Age Of Innocence

Feminism in its early stages was viewed as a form of activism reserved for women. Whether it be the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848, the suffrage movements of the 1860s, or the conception of Planned Parenthood in 1916, all of these feminist movements largely revolved around their female participants. However, The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton showcases a male individual exploring and supporting feminist ideas through the character of Newland Archer. After meeting Count Ellen Olenska, Archer struggles to maintain his newfound feminist ideologies as he deals with social pressures telling him to view women as prized objects. This shows how in this patriarchal society, even the most elite men are disadvantaged when it comes to supporting feminist

Newland knows that in this society, it is easy for men to get away with having multiple sexual partners, even when married. However, women showing any level of promiscuity are condemned by others, which shows an incredible disparity when it comes to how society views sexual freedom in this patriarchal society. Count Ellen Olenska does not subscribe to the set of accepted customs that dictate how women should behave in this society, and chooses to live a sexually open lifestyle. Regarding promiscuity, Newland notes that ““when such things happen” it was undoubtedly foolish of the man, but somehow always criminal of the woman” (44). Contrary to almost everyone else in his social circle, Newland Archer believes that “women ought to be free - as free as we are”, showing not only his awareness of the ability of men to get away with being promiscuous, but also his acceptance and support of women who choose to live promiscuous lifestyles (19). Immediately after saying this, Mr. Jackson notes that he has “never heard of [Count Olenski] having lifted a finger to get his wife back”, showing how Count Olenski is cheating on Ellen, and that he does not care enough to attempt to get her to come back to him in Europe (19). However, Mr. Jackson says this is a casual manner, showing that he is not bothered by this fact at all and simply accepts it as something men do. It is evident that Mr. Jackson would be

In this case, Newland took this sense of possession for granted earlier in the novel, and changed his mindset as the plot progressed. At the beginning of the novel, Newland “contemplated [May’s] absorbed young face with a thrill of possessorship in which pride in his own masculine initiation was mingled with a tender reverence for her abysmal purity”, showing his enthrallment with the idea of “possessing” May and enhancing his reputation (4). However, he becomes disillusioned with the idea of possessing a woman as the novel progresses and he realizes that the sense of superiority he used to have was an illusion and that he had taken it for granted. He realizes that “there was no use trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free”, showing that when he started to accept feminist ideologies and decided to stop treating his wife like a possession, it was pointless because his wife had never thought of herself as Newland’s possession (87). May never felt like a possession because the way he treated her initially was the only way she had ever known because that was how society operated. It was a social norm for women to be treated as possessions, and May had simply gotten used to this, and never chose to resist this norm in anyway. His desire to “emancipate” his wife is stopped by the fact that it was “less