One of the tragedies of Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth is that Lily Bart is unable to marry Laurence Selden and thereby obtain a secure position in society. Their relationship varies from casual intimacy to outright love depending on how and where Selden perceives Lily. Selden sees a beautiful quality in Lily Bart that is not present in any of the other women in the novel. This mysterious beauty so often alluded to, in addition to her attraction to other men, is best understood when Lily is conceived as the goddess Diana. As Diana, Lily Bart searches for the perfect husband but cannot marry, stays away from the "misery" of society, and ends up being crushed by merciless rejection that can destroy even a goddess. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Diana, the goddess of hunting and virginity, perfectly combines the traits that Lily Bart exhibits. Although never explicitly linked to the goddess, Wharton's first description of Lily notes her "grace of the wild woods" and her "sylvan freedom": "She paused before the fireplace, studying herself in the mirror as she adjusted her veil. The attitude revealed along the slope of her slender sides, which gave to her figure a sort of wild wooden grace, as if she were a captured dryad subjected to the conventions of the drawing room; and Selden thought it was the same trait of sylvan freedom in her; nature which gave so much flavor to its artificiality" (15). Not only does the description evoke the image of Diana, but also the name of Lily. Lily of the valley is Diana's flower. Lily Bart later chooses to wear a white dress united for his role in Reynold's painting, thus choosing the color of Diana All the scenes where Selden gets close to Lily therefore take place in the woods, indicating that he can perceive her as a Diana qualities when she is in. its natural habitat From the very beginning of the novel, we notice that Lily chooses rue de Selden because it is the only street where there are trees, "someone had the humanity to plant a few trees there-. down. Let's go to the shade." (8). The most intimate conversation between them will take place sitting in a beech grove after walking through the woods. So it's safe to say that when Lily is in the woods, her true nature emerges, the one Selden considers "real" and with whom he falls in love This explains why, during the evening's theater performance of Wellington Brys, Selden is so deeply touched by the portrait of Lily She appears dressed in a white dress. part of a painting by Reynold, "Mrs. Lloyd", but captivates the audience with its naturalness: "Her pale draperies and the background of foliage against which she stood served only to relieve the long dryad curves. which rose from his balanced foot to his raised arm” (142). Once again we see a direct comparison to Diana. Selden is so captivated by this scene that he completely agrees with Gerty Farish when she says, “It makes her look like the real Lily – the Lily I know” (142). His love for Lily is strengthened by the fact that he and Gerty are the only two people who know what Lily really looks like. Selden watches the other men judge Lily and shares his thoughts with the reader, making the beautiful analogy of Caliban judging Miranda. Selden's attraction to Lily is based on two conflicting perceptions: as Diana, Lily is first unapproachable, and second, her affiliation. nature makes her more desirable when she is in her pristine element. The flirtations between the two characters seem to indicate that both are intimately aware of this paradox. Their walk through thewood culminates in an enigmatic exchange of emotions that can only be understood if Selden is aware that Lily will never marry. She asks him: “Will you marry me?” ", to which he replies: "No, I don't want to, but maybe I should if you did!" (77). Selden, aware that he cannot marry her, holds back his love for her and indicates that he would love her if she could marry him Although he knows that Lily cannot marry, Selden makes the mistake of thinking that she will After his Reynold scene. Wellington Bry's party, he takes Lily into the garden to see her again with foliage around her, culminating in the novel's only act of sexual exchange, a kiss “She barely noticed where Selden was leading her to. They passed through a glass door at the end of the long series of rooms and suddenly found themselves in the fragrant silence of a garden. The gravel crunched under their feet, and around them reigned the transparent darkness of night. "Hanging lamps carved emerald caverns in the depths of the foliage and whitened the spray of a fountain falling among the lilies" (144). This is Selden's way of putting Lily back into the picture, now among the lilies, and it allows him to see her in her "pure" divine State. Unfortunately for Selden, Lily soon turns away from him, shouting, "Ah, love me, love me – but don't tell me!" » (145). loves her, but he can never win her. This characteristic trait of running away will affect her relationships with all the other suitors in the novel. Lily's paradoxical behavior towards all the men who court her is thus explained by the parallels between her and Diana In. In the same way that Diana represents the goddess of the hunt but is at the same time the goddess of virgins, Lily will look for eligible men to marry without ever marrying them. The fact that Lily