Feminist Criticism

"The House of Mirth" 

a novel by Edith Wharton (1937)

PLOT:

                 The House of Mirth tells the story of Lily Bart, a woman who is torn between her desire for luxurious living and a relationship based on mutual respect and love. She sabotages all her possible chances for a wealthy marriage, loses the esteem of her social circle, and dies young, poor, and alone.

Lily is initially of good social standing and rejects several offers of advantageous marriage. Lily's social standing erodes when her friend Judy Trenor's husband Gus gives Lily a large sum of money. Lily innocently accepts the money, believing that it is the return on investments he supposedly made for her. The rumors of this transaction, and of her mysterious visit to Gus in his city residence crack her social standing further.

To escape the rumors and gossip, she accepts an invitation from Bertha Dorset to join her and her husband, George, on a cruise of Europe aboard their yacht the Sabrina. Unfortunately, while aboard the yacht, Bertha accuses Lily of adultery with George in order to shift societal attention from Bertha's own infidelity with poet Ned Silverton. The ensuing scandal ruins Lily, leading her friends to abandon her and Aunt Peniston to disinherit her.

Lily descends the social strata, working as a personal secretary until Bertha sabotages her position by turning her employers against her. Lily then takes a job as social secretary for a disreputable woman, but resigns after an associate of hers, Lawrence Selden, comes to rescue her from complete infamy. She then works in a millinery, but produces poorly and is let go at the end of the season. Simon Rosedale, the Jewish suitor who had proposed marriage to her when she was higher on the social scale tries to rescue her, but she is unwilling to meet his terms: to use love letters she bought which prove the affair Bertha Dorset and Selden had years earlier. Lily refrains for sake of Selden's reputation, and secretly burns the letters when she visits Selden for one last time. Eventually Lily receives her $10,000 inheritance, which she uses to pay her debt to Trenor. Lily dies from an overdose, possibly accidental, of the sleeping draught to which she had become addicted. Hours later Selden comes to propose to her, but finds she has died. Only then is he able to be close to her in a way he never was able to when she was living and admit his true love for her.

Criticism:

                The Feminist Criticism  studies the women's unique ways of understanding and writing about human  condition. It looks for systems of containment: for evidence of repression, oppression, suppression, subversion and rebellion in texts by women. The meaning of the text is socially constructed. 

                In the story of "The house of Mirth", it is a good example of for a literary piece under a Feminism Approach for it revolves on Lily's life and experiences as a woman. The scandals and the issues about her made her life miserable for these were the reasons why she can't have her desire of having a wealthy, respectful and normal life of a woman. The story also shows her strength, despite her situation she still chose to continue her life by working though she don't have anyone to help her and despite the fact that where ever she goes there will be one that will pull her down. Lily's life ended tragically for she don't have a chance to know the sincerity of Selden's love for her.