Essay | Women's Pressure in the House of Mirth

The House of Mirth is a story that is full of deception, betrayal, deceit, and trickery. It exploits the social hierarchy of New York City in the late 19th century. Edith Wharton writes a magnificent story concerning the relationship between the protagonist, Lily Bart, and her relationship with a cold, hurtful, and controlling society. The biggest deception lies in the lives of the women in the novel. It may seem that a woman in the 19th century had a fairly easy life, implying that the most important thing was to fit in a dress, to always look beautiful, and to marry well. Stating it like that, it would be easy to think that the life of a woman was not nearly as hard as the life of a man, implying that he would be the one to support them. However upon looking deeper into the book it is apparent how...
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