Used and Abused

7/30/2019 Used and Abused

1/62

UNIVERSITATEA AUREL VLAICU ARADFACULTATEA DE TIINE UMANISTE I SOCIALE

LIMBA I LITERATURA ROMN LIMBA I LITERATURA ENGLEZ

LUCRARE DE LICEN

NDRUMTOR TIINIFICProf. Univ. Dr. Monica PONTA

Lect. Univ. Drd. Claudiu MARGAN

ABSOLVENT

ARAD


2/62

2012

UNIVERSITATEA AUREL VLAICU ARADFACULTATEA DE TIINE UMANISTE I SOCIALE

LIMBA I LITERATURA ROMN LIMBA I LITERATURA ENGLEZ

LUCRARE DE LICEN

USED AND ABUSED: JAMESIAN WOMEN CHARACTERS IN

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY,DAISY MILLER, THE GOLDEN

BOWL AND THE WINGS OF THE DOVE

NDRUMTOR TIINIFICProf. Univ. Dr. Monica PONTA

Lect. Univ. Drd. Claudiu MARGAN

ABSOLVENT

ARAD

2


3/62

2012

3


4/62

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.. 5

1. SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON HENRY JAMESS LIFE AND

LITERARY ACTIVITY.. 8

1.1. Family background and early writings.. 8

1.2. The first major novels and short stories11

1.3. The middle period of Jamesian creation...

14

1.4 The final stage of literary activity.. 16

2. ISABEL ARCHER AND THE OBJECTIFICATION OF

THE WOMAN 19

2.1. The Portrait of A Lady aesthetic principles and reactions.. 19

2.2 Setting, plot and characters. 20

2.3 Oppressed by the setting: the American woman in Europe 25

2.4 Losing innocence and resisting abuse. 29

2.5 Women as objects... 32

3. DAISY MILLER AND THE AMERICAN INNOCENCE................ 35

3.1 American vs. European and the international theme 35

3.2 Innocence and corruption 37

3.3 Open personality and social constraints.......... 39

4


5/62

4. INFIDELITY OR THE CRACK IN THE GOLDEN BOWL................. 42

4.1 From realism to the impressionism of the character... 42

4.2 Plot and characters in The Golden Bowl. 44

4.3Cheated women or the flaw in the golden bowl.. 47

5. PURITY AND ABUSE IN THE WINGS OF THE DOVE................. 49

5.1 Narrative techniques and character construction 49

5.2 Story-line in The Wings of the Dove.. 50

5.3 Milly Theale the mysterious victim..... 55

CONCLUSIONS 58

BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 60

5


6/62

INTRODUCTION

Henry James is considered by criticism as a transition author, bridging the gap

between realism or Victorianism and Modernism. That is why the reader will find a

combination of realist and modernist elements, both in terms of narrative techniques and of the

themes and characters he uses. Therefore, we should not be surprised if the character, and

especially the women characters that make the object of our study, will present both realist and

modernist features, because their personality is made up of details drawn from the objective

reality, but also from their inner consciousness.

Our interest in the topic was triggered, first of all, by the complexity of Jamesian

women characters and by what we considered to be an indeterminism of their actions. We

were puzzled by Isabel sacrificing her freedom to enter and remain trapped in an unhappy

marriage in The Portrait of A Lady, by Maggies acceptance of her husbands infidelity in The

Golden Bowl, by Daisys innocence and predestined fatality inDaisy Miller, or Milly Theales

hidden thoughts, mysterious illness and slow disappearance in The Wings of the Dove. Without

trying to erase their individuality, we tried to find some common patterns that could facilitate

the reading of Henry Jamess novels and the understanding of his women characters. Although

the author himself was not a supporter oftype and typology, we will try to prove that there are

some common features that unite his women protagonists because of the thematic choices and

the narrative techniques that he uses.

The first chapter of our thesis will take into account the background of the author

and his literary activity. Born in the United States, James lived most of his life in Europe,

mainly in England, and his writing presents elements from both continents. That is why his

works frequently put together characters from different worlds the Old World (Europe), both

creative and corrupting; and the New World (the United States), where people are often

hostile, open, and straightforward and explore how this conflict of personalities and cultures

affects the two worlds. An extremely productive author, James wrote 22 novels, hundreds of

short stories, and dozens of volumes of non-fiction including biographies, travel writing, art

6


7/62

and literary criticism, and memoirs.

