Newland Archer and the Courtly Love Structure in Edith Wharton’s <i>The Age of Innocence</i>

Abstract This article argues that in Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence Newland Archer is stabilized in his marriage with May Welland through his passionate fantasies about her cousin, Ellen Olenska, and that this corresponds to a courtly love structure as it has been described by Jacques Lacan in The Ethics of Psychoanalysis. Accordingly, Newland Archer’s passion is determined by the extent to which the object of his passion, Ellen, is prohibited from him. Ellen is thus in the position of being the Lady for Newland’s quest. In accordance with the courtly love structure, she can only function in this position insofar as she remains unreachable for him so that the greatest threat to Newland’s passion would be the attainment of his desire. Incapable as he is of directing his affective investment to May, his investment in Ellen—as an unattainable object—serves to stabilize his relationship to May, though at the cost of his capacity to enjoy that marriage. Ultimately, therefore, Newland’s actions show that his priority is to sustain his passion for Ellen, rather than to have a relationship with her.