| One prevalent theme within Edith Wharton's work is discontent in marriage. Conversely, passion appears within her novels, but only outside of marriage, and often within the context of intellectual and artistic pursuits. There are two forms of love present: comfortable, familial love and passion external to it. This study presents psychoanalytic and socio-historical aspects that make passion and marriage mutually exclusive concepts as presented in Wharton's work, and argues how Wharton's female characters do not have a choice in if, or even whom, they marry. In doing so, it explores the portrayal of marriage within three of Wharton's major novels, The House of Mirth , Summer, and The Age of Innocence, as well as how two of her short stories, "The Fullness of Life" and "Souls Belated," further inform readers on the nature of passionless marriage and the struggle to maintain a sense of self. |
