The House of Mirth Chapters XI and XII

Edith Wharton is clearly a very talented author who has employed her elevated diction and unique style of writing throughout The House of Mirth, but I believe that the incredible imagery and allusions which she utilizes in chapter 12 have been her most powerful use of style so far. Not only does this imagery create a beautiful and vivid picture for the reader, but it also has a significant impact on the plot of the story. In chapter 12, the Welly Brys host an elaborate event in which about twelve women, one of which is Miss Lily Bart, display their beauty in brilliant tableaux vivants inspired by the portrait-painter Paul Morpeth. As each woman or group of women is displayed in their tableaux vivant, Wharton cleverly explains how each woman has become of a piece of a work by a famous artist, such as Goya, Titian, Vandyck, Kauffman, or Reynolds. Wharton’s ingenious style is manifested in the fact that each woman has been displayed in the piece of artwork which exhibits her character and personality the best. Thus, by the use of many clever allusions, Wharton has allowed us to obtain a more vivid picture of many of the women in the novel, providing us with further insight into who they are. Also, I think that by putting the women in pieces of artwork, Wharton has highlighted one of the major themes of the book, which is the very essence of life in high society. Everything about life in high society seems to be an act: people are civil to one another to avoid ridicule, host parties to gain respectable reputations among peers, and befriend one another for personal gain or future manipulation. The intense social politics make life more like a stage production where each person must put on a mask and play their part rather than reveal who they truly are. I feel that, by capturing these women in pieces of art, Wharton is highlighting the fact that their lives must always consist of putting on a show and impersonating the life of someone they may not truly be.

Most of all, Wharton’s style is significant in Chapter 12 for the fact that it highlights Lily’s life perfectly. When Lily is revealed in Reynolds’s “Mrs. Lloyd,” while everyone else sees nothing but her remarkable beauty, Selden sees much more in Lily at this moment: he sees and feels what he refers to as “the whole tragedy” of Lily’s predicament. He observes, “It was as though her beauty, thus detached from all that cheapened and vulgarized it, had held out suppliant hands to him from the world in which he and she had once met for a moment…” (Wharton, 110). With the beautiful imagery that Wharton creates in this chapter, I think that the reader is finally able to see the greatest conflict in Lily’s life in its fullest. To everyone else in high society, particularly the men, Miss Bart will really never be anything more than a beautiful woman, a flawless piece of art, and no one will see through her appearance to her personality or ambitions. One of Lily’s greatest blessings has, in some ways, become her greatest curse. Within the imagery of this moment, however, Selden discovers that he loves her for so much more than her beauty, and he truly falls in love with her. The imagery Wharton creates in this scene is therefore not only beautiful, but also gives the reader a greater understanding of the characters and conflict in the book and has a tremendous effect on the characters of the novel itself. Therefore, in this way, Wharton’s style of allusion and imagery has been an irreplaceable aspect of The House of Mirth. * *The picture shown about is Reynolds's Mrs. Lloyd, which Lily portrayed in her tableaux vivant.