Marriage is represented in literature in a variety of forms. In many of the novels of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, marriage was the goal toward which the story tended and would serve as the perfect ending to redeem the hero or heroine if they needed to be redeemed or reward them for their virtue. Marriage in fiction reflects the position of marriage in society, and the unequal treatment of men and women in society has long meant a certain imbalance in marriage as well as a degree of hypocrisy that is exploited by writers who want to show the falseness of certain social institutions or who have characters who must assert themselves in some way and who find they can do so through marriage.
Marriage in Edith Wharton's House of Mirth is the goal of the protagonist, but she sees marriage not as an end in itself but as the means to achieve a certain social status by the acquisition of money. Marriage in the upper crust society to which she aspires is the way for a woman without money to gain position. Indeed, marriage is more often a means of acquiring or merging fortunes than it is a question of love. Lily Bart represents this view perfectly in that she is torn between two loves, one a rich man she does not love, and the other a poor man she does. The one she plans to marry is the one with the money, for social position is far more important to her than human feelings. She may have some reason for feeling this way, given the fact that she is an orphan who has been given what she sees as handouts by her aunt her whole life and who would like to achieve a position of greater leisure and independence. She also has more immediate reasons for needing money, of course, because she loses a good deal of money at cards when visiting the home of some rich friends. For them, such a loss would be nothing. For her, it is considerable, and she knows she would ne in disgrace if the fact that she cold not pay it off ever ...