The Luxe Critique “Miss Elizabeth Holland, daughter of the late Edward Holland, was like a diadem amidst garish rubies, glowing with poise and subtle beauty… her impact on society will be great and good (Godbersen 89).” Elizabeth was New York’s most well known, rising socialite. Every little move she made was under constant scrutinization by both her peers and those beneath her. While she may have seemed like a perfectly well-mannered and pristine young woman on the outside, beneath her cover she was far more interesting. As many people often say, not everything is as perfect as it may seem. The superlative way for readers to analyze and fully comprehend the labyrinthine character that is Elizabeth Holland, is for them to view her life …show more content…
Her greatest temptation is to end the engagement and run away with Will. Many times he has suggested that they run away to California, where the rules are not the same and they could easily make their own living. She knows that staying with Henry will provide only a loveless marriage, but she simply cannot bear to leave her family to ruins. On the other hand, her biggest challenge happens to come in the form of her supposed true best friend, Penelope Hayes. “She had long ago singled out Elizabeth Holland as her principal rival and thus her only possible best friend (Godbersen 33).” Late in the novel, Penelope finds out about Elizabeth’s secret love affair with a member of her staff and in turn uses it to blackmail Elizabeth. “I am going to ruin you. But really, darling. You did all the work. I’m just going to let your nasty pigeon out of the coop (Godbersen 340).” Her main reasoning behind this heinous retort was due to the fact that she was in love with Henry and thought for certain that she would be the one he would propose to, but unfortunately she did not come from the same social class as them. “It is intolerable that I should lose out to Elizabeth. That twit from one of those old inbred families would appear to have stolen what everyone knew was mine (Godbersen 374).” Much like in Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, there were two different forms of wealthy during their time: West egg and East egg. Similarly in Godbersen’s story there was the old wealthy and the new wealthy. While Penelope may have been just as rich as Henry and Elizabeth, her money was fresh, whereas, theirs had been in the making for generations. She had always strived to be better than Elizabeth and believed that marrying Henry would do just that, but in a turn of events, he proposed to Elizabeth, proving once again that Elizabeth was her better. “Henry was mine. We were gorgeous together. And them