A Structural Study of Female Characters in Edith Wharton’s Novels

曾卓寒

Edith ?Wharton ?was ?one ?of ?the ?most ?renowned ?American ?female ?writers ?in ?the late ?19th century and the early 20th century. Her unique insights into womens lives and dilemmas that they encounter in the society controlled and dominated by men draw the attention of feminism critics which brought the revival of her works.

In the majority of her novels， Wharton gave priority to the gender differences， portrayed a great deal of female protagonists of different classes from the blue blood of aristocrats to poor tailors of lower class， from innocent maids to manipulative players. She revealed the values and conducts of her different protagonists， from women who give up and completely adapted to their conditions to those who strive and find their salvation alone.

Since the problems those protagonists are facing cover such a great range. It may seem that the life courses of different female characters in different novels are not in consistence with each other at all. On the other hand， those novels are in some way related with each other and certain similarity could be found in the applying of binary opposition.

In order to clarify the point of this paper， six female characters are chosen from the three novels respectively. They are May Welland and Ellen Olenska from the Age of Innocence， Mattie and Zeena from Ethan Frome， Ann Eliza and Evelina from Bunner Sisters.

Consistency in the three novels can easily be found if the descriptions of characters could be broken down into gross constituent units （Levi-Strauss 430）. All of three novels have three protagonists， one male and two females. Two females are connected by blood （cousins or sisters） before they meet the man who will alter the course of both their lives. Wharton's female characters seem to never exist apart from men： the forming or breaking of some kind of alliance with a man is imperative for woman as Wharton envisages her. Wharton presents women who scorn furtive sexual infidelity， who seek honest relationships with men， and who learn there is no point in an affair-or in a marriage-from which love and commitment are absent （McDowell 524）.

Wharton subtly juxtaposes women whose behavior is traditional with those whose behavior challenges social expectations. The two groups in some way form a binary opposition. In the three novels， traditional ones are May， Zeena and Ann Eliza. Their actions， as a wife or a sister， match the expectations of the society. Those who challenge social expectations are Ellen， Mattie and Evelina.

The endings for the two different groups are fairly different， too. Traditional ones have seemingly better， or to say， more acceptable endings. May and Zeena stay married， maybe not happily. Ann Eliza could still look for a new job to support herself. The untraditional ones end worse or could be described as unacceptable in their times. Ellen lives in Paris alone without a husband. Mattie， being disabled from her suicidal plan， is struck with Zeena for the rest of her life. Evelian， lost her child， husband and faith to God， then dies of illness.

Female characters in Whartons novels always face the dilemma which could be put as to be or not to be. There are no clear instructions or advice of whether a woman should be the one she wants to be. She offered readers different endings of different choices and let the readers have an open discussion. This kind of character building choice could be analyzed by constructing a structure. In this paper， six protagonists are divided into two groups and the features of both are defined. Then the task would be to study how the system， i.e. the plots， would be affected by one or more characters. There are certain elements which are affecting each character， such as degree of freedom. In order to construct the system， those elements should be attended as well. Nevertheless， it would not be a threat to the whole dynamic system since it is so integrated.

A structural study a literature work enables readers to take a step forward， then to go beyond the literature work itself. It offers certain patterns to readers which could help to predict what the next chapter or the next book will be about as well as different ways to understand some profound works. However， the interpretation of literary works should never be limited by superficial patterns or the context of history. It takes particular courage of writers to create literary works that challenge the codes of the society in which they appear and by which they are censored.

Reference：

Canby， Henry. “Fiction Sums Up a Century.” Literary History of the United States 2.10 （1948）： 121. Print

Lawson， Richard H. Edith Wharton. New York： Ungar Press， 1977. Print.

Levi-Strauss， Claude. “The Structural Study of Myth.” The Journey of American Folklore 60.270 （1955）： 428-44. Print.

McDowell， Margaret. “Viewing the Custom of Her Country： Edith Wharton's Feminism.” Contemporary Literature 15.4 （1974）： 521-38. Print.

Roudiez， Leon. “With and beyond Literary Structuralism.” Books Abroad 49.2 （1975）： 204-12. Print.