charm, it has the saving grace of humor, its multitude of personages, as we have said, all have the semblance of life." [17]

The publication of the novel prompted letters to the editor of the "New York Times Saturday Review of Books" which argued the merits of the story, saying that the novel was a faithful and true portrait of the New York City gentry, while detractors said that it impugned the character of the city's social élite as a heartless and materialist leisure class. [18]

Adaptations

The novel The House of Mirth (1905) has been adapted to radio, the stage and the cinema.

Notes

  1. In the opening sentence of the House of Mirth Edith Wharton places Lily in "Grand Central Station" where Selden, a longtime friend and possible love interest is taken by surprise to see her. [1] The name of the famous New York City railroad terminal was changed from "Grand Central Depot" to Grand Central Station after extensive renovation of the "head house" between 1899 and 1900. The name Grand Central Station stuck despite further massive reconstruction between 1903 and 1913 when the site was named Grand Central Terminal.
  2. pg. 3
  3. The Year of the Rose also appears in one of her donnée books as a possible title for her novel. [4]
  4. Cynthia Griffin Wolff tells us (as cited in Restuccia (404)) [6] "In the first Donnée Book,". . ."'A Moment's Ornament' appears as the initial title of the novel." Wolff goes on to pinpoint a "pernicious form of femininity"—"femininity as the 'art of being'—as the subject of. . .'the House of Mirth'."
  5. Louise Barnett (1989) analyzes The House of Mirth as a "speech act drama" and interprets high society as a fully realized character. She further posits that in this "speech act drama" the only language that exists is for social discourse dominated by the linguistic strategies of men, yielding no language for personal discourse. Thus, the "word that would have saved both Lily and Selden. . .remains unuttered and unutterable"(61)as cited in Killoran(34) [8]
  6. Carol Singley defines "Old New York" society this way: "Wharton's family represented a class of American aristocrats made comfortable from inherited wealth, steeped in traditional values, and well practiced in patterns of ritualized behavior. Members of her society socialized with one another and shunned the ostentation of the nouveau riche , who after the Civil War were making their way into the ranks of Old New York."(5) [9]
  7. Ironically, critics in the '20s and '30s criticized Wharton precisely because of her wealth and pedigree as a member of "old money" Manhattan. They reasoned that "such a woman could not understand the average working person. . . ." and that "[Wharton's] upper-class characters. . .constituted too narrow a subject matter. . . ." to be of any importance to the real world. (3) [8]
  8. the portrait shows "a woman in profile with her hair piled high, carving her husband's name on a tree and dressed in an ivory robe that looks diaphanously loose and provocatively clinging at once." [13]
  9. Wharton describes the impression Lily's pose has on Selden as "divested of the trivialities of her little world, and catching for a moment a note of that eternal harmony of which her beauty was a part.(139)" [1]
  10. "Lily's artistic skill has been entirely focused on reading this theatrical effect—a gorgeous, static, utterly silent rendition of self. Paradoxically, it is here Selden finally supposes that he has glimpsed the real Lily Bart and that he might love her. Yet, it is also here that Lily despairs of realizing true comradeship. The very terms of her success have revealed the impossibility of concocting a new narrative with Selden. She no longer even asks for friendship but instead sadly inquires, 'Why can't we be friends? You promised once to help me' (22). [15]
  11. Lily skillfully says, "But I should be selfish and ungrateful if I made [carelessness about money and worry about bills] a reason for accepting all you offer, with no better return to make than the desire to be free of my anxieties. You must give me time—time to think of your kindness—and of what I can give you in return for it—" (176) [1]
  12. Jeffrey Myers tells us, "Lily Bart's surname means 'beard' in German; and in English 'to beard' means 'to defy' and 'to oppose boldly.' Though Lily defies social conventions, her first name is the Virgin Mary's symbol of purity and innocence . . . ." (XXIII) [3]
  13. Singley reports that Edith Wharton's mother, Lucretia Rhinelander Jones, had such high social aspirations, it gave rise to the expression "keeping up with the Joneses." [4]
  14. Lily muses as she reflects on her social constraints compared to Selden's freedom, "How alluring the world outside the [great gilt] cage appeared as she heard its door clang on her! In reality, as she knew, the door never clanged: it stood always open; but most of the captives were like flies in a bottle, and having once flown in, could never regain their freedom. It was Selden's distinction that he had never forgotten the way out." (70) [1]

Related Research Articles

<i>Jane Eyre</i> 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë

Jane Eyre is a novel by the English writer Charlotte Brontë. It was published under her pen name "Currer Bell" on 19 October 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year by Harper & Brothers of New York. Jane Eyre is a bildungsroman that follows the experiences of its eponymous heroine, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Wharton</span> American writer and designer (1862–1937)

Edith Wharton was an American writer and designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray realistically the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, for her novel The Age of Innocence. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1996. Among her other well known works are The House of Mirth, the novella Ethan Frome, and several notable ghost stories.