hunts men is made clear in the second chapter with Percy Gryce, and later in her conversation with Mrs. Trenor: "Why don't you tell Judy?" I have a reputation for looking for a rich husband? » (49). She is also incredibly successful, getting every eligible man (and even one ineligible man) to propose to her. However, despite her success, Lily is unable to commit to any of them. She indulges in a stroll with Selden which ruins her chances with Percy Gryce. Later, while trying to choose between Rosedale and George Dorset, she rejects them both by literally running away or running away. mentally running away. As Diana, Lily's main motivation for not using the letters against Bertha Dorset is no longer moral, but rather that of marriage. Lily Bart has often been portrayed as the most moral character in a world of corrupt and shameless individuals. which slowly destroy it. His decline at the end of the novel is frequently explained as being the result of his high morality, morality which prevents him from using his letters against Bertha Dorset. However, this explanation fails on two points: can we really accept it. that Lily is the most moral character when she participates in society as much as anyone else, and is morality enough to justify her refusal to use letters? It is inconceivable that a woman as intimately aware of social codes as Lily would not resolve to attack Bertha Dorset as quickly as possible. Furthermore, viewing Lily as the moral heroine of the novel first requires that her actions live up to that label. This is hard to justify given that she lies to Rosedale from the first chapter, and in the next chapter we see that her interest in Americana is motivated solely so she can win over Percy Gryce. Later, Lily is perfectly happy to be on the Dorset yacht, fully consciousthat she is there to distract Mr. Dorset from his wife's infidelities. So the only major piece of evidence that could put Lily on moral high ground compared to the other characters is her inability to use letters. However, this may be better explained by his innate inability to marry rather than altruistic tendencies. She is twice tempted to use the letters, first by George Dorset and then by Rosedale, and each time refuses to use them only when marriage is mentioned. Thus, when Lily meets George Dorset on a country lane, she indicates that she is strongly tempted to consider marrying him, and it is this temptation that pushes her to reject him. His meeting with Rosedale progresses in the same direction. "And it was not, after the first moment, the horror of the idea [to use the letters against Bertha Dorset] that kept her spellbound, subject to [Rosedale's] will; it was rather her subtle affinity with his own innermost desires . He would marry her tomorrow if she could regain the friendship of Bertha Dorset" (268). Lily seriously considered Rosedale's proposed course of action until he continued by saying, “You can't get things done without me; ...and here I am, ready to take you out tomorrow if you say so. Did you say that, Miss Lily? (269). As Rosedale gets closer to her, Lily panics and moves away from him, immediately disavowing the entire plan. It is therefore his inability to marry, not morality, that ultimately leads him to reject Rosedale and Dorset. Lily's inability to marry allows her to be elevated above the mediocre society she struggles to join. Wharton cleverly places Lily above the elite members of New York society by portraying her as Diana. As the only figure equated to one of the gods, Lily is able to remain somewhat distinct from the other core characters. The story would be boring if it was the same as Bertha Dorset. Lily's charm lies in the fact that she seems to be struggling to enter society while remaining apart. In order to accomplish this sense of distinction, Wharton cannot allow her heroine to marry. If Lily entered into a union with one of the men interested in her, she would lose the "sylvan freedom" that Selden so admires in her. Marriage represents a means of drawing a woman into society and, in doing so, it destroys the very part of her that is apart from society, her individuality. Rosedale expresses this when he tells Lily, “with great support behind you, you will keep her where you want her to be” (269). In other words, by marrying Rosedale, Lily is forced to become the same kind of person as Bertha Dorset, and thus she loses her distinct identity. The irony here is that marriage serves as an escape route for all the other young women except Lily, and actually tends to give them more freedom. Gwen Van Osburgh is the best example. After marrying Jack Stepney, her whole attitude towards life changes. "But [Stepney's] wife, to his great surprise and discomfiture, had developed a gait of ground-shaking rapidity that left him breathless in its wake" (192). We are made to understand that, freed from Van Osburgh's code of conduct, Gwen is now capable of doing what she wants. Lily, however, doesn't fit that mold. Not having been raised in a strict family code, she developed a freedom that would be destroyed by marriage. In this way, Lily is ironically forced to flee marriage to be free. The House of Mirth is a biting social analysis that Wharton brilliantly interprets through Lily's downfall. Selden's unrealized love for Lily Bart is based on his realization that it is her Diana-like qualities that make her. 1964.