In the second chapter we will deal with the first of the women characters who make

the object of our study, Isabel Archer from The Portrait of A Lady. We will discuss such

general issues related to Henry Jamess novels as his aesthetic principles, character

construction and the international theme, but also an analysis of Isabels transformation

throughout the book. We will not omit the importance of the setting on the development of the

character, the deception and abuse that Isabel has to face, as well as the problem of freedom,

corrupted innocence and the treatment of women as objects.

The third chapter will focus on Daisy Miller and her story of innocence and fatality.

Like all the other American girls, Daisy becomes the victim both of the Old Continent and of

the other protagonists who want to take advantage of her. But more than that of the other

women characters in Jamess novels, Daisys downfall is tragic as it ends in a symbolical

death. Thus, the author goes beyond the idea of corruption, abuse and loss of innocence and

takes his idea of the irreconcilable worlds represented by Europe and America to its final

consequences.

The study of the abused women continues in the fourth chapter with the story of

Maggie Verver in The Golden Bowl, where the innocent American becomes the victim of a

couple she meets in Europe, Prince Amerigo and Charlotte Stant. She is pushed into a

marriage not only by the two conspirators who try to take advantage of her wealth, but also by

her father, who is delighted to add the noble title of Prince to his family. As the crack in the

golden bowl that Amerigo and Charlotte want to buy at the beginning of the novel suggests,

even apparently happy marriages such as Maggie and Amerigos can hide significant flaws. In

this particular case, the infidelity of the Prince and his adulterous relationship with Charlotte

become the most relevant abuse that Maggie becomes victim of.

The last chapter of our thesis deals with one of the most obscure of Henry Jamess

novels, The Wings of the Dove, and, probably, his least accessible woman character, Milly

Theale. Suffering from a mysterious and apparently incurable disease, this young American is

deceived by yet another couple, Kate and Merton Densher, into marrying the second. The

situation is a bit more complicated that in The Golden Bowl, because here the schemers are not

only after the victims money, but also Kate is prohibited a relationship with Merton in order

to receive an inheritance from a rich aunt. Therefore, she basically pushes her lover into

Millys arms, to gain some time and a position for him, which will enable them to marry when

7


8/62

Milly dies. Kate loses everything in the process, because, even if Milly dies, she does not

accept marrying Merton, and furthermore, Merton apparently falls in love with Milly and

finally rejects Kate.

Taking into account the four women characters dealt with in our thesis, we will try

eventually to find some common features that would confirm the existence of a type of

abused women in the Jamesian novels studied and not only , to explain the pattern behind

such a typology and to identify the reasons that made the author operate with this typology.

8


9/62

1. SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON HENRY JAMESS

LIFE AND LITERARY ACTIVITY

1.1. Family background and early writings

Henry James (April 15, 1843 February 28, 1916) is considered as one of the

greatest writers in both in American and British literature. We say both American and British

as it would be impossible to make a definitive judgment on his belonging to either one of

them. His American background and his British maturity recommend him as rather an

international author of English expression. Henry James spent most of his late life in Europe,

and his fiction often addressed both the European and American culture, making it difficult for

many critics to locate James works in the American and British literary traditions. Jamess

fiction is extraordinary for its psychological insight, as well as its realistic portrayal of

European and American society.

An extremely creative writer, James wrote 22 novels, hundreds of short stories,

volumes of non-fiction including biographies, travel writing, art and literary analysis, and

autobiography. His evolving literary style and artistic intentions witnessed the transition from

the Victorian to the Modern era in English literature. The early fiction followed the realistic

conventions of the French and Russian novelists, while his later work became more complex.

James was one of the first major novelists to use modernist, stream-of-consciousness

techniques, and he proposed an aesthetic approach that avoided a conventional omniscient

narrative voice, arguing that the novelists craft required a revelatory process of showing

rather than a didactic act of telling.

