Lydia´s attitude towards marriage

• • Only the first marriage is the real one and remarrying would just be a cheap compromise

  • Marriage is something sacred, and Lydia thinks they need no ceremony to sanctify their love

  • Marriage is just a self-imposed prison in which women have to give up their dreams and freedom

  • Marriage just exists to prevent close relationships between people

  • In Lydia’s perspective, a marriage would just drive them apart

  • In the end Lydia realizes that through her divorce she is barred from society

  • She arrives at the conclusion that remarriage is the only way back to a normal life

Resources:

Lewis, R.W.B., ed. The Collected Short Stories of Edith Wharton. New York: Scribner, 1968. Print.104-127.

Kornetta, Reiner. Das Korsett im Kopf: Ehe und Ökonomie in den Kurzgeschichten Edith Whartons. Frankfurt am Main, New York: P. Lang, 1996. Print. Düsseldorfer Beiträge aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik Bd. 4.177-181.

Patton, Craig R. A Prison of Her Own Making: An Analysis of “Souls Belated” 2011. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.