1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

Edith Wharton, or original name Edith Newbold Jones, an American novelist, short story writer, and designer, was born on January 24, 1862 and died on August 11, 1937. She was born into an old-established New York clan and received a good education, but she was very shy and didn#8217;t like to participate in any upper-class events. What she liked were observing the blue-blooded circle she was in and recording the vanity of old New York families. So she began to write with the widespread materials in order to dissipate her annoyance and got ahead in the writing field. Wharton combined an insider's view of American aristocracy with a powerful prose style. Her novels and short stories realistically portrayed the lives and morals of the late nineteenth century, an era of decline and faded wealth. Edith Wharton and Jane Austen, a famous English female novelist are outstanding creators of novels of manners. She created a great variety of excellent works, such as The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, The Age of Innocence and so on. In 1921, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature for her book The Age of Innocence, the first woman to receive this honor. The writing style of Ms Wharton is lyric and elegant, interspersed with subtle satire, which becomes her unique characteristic. Wharton was acquainted with many of the well-known people of her day, both in America and in Europe, including President Theodore Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway and Henry James.

The Age of Innocence is one of Edith Wharton#8217;s full-length novels, which tells a entangled love story among a noble lawyer Newland Archer, his beautiful fiancee May Welland and a different woman Ellen Olenska. Newland Archer and May Welland are both in traditional upper-class families and engaged. However, after the engagement is formally announced, Archer falls in love with Countess Olenska, May#8217;s cousin, who has got divorced from her unfaithful Polish husband and returned as an outsider to New York. Compared with May#8217;s ignorance, Olenska#8217;s European sophistication at once attracts Archer, who becomes unsatisfied with May#8217;s artificial innocence immediately. Therefore Archer is torn between the predictable life of propriety,tradition and responsibility, and the realm of intellectual and moral freedom which Ellen offers him. Archer is afraid to break his moral code, so he still get married with May ahead of schedule. But after getting married, Archer thinks that he falls into the trap of traditional marriage, so he begins to date with Ellen frequently. And then when he decides to follow Ellen to Europe, May#8217;s news of pregnancy stops him. Ellen cuts off all connection with Archer and goes to Paris, and Archer does his duty to the society and his family.

In the age of innocence, Edith Wharton shows us the tragic fate and miserable experiences of oppressed women from a distinctive perspective, combing her own deep insight, and then reveals the hypocrisy and conservative of the old New York society. She portrays a new woman image, Ellen Olenska, who dares to fight against tradition and pursue freedom, and thus presents us woman#8217;s defiant sound and gradually awakening feminist consciousness in that society, which makes an important step toward the study of feminism.

1.2 Need for the study

Practically speaking, the revolt of Ellen Olenska toward the old New York society and her pursuit can manifest the awakening feminism in that society. This is meaningful and helpful for women to change their oppressed fate and improve their social status. Meanwhile, Edith Wharton#8217;s exquisite observation and profound depiction about the society attract people#8217;s attention and make them deeply realize the importance of revolting the traditional patriarchal society. It is an important step for the modern society and the progress of female equality.

Theoretically speaking, the feminist study of Ellen Olenska gives scholars more hints at studying The Age of Innocence from new research perspectives. They may pay attention to the correlations between the novel and other works as Wharton has been influenced by a number of writers and literary schools. Last but not least, readers can have a comprehensive understanding of Ellen Olenska and The Age of Innocence, and her achievements and endeavour to the feminism.