Henry James was born in New York City into a wealthy, intellectually inclined

family and is considered today as a key writer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was

the son of a millionaire businessman and philosopher, Henry James Sr., and the younger

9


10/62

brother of a psychologist and philosopher, William James. In his adolescence, James travelled

with his family back and forth between Europe and the United States. He studied in Geneva,

London, Paris and Bonn. At the age of 19 he briefly attended Harvard University Law School,

but he discovered that he preferred reading and writing fiction to studying law. From an early

age, James read, criticized and learned from the classics of English, American, French, Italian,

German, and Russian literature. In 1864 he anonymously published his first short story, A

Tragedy of Error, and from then on devoted himself completely to literature. Throughout his

career he contributed extensively to magazines such as The Nation orThe Atlantic Monthly.

From 1875 to his death he dedicated himself to a variety of genres: novels, short story

collections, literary criticism, travel writing, biography and autobiography.

Henry James was an eager reader of English novels but, because he was an

American who lived in Europe was also passionate of French novels. Henry James was a

factor of change and innovation in English literature at the time and a detached observer.

The writers fascination with consciousness and the workings of the mind owed

much to his remarkable family. In addition to his sister, Alice, who was an accomplished

diarist and prose stylist in her own right, his older brother, William James, was a famous

American philosopher and psychologist. Their father, the philosopher and theologian Henry

James Sr., was a close friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and a well-known New England

Transcendantalist. The James family was one of the most productive intellectual families in the

history of the United States, and Henry James was its most gifted literary stylist and innovator.

Henry James never married, and it remains unknown whether he ever experienced a

relationship. Many of his letters are filled with expressions of affection, but it is never been

shown conclusively that any of these expressions were acted out. James enjoyed socializing

with his many friends and acquaintances, but he seems to have maintained a certain distance

from other people. After he settled himself in London he called himself a bachelor1 and he

rejected any thought of getting married. After a brief attempt to live in Paris, James moved

permanently to England in 1876. He became a British subject in 1915, one year before his

death and was soon very well known for its novels in which he reveals the encounters of

Americans with Europe and Europeans. He settled first in a London apartment and then, from

1 Cheveresan,C. T. College British Literature. Editura Universtatii Aurel Vlaicu, 2008, p. 90.

10


11/62

1897 on, in Lamb House, a residence in Rye, East Sussex. He revisited America on several

occasions, most notably in 1904 - 1905. The beginning of World War I was a profound shock

for James, and in 1915 he became a British citizen to declare his loyalty to his adopted country

and to protest against Americas refusal to enter the war on behalf of Britain. James suffered a

stroke in London on December 2, 1915, and died three months later.

As far as his literary career is concerned, he started out as a dramatist having

modest success. He is best known for his stories which dealt with the international scene.2

His literary activity can be divided into 4 periods: The period of the 1870s, which included:

Roderick Hudson (1876), The American (1877), The Europeans (1878), Daisy Miller (1879),

Washington Square (1881), The Portrait of a Lady (1881) dealt with the international theme

and the dilemma of the artist. Between 1882 and 1897 there was a period of confusion and

concern about the relationship of the artist to life. The works of this period were: The

Bostonians (1886), The Princess Casamassima (1886), The Tragic Muse (1890) and The

Spolis ofPoynton (1897). From 1897 until 1904 a period of perfection and over-refinement of

his art followed: What Maisie Knew (1897) and The Awkward Age (1899). At the end of this

period James produced his three most ambitious novels: The Wings of the Dove, The

Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl. The final period during which he revised his novels for a

definite edition also included two experimental novels, The Ivory Tower (1917),

impressionistic and The Sense of The Past(1917), expressionistic, and the collection of short

stories The Finer Grain.

Jamess evolution from conventional, realistic novel to a psychological and moral

novel determined him to organize his narratives around a central intelligence or consciousness

or a lucid reflector, to use the point of view narrative technique, and to stage a dramatic

development of the characters psychology. As the author himself states, experience is an

immense sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the

chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue. It is the very

atmosphere of the mind.3

The first major novels and short stories

2 Cheveresan, C.T. op. cit.,p. 91.3 InPartial Portraits. Westport, Greenwood Press, 1970, p. 388.

11


12/62

In the first period of Jamesian creation that we have mentioned before, the author

showed his interest in the international theme, dealing with transcontinental stories. Criticism

commonly considers the writer as one of the major figures of trans-Atlantic literature, which is

to say that his works frequently put together characters from different worlds - the Old World

(Europe), both artistic and corrupting; and the New World (the United States), where people

are often aggressive, open, and assertive - and explore how this clash of personalities and

cultures affects the two worlds. It is not difficult to explain Henry James preoccupation with

the international theme. As a historian of his times, James found considerably more meaning

and interest than his contemporaries in the spectacles of international marriages and American

tourists in Europe. Furthermore, James habitually saw human experience in terms of countries.

