얼굴을 붉히는 여주인공: 『기쁨의 집』 속 수치심을 느끼고 수행하기

Abstract

This paper argues that as a particularly gendered affect in 19th century American context, shame plays a crucial role in the self-perception and identity formation of Lily Bart, the heroine of Edith Whartons The House of Mirth, by focusing on why she feels, and more importantly, how she perceives and performs shame. Lily, a beautiful twenty-nine-year-old lady with financial difficulties, must and desperately struggles to get married, but always discards her opportunity at the very last moment. Her inscrutable failure, which eventually lead to her tragic death, has been a subject of interrogation within and outside the novel. Taking a step back from facile perspective which either victimizes or valorizes Lilys choice or her failure, this paper looks into the ambivalent aspect of Lilys blush as a gendered currency in marriage market and a bodily sign of shame she continuously feels within such economy. In high society where a woman must blush at the right moment and only at such moment, Lily is a peculiar character who blushes at her own blush. Regardless of her extraordinary capability and skills to maneuver men, she feels ashamed about the very struggle and effort she has to put in order to get married. This paper argues that shame, while being the fundamental reason behind her failure to marry, is not merely a negative affect but rather becomes a basis of Lilys pride and identity she cherishes about herself. Shame also explains why Lily loves Lawrense Selden, who not only misconstrues but patronizes her for trying to get married. Lily, at her last speech to Lawrence Selden before she dies, performs shame as her dignity and part of herself she refuses to relinquish at any expense. Lilys performance of shame provides a unique literary language of witheld goodbye in demonstrating shames ambiguous potential that has been discussed within affect theory.