The Gilded Cage: Social Critique in Edith Wharton’s “The House of Mirth”
The Main Characteristics of Upper-Class New York Society in Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton provides a critique of the upper-class society of New York in her novel The House of Mirth by criticizing two main aspects current during that period, the Gilded Age. It is important to remark the biographical content of the novel, since Wharton belonged to New York’s aristocracy and therefore, she wrote about the world of wealthy people and how it could destroy you.
Two main aspects of the upper-class society of New York that are criticized in The House of Mirth are:
Rewards and Dangers of High Society
Firstly, the novel explores both the rewards and dangers of living in New York’s high society. At the beginning of the novel, the only thing that makes Lily Bart happy is money. Indeed, she seems to be happier and happier when she has a great amount of money. According to her, the only way to keep those standards of living is by marrying a wealthy man, as she attempts to do with Simon Rosedale, Percy Gryce, and many more, although she does not do such a thing in the end. As Lily states in the first chapters, there is nothing worse than living in poverty, or “dinginess” as she calls it. However, as the story unfolds, we realize that Lily is actually suffering the consequences of belonging to the high society of New York. She cannot afford spending more money because she is running out of it. For example, at the beginning of the book, she is playing bridge with her friends at Bellomont when she realizes she has spent over 200 dollars on gambling, which makes her quit playing; otherwise, she will not be able to pay off all her debts. Later, she moves into her aunt’s place and takes the decision not to visit her friends at Bellomont for a time, as she needs to recover from her losses somehow. At the final chapters, Lily is excluded from that upper-class society for economic reasons and the rumors about her. She changes her mind and learns that not all in life is money. She also learns that she should not be ashamed of being poor and that it is possible to make her way up in society by means of hard work, which she takes from a character called Nettie Struther, a woman who has worked hard to recover from an illness and achieve economic stability. She is also married to a man for love, thus representing what Lily most wants in life.
When talking about the rewards of living in the high society of New York, it only affects the rich, single women. Rich people such as Bertha Dorset do not take any risk when acting opposite to the rules imposed by high society; they survive in that society through gossiping and because of the power of betrayal to convince people into their own interest to ostracize someone. Lily is the only character who regularly becomes the victim, and everything she does seems to turn against her, especially when she tries to work within the rules of her Darwinist and Puritan society. The social system is so defective that no woman can survive it unharmed unless she has her own economic power.
Hypocrisy, Gossip, and Morality
Firstly, hypocrisy is one of the most built-up themes of the novel. In the New York high society of the 20th century, fortunes are made out of social reputation. In other words, the characters take advantage of others to keep their reputation and do not hesitate to betray others to do such a thing. Lily Bart, a member of the upper-class society, plays the rules of the game, and her circle of friends acts according to those rules. Wealthy people of that century only gather with people of their own interest, merely to take benefits of each other. In the novel, the intentions of each individual are mainly fueled by interest. This can be seen in the character of Gus Trenor, when he offers Lily to invest in the Stock Market. He does it both because Lily needs the money and because he wants to have intercourse with her later. Also, the scene in which Rosedale proposes to Lily is of the utmost relevance. There are good reasons for both characters to marry one another. On the one hand, Lily would have more than enough money to spend, and on the other hand, Rosedale would become prestigious enough to belong to the upper classes of New York. Both characters can benefit from each other’s belongings.
Secondly, rumors also play a key role in the novel. The members of the upper-class society of New York are guided by rumors and gossiping. One’s reputation can be easily destroyed if that person does not respect or shows himself/herself in disagreement with the mainstream. Lily dares to break some of the rules imposed by that society. For example, in chapter one, she is waiting at the train station and encounters Selden. She accepts Selden’s invitation to go to his place, something unexpected from a rich and single woman. When she comes back to the station, out of the blue, she bumps into Rosedale and lies to him so that he does not find out that she has been with Selden. Later, Lily makes some reflections and claims that having taken that risk is going to cost her a great deal.
Another example is Lily’s disinheritance by her aunt. Lily’s aunt disinherits her niece because of the rumors that exist about her, such as gambling debts and the suspected affair with Trenor, mainly.
Thirdly, as the story unfolds, Lily changes her mind and becomes a benevolent character. Lily learns what true friendship means and learns the values of morality and ethics. Unlike the unscrupulous wealthy, the poor seem to know what respecting and giving a hand to each other means, with characters like Selden and Gerty Farish. When everything is lost and Lily is about to throw in the towel, Gerty Farish offers Lily to stay at her place, despite every one of their rich friends abandoning her. Even though she owes a great deal of money to Trenor, she promises to give it back to him no matter how hard the conditions are. The conditions imposed on her are so hard that she opts for paying off the debts before committing suicide at the end of the book. Lily cannot die until she has paid off the debt. By giving the money back to him, she demonstrates that she is a moral and ethical character, since she could have chosen not to return it. Another key moment is when she is in possession of Bertha’s letters. She realizes she could blackmail her to gain her reputation and money back, as Rosedale proposes. Although she finally burns the letters, not taking any profit from them and believing that is the best thing she can do about it, we can again see how Lily’s morality prevails against her economic necessities.
Conclusion
, we can claim that Wharton’s character Lily Bart undergoes ostracism because of her economical condition, because of the fact that the society of New York at the turn of the 20th century was constructed around wealth. If someone cannot live up to this situation, they face all kinds of tragic ends, like Lily Bart. Wharton thus, paints a profoundly depressing picture of the poor, concretely female, in the turn of the century New York.