A Comparative Analysis of Two Female Protagonists’ Love Tragedy in The Age of In

Abstract：As an American modern woman writer， Edith Wharton（1862-1937） occupies an important position in realism literature of the late 19th and early 20th century， which is best known for her stories and ironic novels about upper class people in the “Old New York”. Meanwhile， as a woman writer， she has a deep understanding of the status and role of woman at that time. This thesis employs feminist theory as theoretical foundation and adopts content analysis and comparison and contrast as the research methods. It first gives a brief introduction to the background of feminism； then it deals with the oppression of woman in the Old New York society. After that， it mainly makes a comparative analysis of two female protagonists， so as to prove the oppression of woman and the limitation of their self-development at that time. No matter what they choose， comprise or resistance， they have to submit to the society eventually. In addition， it also points out the limitations of the present thesis and brings up some suggestions for further studies in the future.

Key words： feminist；Old New York； female protagonists； love tragedy

1.Introduction

The American modern woman writer， Edith Wharton （1862-1937） occupies an important position in realism of the late 19th and early 20th century. She was born in New York-- a wealthy and socially prominent family.

Among Wharton's most famous novels is The Age of Innocence， which wins the Pulitzer Prize. It is also her reminiscent and shrewdly ambivalent survey of her own old New York. The story described the frustrated love of a New York lawyer， Newland Archer， for unconventional， artistic Ellen Olenska， the separated wife of a dissolute Polish count. Wharton contrasts the manner of the New World with those of Old Europe. Finally Archer marries his calculating fiancée May， representing the 19th-century domestic virtues. Archer's decision promotes his family's wealth underlined the novel's point that individual happiness is secondary to the continuation of the prevailing culture.

The thesis is based on the theory of feminism to make a comparative analysis of the two female characters’ love tragedy―Ellen and May in the background of the “Old New York”. Set in the environment of “Old New York”， woman was born a social and sexual subclass， which was accepted by the people in the society. They can never be treated like man equally. Woman has to obey all the traditional rules and obligations of the society and they have no right to have any resistance. Therefore， this paper， will certify the miserable fate of woman at that time no matter they choose to compromise or resist， through a discussion of the oppression of woman in Old New York society and the comparative analysis of two female protagonists’’ totally different characters. It adopts content analysis and case study as research methods. Hopefully， the result of this paper will be a supplement to the study of The Age of Innocence and a reference for those who are caring the female destiny.

2.Literature Review

When the novel was published， it has aroused great interests among the western critics. Many researches on this novel are done by some experts， for example， the analysis of the social background， the analysis of the male protagonist-Newland Archer and the analysis of the technique of writing employed in The Age of Innocence. Among these researches， what most experts concentrate on is the limitation of human nature and self-development in the “Old New York” society. They focus on the background of the novel- the social environment in the age of transformation to a new world from the old one. People who lived at that time preferred keeping silence and figuring out the inner thought of each other. They should abide by the rules and they were forbidden to fight against the rules.

A famous expert on Wharton， Waid pointed out that Old New York pictured by Wharton practiced its rituals of cohesion through repression of individual development and demand of individual sacrifice for the collective group . Katherine Mansfield said that The Age of Innocence is the love-story of Newland Archer， a young man who belongs deeply to the family tradition， and yet at the same time finds himself wishing to rebel. He must abide by the traditional rules and the wish of his family. Therefore， he is forbidden to find his true love. Jennifer Bussey in his article Critical Essay on “The Age of Innocence” made a detailed analysis of Newland Archer. Blake Nevius held the idea that this novel was the one in which Wharton was the most thoroughly the artist. It was a triumph of style. In his opinion， irony was employed to its best functions and purposes in The Age of Innocence. Therefore， it was worthwhile pay careful attention to the employment of irony in this novel.

3.Constraints of Old Conventions to Woman in “Old New York” Society

3.1 Constraints of poor economic status to woman

Set in the “Old New York” society， woman was born a social and sexual subclass， which was generally accepted in people in the society. After marriage， the role of woman was fixed totally and deeply. Woman can never be allowed to own her own job to make money. What she must do is to be a perfect wife and mother. She was confined in the house and deal with all kinds of chaos. She was denied the right to inherit the properties from her father or relatives.

The poor economic status of woman can be seen from Ellen’s divorce issue in The Age of Innocence. As Ellen had the intention to file a lawsuit concerned with her husband’s extra-marital affair， the whole family of Mingott tried to persuade her to give up the idea. Even Ellen’s grandma who took care of her most began to control her cost when she knew that Ellen wanted to divorce. It is a society that refuses to discuss unpleasant facts of life， such as divorce， extramarital affairs among its members， or the possibility of marriage made for financial gain. （Hynes 101） Meanwhile， Ellen was reminded the embarrassing economic situation after the divorce. The legislations at that time regulated that married woman had no right to share the property of the whole family if she would like to divorce with her husband.

