Lily Bart vs. Catherine Sloper
Would you marry someone for their money or their love? That seems to be the key question that differentiates Lily Bart and Catherin Sloper. The two females seem to have the unattainable urge to want something that the other one can easily acquire, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. In one side we have the avaricious Lily Bart who is underprivileged but hangs out with the socialites. Epitomizing both of her verbal and social adroitness, she looks to find the wealthiest man she could marry. In contrast we have Catherine Sloper, a financially privileged woman who wants to find love and marry a man that loves her not her money. But this seems to be struggle since she’s often tongue twisted in the company of others and man find her “plain.”…show more content… Born in an impoverished family, from an early age Lily Bart was tough by her mother to use her social and verbal skills to engage with the social elites. One thing we observed about the beautiful Ms. Bart is that she is never ecstatic with what she has. She always senses that she can do better, this mindset is especially noticeable when it comes to marriage. With multiple men interested in her marriage, Lily does not look into it for the love rather than for the money, keeping her options open. This approach is especially noticeable in the beginning of the book where Wharton insinuate “The certainty that she could marry Percy Gryce when she pleased had lifted a heavy load from her mind, and her money troubles (49).” This gave the reader a great incentive[?] that Lily is willing to marry someone only for there wealth. This mindset is what eventually leads to her tragic death because if she were to marry for love, she might have been marry to Selden and things would have been