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“Try to Be Loved & Not-Admired”: Lily Bart’s Moral Struggle
Year: 2022
Type of publication: kapitola v odborné knize
Name of source: Ethical Inquiries after Wittgenstein
Publisher name: Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Place: Cham
Page from-to: 49-62
Titles:
Language Name Abstract Keywords
cze “Usiluj o lásku, ne o obdiv”: morální zápas Lily Bart This chapter examines the tension between admiration and love in the domain of personal relationships from the perspective of the person who is admired or loved. I show that it is possible for a person to affect which of these responses she evokes, and that, for some people, admiration presents a powerful temptation that can become a life strategy of avoiding love, compassion and full recognition. Building on Stanley Cavell’s study of the opening scene of King Lear, I claim that shame about one’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities can lead to trading love for admiration and to the danger of disastrous consequences not only for one’s relationships but for one’s life as a whole. My interpretation of Lily Bart’s story from Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth furthers Cavell’s point in that it elaborates on the moral aspects of such a life strategy. Lily’s moral struggle ends with a profound transformation in which she accepts love, thereby accepting her more genuine moral self. I thus interpret Wittgenstein’s “Try to be loved & not-admired” as a moral warning. obdiv; láska; soucit; ostuda; přijetí; self; osobní kvality; zranitelnost; morální transformace; morální boj; morální dilema; Lily Bart; The House of Mirth; Stanley Cavell; vyhýbání se lásce; Král Lear; Ludwig Wittgenstein;
eng “Try to Be Loved & Not-Admired”: Lily Bart’s Moral Struggle This chapter examines the tension between admiration and love in the domain of personal relationships from the perspective of the person who is admired or loved. I show that it is possible for a person to affect which of these responses she evokes, and that, for some people, admiration presents a powerful temptation that can become a life strategy of avoiding love, compassion and full recognition. Building on Stanley Cavell’s study of the opening scene of King Lear, I claim that shame about one’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities can lead to trading love for admiration and to the danger of disastrous consequences not only for one’s relationships but for one’s life as a whole. My interpretation of Lily Bart’s story from Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth furthers Cavell’s point in that it elaborates on the moral aspects of such a life strategy. Lily’s moral struggle ends with a profound transformation in which she accepts love, thereby accepting her more genuine moral self. I thus interpret Wittgenstein’s “Try to be loved & not-admired” as a moral warning. admiration; love; compassion; shame; acceptance; self; personal qualities; vulnerability; moral transformation; moral struggle; moral dilemma; Lily Bart; The House of Mirth; Stanley Cavell; avoidance of love; King Lear; Ludwig Wittgenstein;

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