Consider Mary’s choices toward the end of the story. Why does she choose this life rather than another?
In the short story, The Muse’s Tragedy, by Edith Warton, there seems to be a love triangle between three characters: Lewis Danyers, Mary Anerton, and Vincent Rendle. Danyers loves Mary and decided to propose to her. However, her response to the proposal was not what Danyers expected. Mary rejected his proposal because of her one-sided love towards Vincent Rendle, a guy who she spent fifteen years working with together. Rendle never expressed his love for her. However, by spending fifteen years with him, she believes he will have some feelings towards her. However, it never happened. Mary had the option to accept Danyers proposal and be married to him. However, she rejected instead as she said the following, “Somebody must save you from marrying a disappointed woman– well, you say years don’t count, and why should they, after all, since you are not to marry me?”(37). She wants him to marry someone who is truly in love with him and not someone whose heart is towards someone else and not him.