<i>The Age of Innocence</i> 1920 novel by Edith Wharton

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It was her eighth novel, and was initially serialized in 1920 in four parts, in the magazine Pictorial Review. Later that year, it was released as a book by D. Appleton & Company. It won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, making Wharton the first woman to win the prize. Though the committee had initially agreed to give the award to Sinclair Lewis for Main Street, the judges, in rejecting his book on political grounds, "established Wharton as the American 'First Lady of Letters'". The story is set in the 1870s, in upper-class, "Gilded Age" New York City. Wharton wrote the book in her 50s, after she was already established as a major author in high demand by publishers.

<i>The Buccaneers</i> 1938 novel by Edith Wharton

The Buccaneers is the last novel written by Edith Wharton. The story is set in the 1870s, around the time Wharton was a young girl. It was unfinished at the time of her death in 1937 and published in that form in 1938. Wharton's manuscript ends with Lizzy inviting Nan to a house party, to which Guy Thwaite has also been invited. The book was published in 1938 by Penguin Books in New York. After some time, Marion Mainwaring finished the novel, following Wharton's detailed outline, in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clyde Fitch</span> American playwright (1865–1909)

William Clyde Fitch was an American dramatist, the most popular writer for the Broadway stage of his time.

<i>Bookman</i> list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1900s

This is a list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1900s, as determined by The Bookman, a New York–based literary journal. The list features the most popular novels of each year from 1900 through 1909.

<i>The Age of Innocence</i> (1993 film) 1993 film directed by Martin Scorsese

The Age of Innocence is a 1993 American historical romantic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese. The screenplay, an adaptation of the 1920 novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, was written by Scorsese and Jay Cocks. The film stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder and Miriam Margolyes, and was released by Columbia Pictures. The film recounts the courtship and marriage of Newland Archer (Day-Lewis), a wealthy New York society attorney, to May Welland (Ryder); Archer then encounters and legally represents Countess Olenska (Pfeiffer) prior to unexpected romantic entanglements.

Summer is a novel by Edith Wharton, which was published in 1917 by Charles Scribner's Sons. While most novels by Edith Wharton dealt with New York's upper-class society, this is one of two novels by Wharton that were set in New England. Its themes include social class, the role of women in society, destructive relationships, sexual awakening and the desire of its protagonist, named Charity Royall. The novel was rather controversial for its time and is one of the less famous among her novels because of its subject matter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxana Robinson</span> American novelist and biographer (born 1946)

Roxana Robinson is an American novelist and biographer whose fiction explores the complexity of familial bonds and fault lines. She is best known for her 2008 novel, Cost, which was named one of the Five Best Novels of the Year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of Georgia O'Keeffe: A Life, and has written widely on American art and issues pertaining to ecology and the environment.

<i>The Custom of the Country</i> Novel by Edith Wharton

The Custom of the Country is a 1913 tragicomedy of manners novel by the American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Undine Spragg, a Midwestern girl who attempts to ascend in New York City society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Corri Harris</span> American socialite, golfer and actress (1890–1927)

Katherine Corri Harris was an American actress and socialite. She appeared in several stage plays and three silent films, and was the first wife of actor John Barrymore.

<i>The Touchstone</i>

The Touchstone is a novella by American writer Edith Wharton. Written in 1900, it was the first of her many stories describing life in old New York.

<i>The House of Mirth</i> (2000 film) 2000 film

The House of Mirth is a 2000 drama film written and directed by Terence Davies. An adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth, the film stars Gillian Anderson. It is an international co-production between the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States.

The House of Mirth is a 1981 American television film directed by Adrian Hall. It is based on Edith Wharton's 1905 novel of the same name. It stars Geraldine Chaplin as the protagonist, Lily Bart. The film was part-funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. It was broadcast on PBS' Great Performances on 2 November 1981.

<i>The House of Mirth</i> (1918 film) 1918 film by Albert Capellani

The House of Mirth is a 1918 American silent melodrama film directed by French film director Albert Capellani, starring Katherine Harris Barrymore as Lily Bart. It is a cinema adaptation of Edith Wharton's 1905 novel The House of Mirth and the first-ever cinema adaptation of any of her work. Metro Pictures put many efforts into the film in order to turn the original novel into an "all-star cast" film to earn popularity, as Metro Pictures itself announced that the film was "one of the most important productions" during 1918, and that the film contained "the strongest and the most distinguished cast ever selected for the screen". Initially, Emmy Wehlen starred in the role of Lily Bart in the film. Later, she was replaced by Katherine Harris Barrymore. The film contributed to the huge success of Metro Pictures that year. It is not known whether the film currently survives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Cruger</span> American novelist

Julia Grinnell Storrow Cruger was an American novelist. Because many of her books examined the American social world, she was known as the Edith Wharton of her day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Hunt Catlin Park DePew Taufflieb</span> American socialite

Julia Hunt Catlin Park DePew Taufflieb was a philanthropist and socialite who was the first American woman to be awarded the Croix de Guerre and Legion d'honneur by France in 1917 for turning her Château d'Annel into a 300-bed hospital during World War I.