Through his repeated use of the international theme he gave cultural and national embodiment

to the oppositions of innocence and experience, self and society, and good and evil which

provide the dramatic tensions in all his works. The international theme offered James an

inherent contrast between the most significant and extensive realities of his time.4

Jamess earlier work is considered realist because of the carefully described details

of his characters physical surroundings. But, throughout his long career, James maintained a

strong interest in a variety of artistic effects and movements. His work gradually became more

impressionistic and symbolic as he entered more deeply into the minds of his characters. In its

intense focus on the consciousness of his major characters, Jamess later work prefigures

extensive developments in twentieth century fiction. As a result, the author seemed to change

from a fairly straightforward style in his earlier writing to a more elaborate manner in his later

works.

The writer considered that good writing should be similar to the conversation of an

intelligent man. His friend Edith Wharton, who admired him greatly, said that there were some

passages in his works that were all but incomprehensible. His short fiction, such as The Aspern

Papers and The Turn of the Screw, is often considered to be more readable than the longer

novels, and early works tend to be more accessible than later ones. We must understand that

for much of his life James was an expatriate living in Europe. Much of The Portrait of a Lady

4 Ward, J. A. The Imagination of Disaster: Evil in the Fiction of Henry James. University of Nebraska Press,

1961,p. 18

12


13/62

was written while he lived in Venice, a city whose beauty he found disturbing; he was better

pleased with the small town of Rye in England. This feeling of being an American in Europe

came through as a recurring theme in his books, which contrasted American innocence (or lack

of sophistication) with European sophistication (or decadence), as described in his major

novels The Portrait of a Lady,The Ambassadors, and The Golden Bowl.

In spite of his apparent wealth, he made only a modest living from his books;

however, he was often the houseguest of the rich. James said he got some of his best story

ideas from dinner table gossip. He was a man whose sexuality was uncertain and whose tastes

were, according to the prevailing standards of Victorian era, rather feminine. William Faulkner

once referred to James as the nicest old lady I ever met. Similarly, Thomas Hardy called

James and Robert Louis Stevenson virtuous females when he read their unfavourable

comments about his novel Tess of the dUrbervilles. Theodore Roosevelt also criticized James

for his supposed lack of masculinity. However, when James toured America in 1904 - 1905, he

met Roosevelt at a White House dinner and called him Theodore Rex5 and also a dangerous

and ominous jingo. The two men chatted amiably and at length.

In most of his early novels, James presents the portrait of an American. The

American is usually placed in Europe or a Europeanized society, where he is examined with

the interest of an observer, not of a commentator. America and Europe, innocence and

experience, are brought in confrontation. In more detail, he presents offensiveness versus

refinement, barbarity versus culture, social chaos versus precise order, idealism versus

skepticism, individualism versus conformity, honesty versus deceit. James never took a stand

for or against either side but he carefully pointed out advantages and disadvantages of both

continents. Corruption in the old society is accompanied by beauty and grace, honesty and

integrity, fine moral soundness, accompany simple and provincial Americans.

Roderick Hudson (1875) is a bildungsroman that follows the progress of the

protagonist, an exceptionally gifted sculptor. Although the book shows some signs of

immaturity, this was Jamess first serious attempt at a full-length novel and it has attracted

positive remarks due to the vivid presentation of the three major characters: Roderick Hudson,

superbly gifted but unstable and unreliable; Rowland Mallet, Rodericks narrow-minded but

5 Bosanquet, Theodora.Henry James At Work. Ed. by Lyall Powers, University of Michigan Press, 2006, p. 275.

13


14/62

older friend; and Christina Light, one of Jamess most enchanting women. Although Roderick

Hudson featured mostly American characters in a European setting, James made the Europe

America contrast even more explicit in his next novel. In fact, the contrast could be considered

the leading theme ofThe American (1877). This book is a combination of social comedy and

melodrama concerning the adventures and misadventures of Christopher Newman, an

essentially good-hearted but rather clumsy American businessman on his first tour of Europe.

