After an inferred proposal by Lewis Danyers, Mary rejected him out of pity and her own spite. She could have chosen to marry Lewis Danyers after having a great time in Venice with him, but because of the fact that she had loved Victor Rendel for quite some time during her marriage, she thought it would not have been fair for him to marry her. Victor Rendel never reciprocated her love for him and Mary did not want Lewis Danyers to marry a “disappointed woman,” in another words, someone who treated him as a rebound. So in the end, she chose what she thought was a good moral compass for her, but as she had realized, “it has shown me, for the first time, all that I have missed.”
One thought on “Wharton: “The Muse’s Tragedy” – Consider Mary’s choices toward the end of the story. Why does she choose this life rather than another? 10/8”
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I feel that this is a great depiction of following your head over your heart. Mary chose what she thought in her head was the right decision but her heart belonged to someone else. This is always depicted many movies where someone usually chooses the person who they feel is the right choice rather than the one they were “meant to be with”.