Feminine Sexual Awakening as Depicted by Charity Royall

Feminine Sexual Awakening as Depicted by Charity Royall

            The literary analysis essay discusses the novel Summer by Edith Wharton, with a specific focus on the character of Charity Royall. Knight highlights Charity’s life of depravity and hardship, from the abandonment by her birth mother as a five-year-old, and the sexual pursuit by Lawyer Royall’s, to the ill-fated romantic relationship with Lucius Harney (59). An essential aspect of the character’s growth into maturity entails discovering her sexuality, with the sex experiences and consequences shaping her into a different woman. Hummel’s discussions on incest emphasize further Charity’s feminine sexual awakening, particularly in overcoming Lawyer’s advances, and later succumbing to him. The pregnancy from her affair with Lucius Harney marks the ultimate maturation of a young woman, as the prospect of motherhood shapes how she reacts to the abandonment by her lover. Therefore, Charity undergoes feminine sexual awakening represents both a path to freedom while at the same time, underlining the established boundaries that attempt to construct her identity.

Hence, Wharton first presents Charity as a character who is not sexually active but is aware of her sexuality. For example, her first encounter with Lucius at the Hatchard Memorial Library highlights Charity’s awareness of her sexual appeal, specifically when the young man looks at her for the first time and “lost the thread of his remark” (Wharton I). Charity discovers that Lucius is attracted to her and acknowledges it by smiling, and he smiled back. The attraction is evident when he tries to get her to help him find a book and speaks to her respectfully, and she becomes calm.

Therefore, Charity’s discovery of her sexuality represents a critical phase of maturity. However, she is concerned about Lucius’ indifference to her when he discovers she does not know much about the books in the library (Wharton I). Charity finds that Lucius had lost interest in her because ignorance, just as another man at Nettleton had exposed when he described some pictures to her (Wharton I). She is keen to express her liking for Lucius by her attempts to find a book or pamphlet about North Dormer, about which the young man inquired. Her wish to find the book underlines the recognition of the straightforwardness of her sexual feelings toward Lucius.

Furthermore, Wharton demonstrates Charity’s consciousness about the power of her sexual appeal and the way she uses it as a tool to influence her status in Lawyer’s house. Wharton illustrates the character’s strength in sexuality through Lawyer’s first attempt to make sexual advances to Charity upon returning from one of his work visits to Nettleton (II). When Lawyer shows up at the door of her bedroom, Charity expresses her contempt to him and her feeling of disgust toward Lawyer’s appeals. The sexual awakening the character undergoes is the recognition that she could resist a man’s attempt to force her into engaging in non-consensual sex (Hummel 220). Wharton claims that Charity is not frightened by the incident but only expresses open disgust that was evident on her face because Lawyer notices her reaction and walks away from the door (II). Charity exploits the power of her sexual appeal in Lawyer’s house to avoid the recurrence of the incident by demanding that he employs and pays another woman in the house (Wharton II). She even gets the courage to tell Mr Royall about her desire to leave North Dormer. Besides, she can use the power of her sexual appeal to mock his proposal to marry her as she begins to recognize her ability to authorize her sexuality and not let Lawyer define her.

Additionally, Charity increasingly becomes aware of her sexual attraction to Lucius, and she recognizes her desire for him. For instance, Wharton narrates Charity’s experience on the night after meeting him, that she lay in bed and thinks about him (III). She distinguishes North Dormer’s culture that does not grant women the freedom to experiment on their sex wishes. She compares her ignorance about life and architecture with that of other girls in other places like Nettleton, imagining how they were free to interact with attractive men like Lucius (Wharton III).  Charity then remembers Lucius finds her attractive because after seeing her in the library, he forgot what he was saying (Hummel 223). The realization that she appeals to him leads her to fantasize about marrying him, imagining herself a bride walking down an isle with him (Wharton III). Charity’s sexual desire becomes more evident with her demonstration of how she would attempt to imprison her kiss in church with Lucius as they left the church after the wedding. Hence, Wharton has begun revealing the more profound thoughts of the character and her departure from a more reserved young girl to one willing to pursue her sexual feelings with a man she deems worthy.