Newman is looking for a world different from the simple, harsh realities of nineteenth-century

American business. He encounters both the beauty and the ugliness of Europe, and learns not

to take either for granted.

James did not set all of his novels in Europe or focus exclusively on the contrast

between the New World and the Old. Set in New York City, Washington Square (1880) is a

tragicomedy that presents the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant,

domineering father. The book is often compared to Jane Austens work for the clarity and

grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships.

Criticism often considered many of Jamess stories as psychological experiments.

Indeed, The Portrait of a Lady may be considered an experiment to see what happens when an

idealistic young woman suddenly becomes very rich. Isabel inherits a large amount of money

and becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Set mostly

in Europe, notably England and Italy, and generally regarded as the masterpiece of his early

phase, this novel is not just a reflection of Jamess absorbing interest in the differences

between the New World and the Old. The book also treats in a profound way the themes of

personal freedom, responsibility, betrayal and sexuality. This treatment of cross-cultural issues

explains Henry Jamess uniqueness in fiction. He alone created the cosmopolitan novel in

English and made of it a rich study of people, manners and morals on two continents. Even

more important, he was able to treat both as comedy and as a tragedy, his transatlantic vision

of the New Worlds relation to the Old.

Besides his efforts in novel-writing, James was particularly interested in the longer

form of short narrative, the novella. Still, he produced a number of very short stories in which

he achieved notable compression of complex subjects. Just as the contrast between Europe and

America was a predominant theme in Jamess early novels, many of his first tales also

explored the clash between the Old World and the New. In A Passionate Pilgrim (1871), the

14


15/62

earliest fiction that James included in the New York Edition, the difference between America

and Europe erupts into open conflict, which leads to a sadly ironic ending. James manages to

craft an interesting and believable example of what he would call the Americano-European

legend. James published many stories before what would prove to be his greatest success with

the readers of his time, Daisy Miller(1878). This story portrays the confused courtship of the

title character, a free-spirited American girl, by Winterbourne, a compatriot of hers with much

more sophistication. As James moved on from studies of the Europe - America clash and the

American girl in his novels, his shorter works also explored new subjects in the 1880s.

The middle period of Jamesian creation

Because Henry James wrote so much and experimented so widely and was such a

complex literary case, criticism has found it difficult to write about him as a whole. As one of

the first modern psychological analysts in the novel his influence has been extraordinary.

Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Graham Green, Dorothy Richardson are among

the many novelists who admitted using technique or aesthetic ideas expressed by Henry James.

There was no accident that even during his lifetime certain of his fellow-novelists abroad

addressed him as Master.

In the 1880s, James began to explore new areas of interest besides the Europe-

America contrast and the American girl. In particular, he began writing on political themes.

The Bostonians (1886) is a tragicomedy that centres on an odd triangle of characters: Basil

Ransom, an inflexible political conservative from Mississippi; Olive Chancellor, Ransoms

cousin and a zealous Boston feminist; and Verena Tarrant, a pretty protg of Olives in the

feminist movement. The story line concerns the contest between Ransom and Olive for

Verenas commitment and affection, though the novel also includes a wide panorama of

political activists and newspaper people. The political theme is also present in The Princess

Casamassima (1886), the story of an intelligent but confused young London bookbinder,

Hyacinth Robinson, who becomes involved in radical politics and a terrorist assassination plot.

The book is unique in the Jamesian writing for its treatment of such a violent political subject.

15


16/62

But it is often paired with The Bostonians, which is concerned with political issues in a less

tragic manner.

The Tragic Muse (1890) offers a wide, cheerful panorama of English life and

follows the fortunes of two would-be artists: Nick Dormer, who hesitates between a political

career and his efforts to become a painter, and Miriam Rooth, an actress striving for artistic

and commercial success. The book reflects Jamess consuming interest in the theatre and is

often considered to mark the end of the second or middle phase of his career in the novel.

Another fine example of the middle phase of Jamess career in short narrative is

The Pupil(1891), the story of a bright young boy growing up in an unstable and dishonourable

family. He makes friends with his tutor, who is the only adult in his life that he can trust.

