What exactly is the muse’s tragedy in this case? What is most tragic about this story?

The obvious tragedy in this story seems to be that Mrs. Anerton fell in love with Rendle and was never loved back regardless of how she tried to twist the facts. But the truth is that she was loved; people forget love comes in many forms and while Rendle did not love her in a passionate sense she was indeed important to him whether he admitted it or not after all, “He had the genius of friendship, and he spent it all on me. Yes, you were right when you said that I have had more than any other woman.” He made her a muse because he connected with her soul, he enjoyed their conversations and her company, he found her comfortable that is all a way of loving someone. It is not the one-sided love that was truly devastating in this story it was this idea that because of her love she allowed herself self-delusion sparked by the opinions and gossip of those who read Rendle’s poetry.  The story clearly comments that as soon as whispers spread of her being the “Sylvia”from Rendle’s sonnet she became someone everyone sought after, why? Not because she was simply Mrs. Anerton but because to the outsiders she became Rendle’s Mrs. Anerton, his muse. In the story Mrs. Anerton even states that suddenly, “I was invited; people made up to me in the hope of getting to know him; when I was in London my door-bell never stopped ringing. Elderly peeresses, aspiring hostesses, love-sick girls and struggling authors overwhelmed me with their assiduities.” And because of all of this she couldn’t help but dilute herself into believing that maybe she was Rendle’s “Sylvia” after all as she states, “they almost made me think so too”. Her love clouded her ability to see the truth even though she states, “deep down, I knew he had never cared”. It has always been human nature to choose to believe in what satisfies self interest than in what is actually the reality. In addition, because of her love for him she fueled the fire and tampered with the letters to make it seem as though the passionate parts were left out. She lost herself, always wondering did Rendle love her, making excuses, tampering with the letters and indulging in the critics to the point that when she finally realized she had lost herself it began to hurt more. As she states, “At first I was afraid — oh, so much afraid — that you cared for me only because I was Silvia, that you loved me because you thought Rendle had loved me” the audience finally understands the true tragedy was that Mrs. Anerton no longer knew if she was worthy beyond her title as Rendle’s muse and that’s the true muse’s tragedy that they become just that, a muse. To the rest of the world they are forever connected to the artists, poets or writers who created them that title of “muse”.