The House of Mirth: The Tragic End

Finally, Edith Wharton draws The House of Mirth to an end.  Not only is the end clever and tragic at the same time, it is consistent with the theme that has persistent throughout the book: the roller coaster and spontaneous events that seem to add to Lily Bart's demise every time.

I feel like I'm having deja vu with the blatant parallels between the closing of this story and that of Romeo and Juliet.  Lily did not intend to overdose on the chloral which where the two tragedies differ, but she was surely not careful in preventing it.  The tragedy is intensified by the fact that she finally arrives at the realization of the truly important things in life only right before her death after her happening upon a girl named Nettie, who claims that Lily saved her life when she lived a the girls' home that Gerty led.  Lily sees the happiness in Nettie's life despite her poverty and participation in the working class and sees that she too could be happy at this status if she was not so lonely, if she had a baby and husband to love her as Nettie did.  In a case of extreme irony, Selden realizes once again that he loves Lily Bart.  He awakes the morning after her still unknown death with elation, excited to go find Lily and express his adoration for her once again.  To his dismay, he arrives at Lily's apartment to be confronted with Gerty informing him of the horrible news. "The doctor found a bottle of chloral - she had been sleeping badly for a long time, and she must have taken an overdose by mistake" (Wharton, 264).  Selden goes into her room to see the form of the deceased Lily lying peacefully on her bed.  He gazes about the room and after small investigation of the things lying about the room pieces together Lily's entire predicament.  He finds the $9,000 check for Gus Trenor and the $10,000 check from her aunt's will.  Lily's moral respectability is confirmed in Selden's mind as he realizes her intentions to repay Mr. Trenor despite her current situation.  Edith Wharton's ending to this great story is a huge success in my opinion.  She creates a tragedy that is classic and ironic at the same time. Somehow, despite the fact that the book is ended, she manages to still keep the reader guessing.  What if Lily had survived the night to greet Selden at her door the following morning? Would they have married? Had children? All of these thoughts were running through my head anyways, and though i with that Lily would have lived to answer them, the lesson she learned prior to her death still sheds a light of joy on the situation.