The Age of Innocence (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Edith Wharton
- First Published: 1920
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: Late nineteenth century
- Setting: New York City
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Fiction of manners
- Subjects: Values, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Love or romance, Nineteenth century, New York City, Social issues, Marriage, Social life, Obsession, Upper classes, Adultery, Divorce, Duty, Lawyers, Bohemianism, Gossip, Scandal, Peer pressure
- Locales: New York, NY, Newport, RI
Characters Discussed
Newland Archer, a young lawyer who is a member of New York’s high society. Married to May Welland, a girl from his own class, he falls in love with Ellen Olenska and for a time considers running away with her. He never does so because he is bound by his ties of marriage and convention.
Countess Ellen Olenska, a New York girl of good family who has married a Polish nobleman but now wishes a divorce from him. Intelligent and beautiful, she comes back to New York, where she tries to fit into the life she had known before her marriage. She falls in...
[The entire page is 1164 words long]
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