From The Old To The New: Evolution Of Ethics In The Age Of Innocence

Edith Wharton, a master in the creation of original and living characters, wins asignificant position in literary field, her novel achieving popularity among critics andthe public, especially during1900s to1920s. It is The Age of Innocence that facilitatesher attaining Pulitzer Prize in1921, which makes her the first female writer capable ofacquiring this honor.To make a thorough analysis of the novel, this thesis will adopt Ethical LiteraryCriticism to probe into ethical phenomena in it, interpret the ethical background underthese phenomena and plots, and further explain Wharton’s writing objectives andpreoccupations.This thesis incorporates five chapters.Chapter one is the introductory part, which begins with the introduction toEdith Wharton, her masterpiece The Age of Innocence and developmental situation ofEthical Literary Criticism at home. There also exist domestic and overseas researcheson this novel from different perspectives. Moreover, here lies a brief introduction ofresearch significance.Chapter two is about religious ethics manifested in The Age of Innocence,mainly penetrating into the novel from Hebraism and Hellenism, two dominatingreligions in western culture. At the beginning, there is an introduction to Hebraismand Hellenism, their relationships with the old and the new ethical ideas, as well astheir connotations and manifestations in19thcentury America, the exact time set asthe historical background of the plot. Major part of this chapter is devoted to thedetailed analysis of several leading characters who respectively act up to differentreligious ethics in daily life, thus seeking to divergent values of life.Chapter three discusses family ethics demonstrated in the novel from conjugalrelationships and mother-daughter relationships. As for conjugal relationships, thischapter mainly extracts two pairs of couples, concisely illustrates their ethicalrelations, and further explains the deep reasons leading to such relations. Besides, inapproaching the subject of mother-daughter relations, this chapter studies the sameness under the influence of the old ethical thoughts between mothers anddaughters, such as Mrs. Welland and May, the enatic influence of aunt Medora onEllen owing to their exposure to the new ethical thoughts, and old Mrs. MansonMingott’s deep but different love to her granddaughters.Chapter four analyzes the novel from the angle of social ethics. Two classes:the aristocratic bourgeoisie and the rising bourgeoisie run through the whole novel,interwoven with each other, from conflict to compromise as the world enters into anew era, so this chapter will researches how such alteration from the old relationaltype to the new one happens and what the implied reason is. Also, the evolution of therelationship between individual and society is discussed here from such viewpoints:individual pursuits of love, truth, and freedom; the underlying cause of collectivepressures on individual aspirations; the ultima reconciliation of individualism andcollectivism.Chapter five is the conclusion part. This part focuses on Wharton’s objectives inwriting the novel. Not only does her work express her intense reminiscence about thelate-nineteenth-century New York America, an embodiment of the old ethical ideas,but also reflects her personal attitudes towards her society. With much sincerity,Wharton supports and appeals for such beliefs directed by the new ethical ideas aspositive religion which advertizes humanism, gender equality and elevation offemales’ status in a family, and anticipates the perfect interclass harmony as well aspeaceful existence of individuals in society.