The House of Mirth
The central theme of "The House of Mirth" is essentially "the struggle between who we are and what society tells us we should be". Thus, it is considered by many to be as relevant today as it was in 1905. If its sole subject had been the excesses and lives of the rich and famous, by themselves, it is doubtful it would have remained popular for as long as it has. "The House of Mirth" continues to attract readers over a century after its first publication, possibly due to its timeless theme. That the life and death of Lily Bart matters to modern readers suggests that Wharton succeeded in her purpose: to critique "a society so relentlessly materialistic and self-serving that it casually destroys what is most beautiful and blameless within it."
Bart McQueen
Bart returns and threatens Joel, who offers him support for his drug addiction. As he is leaving, Myra spots him and asks him to stay for her daughter's christening. At the christening reception, Bart steals money from the cards and persuades Cleo to take drugs with him again. However, instead, Cleo reveals that Bart is addicted to drugs and stole money so Myra alerts the police as Bart runs away. When the police find Bart, he tries to run but after spotting Warren, he chooses to be arrested. Warren asks his lawyer, James Nightingale (Gregory Finnegan), to secure Bart's freedom and James persuades Myra to retract her allegation so Warren can confront Bart. However, Bart decides to flee the village until Myra asks him to stay with her. Bart decides to be honest with Warren and post him a letter detailing the events of Katy's death, but Warren opens the door as he is about to post the letter and pulls him inside his flat. Warren later confesses to Sienna Blake (Anna Passey) that he has murdered Bart and Sienna agrees to hide his body. Warren has left Bart's corpse in the empty flat in the building and he and Sienna go to retrieve it. However, the new occupants Sally St. Claire (Annie Wallace) and Neeta Kaur (Amrit Maghera) try to get in so Warren's hides the body in the attic. To get rid of the body Warren pulls the fire alarm and puts the body in his van wrapped in a rug but Joel later takes the van to the funeral of Amy Barnes (Ashley Slanina-Davies) because he has equipment in the van to set up the church but Warren gets there before he can discover Bart's body and when the van won't start he dumps the body in Amy's grave and the coffin containing Amy's body is buried on top and Joel later discovers and is overwhelmed in guilt for his part in Bart's death.