Representation of Woman Character in Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country

Abstract

Edith Wharton is an American novelist, and short story writer. She presented the lifestyles and morality of the Gilded Age in a realistic manner by drawing on her personal knowledge of the upper class New York "aristocracy." In 1913, she wrote The Custom of the Country. It offers cultural as well as a contemporary viewpoint on numerous facets of the American way of life. At one point, it seems to have been Edith Wharton's effort at composing a feminist book, highlighting the suffering that women suffer by excluded from public life. The narrative depicts a society in which a woman's marriage serves as both her principal vocation and the unique space for healthy competition. Wharton contrasts the European rituals and elaborate rites with the American infatuation with material pleasure. The book regarded as a separation novel or as a reflection on the treatment of women by capitalism. In this book, Undine Spragg, the main character, has presented as an unsatisfactory woman who is compelled to do domestic responsibilities due to her gender. Women who dislike covert sexual infidelity, prefer sincere connections with men, and realize that engaging in affairs as well as a relationship without love and commitment is meaningless shown in this book.