James presents their relationship with sympathy and insight, and the story reaches what some

have considered the status of classical tragedy.

Further than his fiction, James was one of the more important literary critics in the

history of the novel. In his classic essay The Art of Fiction (1884), he argued against rigid

proscriptions on the novelists choice of subject and method of treatment. He maintained that

the widest possible freedom in content and approach would help ensure narrative fictions

continued vitality. James wrote many valuable critical articles on other novelists; typical is his

insightful book-length study of his American predecessor Nathaniel Hawthorne. When he

assembled the New York Edition of his fiction in his final years, James wrote a series of

prefaces that subjected his own work to the same searching, occasionally harsh criticism.

James also cultivated ambitions for success as a playwright. He converted his novel

The American into a play that enjoyed modest returns in the early 1890s. In all he wrote about

a dozen plays, most of which went unproduced. His costume drama Guy Domville failed

disastrously on its opening night in 1895. James then largely abandoned his efforts to conquer

the stage and returned to his fiction. In his Notebooks he maintained that his theatrical

experiment benefited his novels and tales by helping him dramatize his characters thoughts

and emotions. James produced a small but valuable amount of theatrical criticism, including

perceptive appreciations of Henrik Ibsen.

16


17/62

With his wide-ranging interests, James occasionally wrote on the visual arts. James

also wrote sometimes charming, sometimes gloomy articles about various places he visited

and lived in. His most famous books of travel writing include Italian Hours and The American

Scene.

James was also one of the great letter-writers of any era. More than ten thousand of

his personal letters still exist, and over three thousand have been published in a large number

of collections. Jamess correspondents included celebrated contemporaries like Robert Louis

Stevenson, Edith Wharton and Joseph Conrad, along with many others in his wide circle of

friends. Very late in life James began a series of autobiographical works: A Small Boy and

Others,Notes of a Son and Brother, and the unfinished The Middle Years. These books portray

the development of a classic observer who was passionately interested in artistic creation but

was somewhat reticent about participating fully in the life around him. 6

1.4 The final stage of literary activity

In the later part of his career James became more and more interested in his

characters consciousness, an interest which had been announced by The Portrait of a Lady.

His style also started to grow in complexity to reflect the greater depth of his analysis. The

Spoils of Poynton (1897), considered the first example of this final phase, is a novel that

describes the struggle between Mrs. Gereth, a widow of perfect taste and iron will, and her son

Owen over a houseful of precious antique furniture. The story is largely told from the

viewpoint of Fleda Vetch, a young woman in love with Owen but sympathetic to Mrs.

Gereths suffering over losing the antiques she patiently collected.

The author continued the psychological approach to his fiction with What Maisie

Knew (1897), the story of the sensitive daughter of divorced and irresponsible parents. The

novel has great contemporary relevance as an account of a dysfunctional family. The book is

also a notable technical achievement by James, as it follows the title character from earliest

childhood to maturity.

6The Henry James Review, retrieved on March, 18th, 2012, from http://henry-james.co.tv/

17


18/62

The third and, probably, most important period of Jamess career reached its most

significant achievement in three novels published just after the turn of the century. Although it

was the second-written of the books, The Wings of the Dove (1902) was the first published.

This novel tells the story of Milly Theale, an American heiress suffering from a serious

disease, and her impact on the people around her. Some of these people look after Milly with

honourable motives, while others are more self-interested. James stated in his autobiographical

books that Milly was based on Minny Temple, his beloved cousin who died at an early age of

tuberculosis. He said that he attempted in the novel to wrap her memory in the beauty and

dignity of art.

The following to be published of the three novels, The Ambassadors (1903), is a

dark comedy that follows the journey of the main character Louis Lambert Strether to Europe

in search of his widowed fiances disobedient son. Strether has to bring the young man back

to the family business, but he encounters unexpected complications. The third - person

narrative is told exclusively from Strethers point of view. In his preface to the New York

Edition text of the novel, James placed this book at the top of his achievements, which has

brought some critical disagreement.

Finally, The Golden Bowl (1904) is a complex, intense study of marriage and

adultery that completes the major phase and, essentially, Jamess career in the novel. The

book explores the tie of relationships between a father and daughter and their spouses. The

novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters,

with obsessive detail and powerful insight.