Moreover, when Charity eventually concedes to physical intimacy with Lucius during the Fourth of July celebrations, she finally becomes sexually liberated. Wharton reveals the scene when Lucius kisses Charity for the first time at the ceremony at Nettleton when she felt his dominance (X). The event marks a significant turning point in her decision to engage sexually with Lucius in their relationship and her capability to overcome the power he holds over her. Tigchelaar underlines Charity’s ability to overcome patriarchy by discussing the capitalist market’s reciprocal exchange and culture of obligation in relationships (13). Hence, Lucius is depicted as a character who handles personal relationships in a business-like manner. He is a young man who subscribes to the economy of consumerism and considers gift exchange a form of exchange (Tigchelaar 14). Charity discerns Lucius’ intention to use the jewellery he buys her to entrap her in a manner consistent with the patriarchal bounds society sets. However, on her part, she understands that she is not seeking the life of a wife and mother, because her only pursuit is sexual fulfilment. Hence, she spends most of her time with Lucius, meeting in the secret place to delight in the sexual experiences without considering how it fits in the rest of her life.

After Charity’s summer sexual experiences with Lucius, she gets pregnant, and Harney abandons her to deal with the consequences alone. According to Tigchelaar, Charity realizes that Lucius is engaged to another woman and decides not to burden him with the news of her pregnancy (19). She does not want him to break off his commitment to her just because she is pregnant for him. Accordingly, Charity realizes another level of feminine sexual awakening in which she does not have to rely on a man to raise a child. Instead, she embarks on reclaiming the brooch Lucius had bought her at the Fourth of July celebrations, which she would use to assert the legitimacy of her unborn child (Tigchelaar 19). Therefore, she reinvests the symbol of the consumerist culture she cannot participate and assigns it a new meaning she assigns on her terms. In other words, Charity challenges the societal culture that does not acknowledge childbearing out of wedlock because she grows into maturity from a naïve girl to a woman willing to build a better life for her baby. Her physical sexual encounters with Lucius free her from letting other people define her, and she resorts to form her own identity as a mother.

Besides, Charity’s final submission to become Lawyer’s wife represents the feminine sexual awakening to challenge the societal bounds that discourage incest. Knight purports that Charity grows from a child into a woman with a child who begins to resign to providing her baby with a family that is intact (70). She is unwilling to raise the child fatherless, thereby perceiving Lawyer as a saviour who rescues her a second time from the Mountain (Knight 70). Wharton begins to interpret Charity’s marriage to Lawyer, not as incestuous, but as an opportunity for a new mother to live peaceably as a complete family, with a father and child (Knight 70). Significantly, Mr Royall is equally willing not to pursue Charity for sexual favours, instead preferring to have a partner to end his loneliness. Accordingly, there is a mutual benefit for each character, whereby Charity desires a father for her child, while Lawyer is seeking companionship. Charity has also always expressed compassion for Royall’s loneliness, and now she gets the opportunity to offer him some support. Lawyer provides her with the sense of security that Lucius could not offer, where she can live in peace while her husband can take care of her and the child. Hence, her feminine sexual awakening in the marriage scenario entails her power to resist the sexual advances from Mr Royall, while succeeding to secure a family.

In brief, Charity depicts feminine sexual awakening through her character in interaction with Lucius and Mr Royall. Specifically, her first encounter with Lucius reveals her awareness of her sexual desires and the willingness to pursue them. Besides, she has control over her sexuality when she demonstrates the ability to resist Lawyer’s sexual advances. Charity’s sexual liberation is also evident in her recognition of the restrictive culture of North Dormer, where women cannot experiment on their sexuality. She eventually engages in physical intimacy with Lucius, a turning point in her recognition of her ability to overcome patriarchal entrapment of women with gifts for sex. Charity’s pregnancy also reveals her independence with the willingness to raise a child on her own because Lucius is engaged to another woman. However, she is forced to make a sacrifice for her baby, as she accepts to marry Mr Royall to secure a family for her child.

 

 

Works Cited

Hummel, William E. “My” Dull-Witted Enemy”: Symbolic Violence and Abject Maleness in Edith Wharton’s “Summer.” Studies in American Fiction 24.2 (1996): 215-236.

Knight, Denise D. “A “Solitary Song”: Identity, Agency, and Motherhood in Wharton’s “Summer.” American Literary Realism 51.1 (2018): 59-76.

Tigchelaar, Jana. “Empathy or Expectation of Return: Relationships, Gifts, and Economy in Edith Wharton’s “Summer”.” Edith Wharton Review 28.1 (2012): 13-20.

Wharton, Edith. Summer. New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1917.