Selden is a surname.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Cadwalader Rawle Jones</span>

Mary Cadwalader Rawle Jones was an American author, socialite, and social leader during the Gilded Age.

<i>Twilight Sleep</i> (novel) 1927 novel by Edith Wharton

Twilight Sleep is a novel by American author Edith Wharton and was first published in 1927 as a serial in the Pictorial Review before being published as a novel in the same year. The story, filled with irony, is centered around a socialite family navigating the New York of the Jazz Age and their relationships. This novel landed at number one on the best-selling list just two months after its publication and finished the year at number 7. Even as a best selling novel Twilight Sleep was not well received by critics at the time, who, while appreciating Wharton as a writer, struggled with the scenarios and characters she had created in the novel. While it was not considered as such in its own time period, today Twilight Sleep is widely considered to be a modernist novel as it employs modernist literary devices, such as an ever changing narration among the novel's characters and a close examination of the characters' self-identities and relationships with one another.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wharton, Edith, The House of Mirth: The Complete Text in Shari Benstock, ed. (1994). Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth pp.25-305 . Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. ISBN   0-312-06234-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Benstock, Shari (1994). "A critical history of the House of Mirth." In Ross C Murfin (series) & Shari Benstock (Eds.), Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth. pp. 309-325.
  3. 1 2 3 Meyers, Jeffrey (2004), Notes in Wharton, Edith (2004). The House of Mirth. Barnes & Noble. ISBN   1-59308-153-7.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Singley, Carol J., Introduction in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, A Case Book,pp. 3–24. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN   0-19-515603-X.
  5. "bartelby".
  6. Restuccia, Frances L. The name of the Lily: Edith Wharton's feminism(s) in Ross C. Murfin (series ed.) & Shari Benstock, ed. (1994). Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism: Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, Boston * New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. pp. 404-418.
  7. Lewis, RWB (1984), "Introduction", The House of Mirth, Bantam Books (published 1986)
  8. 1 2 Killoran, Hellen (2001). The Critical Reception of Edith Wharton . Rochester, NY: Camden House. ISBN   1-57113-101-9.
  9. Singley, Carol, Introduction in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). A Historical Guide to Edith Wharton, pp.3-18 . New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-513591-1.
  10. 1 2 Wharton, Edith., Introduction to the 1936 edition of The House of Mirth in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, A Case Book, pp. 31–38. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN   0-19-515603-X.
  11. Quindlen, Anna, Introduction in Wharton, Edith (2000). The House of Mirth. New York: The Penguin Group (Signet Classics). pp. v–xi. ISBN   978-0-451-47430-8.
  12. Wharton, Edith (1905). (1905). "The House of Mirth, Book I, Chapt. XII". books.google.com. Scribner's Magazine, Vol. 37. Retrieved May 28, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. Gorra, Michael(2015). "The portrait of Miss Bart". NYbooks.com/daily. The New York Review of Books. Retrieved May 26, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  14. "Joanna Leigh, Mrs Richard Bennett Lloyd inscribing her name on a tree, Joshua Reynolds – Waddesdon Manor". waddesdon.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  15. Wolff, Cynthia Griffin, "Lily Bart and the drama of femininity" in Carol J. Singley, ed. (2003). Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, A Case Book,pp. 209–228. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 337. ISBN   0-19-515603-X.
  16. 1 2 Commander, Katherine (21 April 2008). "Tragedy in The House of Mirth: The decline of Lily Bart". Chancellor's Honors Program Projects. University of Tennessee, Knoxville Trace: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  17. "New York Society Held Up to Scorn in Three New Books," New York Times, October 15, 1905
  18. Letter to the editor of the New York Times Saturday Review of Books, 3 March 1906.
  19. "The House of Mirth: The Play of the Novel, Dramatized by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch, 1906; edited, with an introd., notes, and appendixes by Glenn Loney", Catalogue, Australia: National Library, 1981, ISBN   9780838624166 .
  20. The House of Mirth: The Play of the Novel, Dramatized by Edith Wharton and Clyde Fitch, 1906; edited, with an introd., notes, and appendixes by Glenn Loney, Open library.
  21. Kirby, Walter (December 14, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 54.
  22. Marshall, Scott (1996), "Edith Wharton on Film and Television: A History and Filmography" (PDF), Edith Wharton Review, Washington State University: 15–25.
  23. "Home". garthbaxter.org.
  24. "Lily Opera by Garth Baxter".
  25. "CRC 3359 Songs and Arias by Garth Baxter".
  26. "ASK THE MOON - Garth Baxter".

Sources

Reviews