In Luce Irigaray's “Women on the Market” she argues that, in patriarchal societies, women are essentially reduced from human beings to commodities whose exchange is controlled by men. According to Irigaray, this exploitation of women is so ingrained in our culture that it is in fact what “establishes the operations of [patriarchal] society”; in other words, the current social order could not exist without it (Irigaray 807). Mrs. Brympton, one of the main characters in Edith Wharton's ghost story “The Lady Maid's Bell,” both reinforces this argument and challenges it somewhat. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayMrs. The very name of Brympton means that it is a kind of commodity. The reader never learns Mrs. Brympton's given name, nor her maiden name, so she is known only by her husband's surname. This not-so-subtly suggests that she is, indeed, owned by Mr. Brympton. Furthermore, Mrs. Railton, Mrs. Blinder, and Mrs. Ansey are each called the same thing, so it can be assumed that they are also owned by their husbands. Alice, Agnes and Emma, ​​the only female characters lucky enough to be given proper names, are young and not yet married (or dead, in Emma's case), but Alice is also more commonly called Hartley, which immediately designates her as his father's property. Her name aside, Mrs. Brympton's submissive behavior towards Mr. Brympton, her unpleasant, alcoholic, and short-tempered husband, indicates that she is more of a possession than a partner to him. She always speaks to him in a “gentle voice,” despite his almost constant gruffness and rudeness (Wharton 5). Alice immediately takes note of this, indignantly remarking that it makes her “nasal to think of what some women have to endure and hold their tongues about” (Wharton 5, emphasis added). The word “have” reveals that women like Mrs. Brympton have no choice or power in their relationships with their husbands: they must tolerate whatever injustice is inflicted on them because of their status as property rather than person. Perhaps less obvious evidence in support of the thesis that Mrs. Brympton's character functions more as an object belonging to Mr. Brympton than as an autonomous individual is her relative immobility due to her illness. She is mostly bedridden, aside from her occasional walks in the garden. This means that it is always on the land that belongs to Mr. Brympton, which suggests that it is as much his property as the land itself. However, Ms. Brympton possesses several qualities that inherently challenge the idea that she is simply a hunk. owned. Her ambiguous relationship with Mr. Ranford is a prime example; by choosing to associate with a man other than her husband, she not only demonstrates her autonomy but perhaps commits adultery against Mr. Brympton, an act that, in its disloyalty, is quite revolutionary. Likewise, her close relationships with Emma and Alice show a sense of female solidarity against male power and even save her from at least one potentially negative situation with Mr. Brympton. The fact that Mrs. Brympton is fully capable of taking full control of the estate during Mr. Brympton's frequent and prolonged absences demonstrates that he can succeed in a position of authority rather than subservience. Wharton notes that the family often falls into complete disarray upon Mr. Brympton's arrival, with the servants fighting each other and Mr. Wace, the.