House of Mirth (Barnes & Noble Classics - Edith Wharton [7]
There’s a certain woman who annihilates or buries her husband to such a point that he is never mentioned in society; is he still alive? Is he dead? Nobody knows. In his own family he serves only as an example of timid silence and perfect submissiveness.
Lily’s stern, grasping mother has annihilated her husband in precisely this way. In childhood Lily seldom saw her father during the day; and after he could no longer earn money, he became extinct to his wife and almost undistinguishable to his daughter.
There comes a time when the richest of girls must take a husband; if she lets slip early opportunities, she must repent at leisure.
Lily was taught to consider a conventional rich marriage the sole end of her existence. Having rejected numerous suitors during her ten years on the marriage market, she’s extremely vulnerable to the malicious attacks of her enemies.
Women consult their glass to see whether they are far enough removed from their natural selves.
Lily often looks in the mirror and ponders the dual nature of her real and artificial self.
One’s age is written on one’s face.
As time passes, Lily is troubled by the lines and creases in her lovely face, signs of encroaching age.
A man of no judgement and of a licentious imagination lacks nothing to make many women worship him but fine features and a handsome figure.
This exactly defines the good-looking but shallow Selden. He lacks judgment and imagines that the innocent Lily is guilty of sexual immorality, but is loved by Bertha Dorset, Gerty Farish, and Lily herself.
Most women ... follow their hearts, and depend for their morals on the men they love.
Lily behaves spontaneously, impulsively, even self-destructively, and depends on Selden for moral guidance.
A woman conceals from a man all the passion that she feels for him, while he, on his side, simulates a passion for her which he does not feel.
After Lily appears in the tableaux vivants and kisses Selden for the first and only time, she insists on true feeling rather than false speech, and tells him: “Ah, love me, love me—but don’t tell me so!” (p. 148)
Few amorous intrigues can be kept secret.
Indeed, all the people in her circle know the intimate details of Lily’s life, and all misinterpret her behavior.
Certain women have sought to hide their conduct under a veil of modesty ... and have it said of them: “You’d have taken ber for a vestal virgin.”
Lily remains a virgin, but her lack of caution leads men to misjudge her character.
The countless ways by which women arouse strong passions in men give rise to an aversion and antipathy in their own sex.
Lily’s beauty arouses jealousy and vengeance, not only in Bertha, but also in Grace Stepney and even Gerty Farish.
A woman’s untarnisbed and well-founded reputation . . . should remain untouched by her intimacy with women of a dfferent sort.2o
For this reason, Selden warns Lily, who’s compromised herself by covering up Bertha’s adultery with Silverton and assisting in Norma Hatch’s vulgar schemes, to leave Bertha’s yacht and Norma’s hotel.
III
The names of the characters in The House of Mirth, chosen with great care and wit, have subtly negative connotations. The wealthy but undesirable Percy Gryce suggests “grease” and “price.” The blackmailing charwoman Mrs. Haffen does not, as her name suggests in German, provide a haven or refuge. The name of the milliner’s harsh forewoman, Miss Haines, means “hatred” in French. Rosedale, the name of the grasping Jewish financier, is an anglicization of Rosenthal (in German, Tal means valley or “dale”), an attempt to cover up his German origins. The treacherous Grace Stepney’s surname is that of a slum area in the East End of London. The poet Ned Silverton (silver tongue) seductively reads Paul Verlaine when seducing Bertha. The rich, pleasure-loving Gormers suggest “gourmand.