The Marriage-Escape Framework and the Consequential Endings in Edith Wharton’s Works

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of marriage, which is Wharton’s favorite and most dominant topic in her works. Wharton’s description of marriage tells more than simple fictional stories in her fictional worlds. She is criticizing the public’s tendency in marriage at the turn of the century, for marriage is used to elevate one’s social and economical status rather than to establish a family based on mutual respect and affection. Wharton’s The House of Mirth, Ethan Frome, and Summer deal with the issue of marriage, yet these texts present marriage as a useful way for the protagonists to escape from their respective predicaments. The protagonists suffer from severe lack of what is required to safely advance toward the adult world in which they will be accepted as equals to their fellow beings. The main characters desperately want to escape from their current situations into a better and materially comfortable life by a good marriage. Marriage presupposes entering into adult world, and thus has much to do with each main character’s initiation. After a series of struggles, the main characters fail in accomplishing their dreams. The lack of money and parents, and their circumstantial forces prevent them from achieving what they try to obtain. The respective endings of each character indicate the different acceptance of their realities.