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Operatic Observation Of The Audience: Examining Chapter One Of Edith Wharton's The Age Of Innocence, Andréa René Franke

Anthós

The act of observation, as defined by Professor Lawrence Wheeler’s Fall 2012 Syllabus for his course titled "Theatron", is "a morally complex act undertaken by qualified agents, operating through recognized and formalized practices, in a specific venue, and in possession of a carefully delimited vocabulary of discourse." Throughout many disciplines this formalized practice can be identified in many forms while still prescribing to this narrow definition. This essay will show how this definition of observation is applied to early 20th century American literature in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (1920) by examining the first chapter of Wharton’s museum cultured …