The Age of Innocence Chapters 19 - 27
Newland and May are married right after easter, and Ellen does not attend the wedding. They spend their first night as bride and groom in the same cabin of the Hudson River where Ellen and Newland had once conversed. They set for a six-month-long honeymoon, and Newland begins to find several faults in May. He doesn’t quite like how much she cares about clothes, and her interest is far more focussed on sports than culture like his own. They visit acquaintances in London, where Newland meets a particularly talented French tutor, but to his disappointment May finds the tutor to be far too common. They return to New York, much to May’s relief, and set about their married life in their new home. They spend the summer with May’s family in Newport, although Newland does so quite reluctantly. May wins an archery competition, and Beaufort comments about how May lacks in sex appeals, which bothers Newland. In the past few months, Ellen has retreated from her mind, and become a ghost. He has convinced himself that his love for love had been nothing but some nervousness about his approaching marriage.
He visits Catherine Mingot with May, and she informs them that Ellen is visiting from Washington, and asks Newland to call her from the beach. Newport doesn’t call Ellen but only stares at her from a distance, and retreats into the house. He had heard that Ellen had moved to New York and built quite a social life for herself. He was shocked to hear May’s remarks about Ellen as they returned home. She felt that Ellen should have gone back to her husband, and she was causing the family dishonor with her continued presence. Newland’s vehement refusal of such a notion prevents May from making any further remarks.
Later onwards, Newland becomes desperate to catch a glimpse of Ellen, and so he goes by her local residence after completing an errand. He discovers that Ellen had gone off to Boston for some pressing business, and he immediately decides to follow her. He makes his way to the sweltering city and finds May sitting in one of the parks as he goes out for a stroll in search of her. They are shocked to find each other so casually, and confess to one another that they had both avoided meeting one another the night Newland had come to visit Catherine.
She explains that she had come to Boston to meet with an envoy from her husband, and much to Newland’s relief, she had rejected Count Olenski’s affair. He convinces her to take the day away together, and she leaves a message for the envoy. They ride the boat in silence and retreat into a private dining room completely at ease with one another. In private, they renew their words of tender love for one another and discuss the constraints that bind them to the lives they lead. Ellen cannot leave America because she wishes to remain close to him, and through him has learned of the tender beauty of American values. She insists that they cannot be together, and promises to not return to her husband as long as they did not act on their love. Newland is frustrated and cannot abide the thought of losing her so he decides that he will continue to hold his emotions in check.
Upon his return to New York, he is visited by the envoy from Count Olsenki, who happens to be the same French tutor that he and May had met in London during their New York. Newland is shocked to learn that the whole Mingot clan wished for the envoy to convince Ellen to return to her husband. He had been purposefully left out of this discussion because it was understood that he supported Ellen’s desire to be free. The envoy insists that Ellen must not be allowed to return to her husband as there had been a deep transformation in her. During a Thanksgiving dinner, Ellen’s name is brought up in the Archer household as guests discuss the rumors that Beaufort would be going bankrupt. Several people believe that Beaufort had been spending a large fortune on his mistress and it was hinted that Ellen may have been that mistress. Newland has a difficult run-in with one of his guests who makes some nasty insinuations about Ellen’s financial condition. It is understood that the Mingot family had limited Ellen’s allowance and that she was nearly out of money.
Newland decides that he must go and see Ellen. He informs May of his decision to go to Washington, and she asks him to be sure to visit May while giving him a knowing look. Soon it becomes certain that Beaufort is going to be bankrupt soon, and it becomes the main topic of discussion among Newland’s peers. He decides to go sooner to Washington even though the patent hearing he had been intending to attend had been delayed further. He receives a telegram from May about Catherine Mingot’s severely deteriorated condition. He rushes to the matriarch’s house and learns that Catherine’s stroke had been brought about by a visit from Beaufort who had pleaded for help with her husband’s situation. The New York society was united in its condemnation of Beaufort and believed it was his wife’s duty to suffer the consequences of her association with him. Catherine has already begun to make a recovery, and she asks for Ellen to be called from Washington. May remarks that it will be unfortunate that Newland and Ellen will be unable to meet since he has to go to Washington just as she will be arriving in New York.
Analysis
Edith Wharton brilliantly communicates the distance between May and Newland after their marriage by significantly excluding her from the narrative. Readers are exposed to Newland’s most intimate thoughts, and May does not truly enter these thoughts too often except with a slight tinge of disappointment. On the other hand, Newland’s feelings for Ellen continue to heighten, and this is symbolically indicated by his desire to merely be in the same place as her. Ellen and Newland’s relationship is complex, and Newland realizes that he has chosen a lifeless real by being with May rather than Ellen.
Later events of the novel are indicated by Newland’s interactions with Count Olenski’s envoy. It becomes understood that Newland is purposefully being kept out of the loop about Ellen. This idea is further strengthened by May’s strange and knowing to look that she displays when Newland tells her about his intentions of traveling to Washington. Ellen and Newland are being directed by the members of the Mingot family which includes May.
