A Study Of Tragedy Element In The House Of Mirth

This thesis tries to explain Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth mainly from thetheories of tragedy so as to explore the tragic sense of this work by Wharton, and thesource of the heroin’s tragic fate. The art of tragedy, concerning about the existentialcondition of human being under the powerful nature or fate, has a long-standinghistory, contributing a lot to the whole development history of western literature.The thesis, employing ideas from traditional tragedy theorists like Aristotle andShakespeare, explores how Wharton’s creation of a tragedy is achieved in The Houseof Mirth. Then the thesis discusses how Lily Bart struggles against a tragic life underboth the impulse of Apollonian and Dionysian spirit. Facing continuous plight andfailure, she does not give up. Instead, she encourages herself with new hope for thefuture life, which especially shows the primitive vitality and optimism on the way to aDionysian life. Afterwards, Hegel’s ideas on tragedy are employed to explore theprocess of Lily Bart’s self discovery. Finally, as the tragic protagonist in traditionaltragedy, Lily is also unable to escape the doomed destiny, and finally goes to herdestruction. However, the death of the protagonist means the victory of the eternaljustice through which Lily denounces and thus triumphs over the selfish world.