Abstract: The House of Mirth presents readers the tragic fate of the melancholic heroine Lily Bart in the fast-developing capitalist society. Through the analysis of both internal and external factors, this thesis aims to explore the causes of her misfortune and demonstrate that apart from the uncontrollable external factors, the weakness and limitations of the heroine are also main factors which lead to her tragedy. Lily Bart is the victim of both the social environment and her family education: the money-oriented patriarchal society makes her become the ornamental objects and accessories of man; education from her parents contributes a lot to the formation of her values. She also pays the price for her own defective personalities and contradictory values. She loses many chances to succeed because of her indecisiveness. Her hovering between moral and money also causes her life full of contradictions.

Key words: Lily Bart; tragedy; internal factors; external causes

CONTENTS

Abstract

摘要

1. Introduction.1

2. Literature Review2

3. Embodiment of Lily’s Tragedy2

  3.1 Her Heavy Indebtedness

  3.2 Her Decline in Social Status

  3.3 Her Death

4. Internal Causes of Lily’s Tragedy.4

  4.1 Her personalities

  4.2 Her Values

5. External Causes of Lily’s Tragedy6

  5.1 Social Influence

  5.2 Family Influence

6. Conclusions8

Bibliography.10

Acknowledgments .11