3.2 Constraints of fixed roles to the self-development of woman

Before marriage， woman should be an “innocent” and decent girl who should posses those feminine virtues of modesty， gracefulness， purity， delicacy， obedience. In The Age of Innocence， May Welland was the one who can symbolize “innocent” perfectly.. At the beginning of the novel， Wharton gave a detailed description of May’s appearance when watching the opera.

From the detail of the change of her facial expression， the readers could see the gentleness and purity of May’s appearance and action as an innocent girl. Meanwhile， from Newland’s reaction to May’s appearance， the readers can sense that May’s appearance was decent and loved in the society. May is demure and proper， the golden daughter of Old New York society. In fact， May was doing thing that should be done with gentleness like her mother， aunts and grandmother. Her behaviors were restrained by the society actually.

parative Analysis of May and Ellen from Feminist Perspective

4.1 May’s conservative feminist thought-a guard of the “Old New York” society

May Welland， who belonged to the type of good girls of that society was definitely a social favorable model. She was the typical representative of patriarchal women. As a

perfect product of the Old New York ， May was trained to be an innocent girl， a faithful wife， and a dutiful mother. She tried her best to play her fixed roles in this society. Meanwhile， May acted as a loyal guard of the Old New York society.

However， after their engagement issue and the involvement of Ellen， Archer began to question whether May’s innocence and purity was true or not. Actually， it was true that May was indeed such a woman. On the surface， she was a beautiful and innocent woman who was favored in the society. However， she just wanted to play the role of an obedient and supporting woman. She wanted to be the model of the society. Her conservative feminist ideology was revealed in her “innocent” behaviors.

4.2 Ellen’s progressive feminist thought- an invader of the “Old New York” society

Ellen was born in an aristocratic of American upper class society. But because of her parents’ death， she was brought up in France where was full of arts and music and different from her hometown-New York. Therefore， she was seen as a stranger in the “Old New York” society. At the beginning of this novel， Ellen’s dressing was unusual when she was in the opera. “The wearer of this unusual dress， who seemed quite unconscious of the attention it was attracting.”

We could see from this description that Ellen broke the rules in the “Old New York” society. She was unaware of the old conventions； she took the initiative in her conversations with various men instead of sitting there silently. Therefore， she was not popular with the people in this society as if she were the invader of the society （Lewis 117）. Meanwhile， this ignorance of social conventions indicates her inner desire to be equal with men， choosing the person she wants to talk to， instead of having a conversation with the men she was reluctant to talk with. She didn’t want to be dominated by men and the old conventions. She pursued the life she really wanted to own.

5. Conclusion

As the Pulitzer-winning masterpiece， The Age of Innocence presented the strict conventions of Old New York society for readers and depicted the female‘s destiny in such a society， specifically the two protagonists in the novel， May Welland and Ellen Olenska. This thesis aimed to illustrate the two female protagonists’ characters and their love in this novel， no matter they chose to make a compromise or rebellion， they both became the victims of this society at last.In this thesis， firstly， I introduced the social background of the Old New York society which was full of strict old conventions. In the second part， I made a comparative analysis of these two female protagonists from the feminist perspective and made a conclusion that it was the society that caused their love tragedy. They owned totally different characters in this novel. May was the model in this society who protected this society from being invaded by the “strangers”. She obeyed to all the strict rules in this society and everything she did was to guard the society， including her own marriage. Ellen could be seen the invader of this old society. She tried her best to pursue the freedom and self-development. However， they did not get their own true love at last and they were both the victims of “Old New York” society which was dominated by men and the patriarchal system.

Bibliography

[1] Blain， J. The age of innocence. Commentary. Detroit： Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. 1990.

[2] Bussey， J.. Critical essay on The age of innocence. Detroit： Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. 2010

[3] Hynes， J.A. The age of innocence： overview. Reference Guide To American Literature. Detroit： Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. 1994.

[4] Lewis， R.B. A Biography： Edith Wharton. New York： Cambridge University Press. 2005.

[5] Mansfield， K. Family portraits. Twentieth-Century Literary Critism. Detroit： Gale Research. From Literature Resource Center. 1980.

[6] Nevius， B. Edith Wharton： A study of her fiction. Berkeley and Los Angeles： University of California Press. 1953.

（作者单位：陕西理工学院 外国语学院，陕西 汉中 723001）