In Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth, the cold, unforgiving world of New York high society never favors the perspective of the outsider, or the spectator. But the author seems to give a lot of credit to those characters who fit this position, thus accepting its flaws along with its attributes. Lawrence Selden is one such figure, unique in that society accepts him as a spectator, perhaps because he himself accepts this attitude. He sees everything from a separate position, always taking a step back to see the scenes in which he himself participates. His love for Lily is born and destroyed by this aspect of his personality. His love for Selden, on the other hand, is simply complicated from this perspective. Lily's relationship with her aloof and separate tendencies changes over the course of the novel, greatly influencing her worldview and, most importantly, her relationship with Selden. For most of the novel, however, Lily is an outsider who refuses to admit it. And just like Selden, and all the other characters in this category, Lily will find both her blessing and her downfall in this trait. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Selden's role as an outsider is maintained primarily by his tendency to always keep himself separate from activities, looking down. This position allows him not only to distance himself from any main activity, but to understand the events taking place around him with more reason than those who are more actively involved. His choice to remain aloof is clear in moments such as those at a ball, where "Selden... found himself, from a corner of the ballroom, observing the scene with sincere amusement." (138) He purposely puts himself in a corner, becoming a sort of audience. The allusion to the theater lies in his idea that "the richest should live up to their vocation as stage managers and not spend their money in a boring way", (139), the very concept that leads him to the show involving Lily in a tableau vivant. Selden's place as spectator facilitates his love for Lily. Because Lily possesses otherworldly beauty and constantly uses this trait to transform herself into an object to be observed, she is the perfect creature to observe from afar. Selden seems to understand her most in his moment on the ballroom stage, when he can simply sit and watch, sharing with an entire audience "the touch of poetry that [he] has always felt in her presence." (142) It is in this moment, when Lily becomes the object that Selden has always naturally created from her, in his mind, that he understands her the most. As he simply observes her, "he seems to see the real Lily Bart before him"... and even "[has] time to feel the whole tragedy of her life". (142) Even when Lily is next to him, he watches her carefully, as if she were a scene before him. At the beginning, after the reader is told that "[a] spectator, had always liked Lily Bart," (6) Selden walks beside her and speculates on her beauty. He notices "the pattern of his little ear" and even wonders "had his hair ever been so lightly highlighted by art?" (7) While his position usually proves to please or entertain Selden, it also leaves room for cold reality and constant loneliness. Selden is not alone in portraying the role of the outsider in this novel. He is joined by several key characters, most of whom seem equally unlucky in love, and essentially alone in the world, but also have a heightened perception and understanding of reality rather than the pigeonholed view offered by the moreactive. Mrs. Peniston is one such character, who, "as a spectator...enjoys opportunities for comparison and generalization such as those who partake must proverbially forego." (127) She exemplifies loneliness in this perspective, separated even more by her age. Other characters of this type include Carry Fisher and Gerty Farish. Like Selden, these women rejoice in their differences and also offer advice and help to Lily when she needs it. Mrs. Fisher simply wishes to "see [Lily's situation] from the outside and draw her own conclusions accordingly." (247) And when he doesn't stand out, and simply follows the pack, as most in this environment seem inclined to do, he apologizes to Lily for it. (240) Gerty, on the other hand, does not so much consciously distinguish herself as find herself naturally different. His triumph in his outsider status comes from the great joy he takes in simply watching beautiful things, such as Van Osburgh's wedding, where "his chirping enthusiasms...[seem] only to turn his exceptionalism into relief and give a rush vastness to his life plan." (94) Gerty is able to see beauty where most criticize it, but she is also doomed in love, as demonstrated by her failure to treat Selden to a romantic dinner. Lily, although an outsider by nature, is different from all of these characters. Accept and reject this perspective at the same time. What sets her apart most is her extraordinary beauty and grace, attributes she clings to as her primary survival tool. This physical beauty is the aspect of her differences that she embraces and accepts. She stands out physically from her group when she knows her beauty will make an impression, as in her choice of scene at the Wellington-Bry ball, where she chooses something very different from everyone else. He also does this during the reading of Mrs. Peniston's will, where he prepares for a scene of triumph by "[sitting] in a chair that seemed to have been specially set apart from the others." (231) Like her natural separation, this lonely chair will ironically become a horrible place to be apart, when the scene becomes a tragedy for her when she least expects it. The tragedy of Lily's poverty is the force behind her eventual realization of her inherent otherness. What he had embraced only as a tool to get things done begins to reveal its negative force in his life too, as "a hard veneer of indifference [is] rapidly forming over his delicacies and susceptibilities." (243) His perpetual position as a guest among friends in Bellomont, and later always as "third wheel" with married couples in Europe or Alaska, was a symptom of this alienation. She was also too far from reality to see any situation but her own. He sees the culmination of his earlier self-centered embrace of detachment in recalling his visits to Gerty's women's philanthropic clubs; "he had taken an enlightened interest in the working classes, but this was due to the fact that he looked at them from above, from the happy height of his grace and his beneficence. Now that he was at their level, the point of view was less interesting ." (297) Lily was forced to live her worst nightmare to see the nature of her own being, to see that she had "never been able to understand the laws of a universe that was so ready to leave her out of its calculations." (31) She is finally separated, alone and able to see who she truly is. What most destroys Lily in this ignorance is the capacity her separation has for true love with Selden. Perhaps it shows in his natural detachment. He is completely taken, "particularly struck...[by] the way in which she separates herself, by a hundred indefinable shades, from the people who most abounded in her style." (223) Lily is.