Looking at the characters in Edith Whartons novel The House of Mirth two of them played vital roles in the book, Lawrence Selden and Simon Rosedale. Both are after the same girl, Lily Bart, but both have different motives on why they want to marry her.
A lawyer by profession Selden is an outsider of the social class, Lily hopes to be in one day. Although he holds his own in the real world, Selden is not of the class of high society. Lily and him are very good friends, they care for each other dearly, and Lily knows that she can be herself around Selden. But both of them mutually agree early in the book that they should not marry because Lily is at that the stage where she wants to marry for security reasons, not for love and Selden knows that.
The fact that you dont want to marry me. Perhaps I dont regard it as such a strong inducement to go and see you. He felt a slight shiver down his spine as he ventured this but her laugh reassured him. (Wharton 25)
All throughout the book the reader gets the sense that Selden feels affection for Lily and enjoys spending the time with her. With rumors swirling that Selden came to Bellomont to see Bertha Dorsett, Lily gets the reassurance from Selden that he came to Bellomont for her.
Did you really come to Bellomont to see me? Of course I did. Her looked deepened meditatively, Why? She murmured, with an accent which took all tinge of coquetry from the question. Because youre such a wonderful spectacle. I always like to see what you are doing. (Wharton 102)
As a reader the character of Lawrence Selden would drive me nuts. I respected him for not confining into the white collar social class, labeling the rich,
they may not be thinking of money, but theyre breathing it all the while; take them into another element and see how they squirm and gasp! (Wharton 107)
He makes a choice, and he chose not to be influenced by the high society. But his procrastination was his downfall. Time after time, he had his opportunity to testify his love for Lily, but he chooses not to. And when Selden finally decides to propose to Lily, he is a day too late.
Simon Rosedale was an interesting character as well. At the beginning of the book, I thought he would be nothing but trouble for Lily, interrogating her at the front of his apartment building. This is a guy who is all about fortune and glory. He is enormously wealthy, young, and never been married. His only downfall would be that he is a Jew with new money. On the outside looking in, he feels that Lily is his golden ticket to getting accepted into high society. Rosedale realizes that Lily does not love him but he tries to entice her by saying,
Youre not very fond of me-yet-but youre fond of luxury, and style, and amusement, and of not having to worry about cash. You like to have a good time, and not to have to settle for it; and what I propose to do is to provide for the good time and do the settling. (Wharton 254)
You have to give Rosedale credit for being straight forward, and not beating around the bush with Lily on what he wants. He looks at this as a win/win situation for the both of them. To him, Lily gets what she wants the jewelry, clothes, and not having to worry about money ever again. While Rosedale is finally in with the crowd, he is no longer an outcast. With everything going into plan, Rosedale hope is that one day Lily will begin to love him for whom he is, and not for how much hes worth.
Both characters play significant roles in the novel, but the story comes down to Lily and her aspirations. For the greater part of the book she feels that the way she will be happy is if she marries someone of wealth and status. But at each opportunity she blows it. She had her chance to wed Percy Gryce but she chooses to spend time with Selden. And when the opportunity strikes her again with Rosedale, she denies him. This is obviously a girl who doesnt know what she wants.
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