During this period, James became more and more interested in the position of

women in society and all his novels tackle this issue: In the late nineteenth century women

attested to the transformation of female consciousness as they appropriated such public space,

repudiating the domesticity of patriarchal settings s development which James incorporated

into writings such as What Maisie Knew, The Awkward Age, and The Wings of the Dove.7

The final phase of Jamess short narratives shows the same characteristics as the

final phase of his novels: a more involved style, a deeper psychological approach, and a focus

on his central characters. Probably his most popular short narrative among todays readers,

7 Despotopoulou, Anna. The Price of Mere Spectatorship: Henry Jamess The Wings of the Dove in The Reviewof English Studies. Vol. 53, No. 210, Oxford University Press, 2002, p. 230.

18


19/62

The Turn of the Screw (1898) is a ghost story that challenges the reader to determine if the

protagonist, an unnamed governess, is correctly reporting events or is instead an unreliable

neurotic with an inflamed imagination.

The Beast in the Jungle (1903) is almost universally considered one of Jamess

finest short narratives, and has often been compared with The Ambassadors in its meditation

on experience or the lack of it. The story also treats other universal themes: loneliness, fate,

love and death. The parable of John Marcher and his peculiar destiny speaks to anyone who

has speculated on the worth and meaning of human life.

19


20/62

2. ISABEL ARCHER AND THE OBJECTIFICATION OF THE WOMAN

2.1. The Portrait of A Lady aesthetic principles and reactions

When The Portrait of a Lady was published, James was a well-known and

appreciated author whose storyDaisy Millerwas enjoying great popularity. The Portrait of a

Lady was widely reviewed, and most reviews, including those in the leading American

publications, were positive. Horace E. Scudder reviewed The Portrait of a Lady forAtlantic, in

which the novel was serialized before its book publication. Scudders review focuses almost

exclusively on what he calls the storys consistency, by which he means that the novels

characters, the situations, the incidents, are all true to the law of their own being.8 Scudders

single complaint is that he does not like the novels ending. Simply put, he objects to Jamess

sending Isabel back to Gilbert. Isabel deserves better than this, Scudder insists, and when one

reads of her return to the dastardly Gilbert, ones indignation is moved. Furthermore, an

anonymous review forHarpers, the other leading American literary magazine of the day,

calls The Portrait of a Lady a long and fragmentary but profoundly interesting tale. The

Portrait of a Lady shows James in the fullness of his powers. The absolute beauty, grace, and

assurance of the writing, almost shocking in the opening description of Gardencourt, and

sustained for five hundred pages, reveal James at a new level of achievement as a prose stylist.

The novel experiments with the different points of view of the narrative, as the

characters become involved in the narration through their perception of the surrounding world.

Many critics take into consideration Jamesian perception, but only a few actually examined

what James characters actually see. There isnt a clear distinction between literal and

figurative visions; like a first perception, it is like these two characteristics are brought

together. In James literature, visual perception is not a detached or ambiguous intellection.

Perceptions are immediate, physical points of connection between the individual and the

8 Powers, Lyall. The Portrait of a Lady: Maiden, Woman and Heroine. Boston. Twayne Publishers, 1991, p. 243.

20


21/62

surrounding environment. The ability to see is an active mean of adapting to the world; even

though its primary, it isnt a simple, crude sensation. One interesting aspect is the fact that the

narration in The Portrait of a Lady is internal, psychological, personified, the characters

become the dominant authority from whose point if view is seen. In a broadened way this is a

characteristic of Henry James realism.

The title of the novel has generated many critical ideas, and we found that of E.

Klevan extremely interesting: The title The Portrait of a Lady - suggests a fixed, arranged

image, framed and contained, the subject of which is a generically familiar type (a Lady).

The work offers the prospect of something complete a Portrait, and not a Sketch (The

Europeans) or a Study (DaisyMiller). But the novel itself counteractively describes the

efforts of painting (the attempt to sketch, He drew a caricature, what design upon fate, the

service of drawing her out) without achieving anything so finished as a portrait.9

2.2 Setting, plot and character in The Portrait of A Lady

The novel opens and closes at Gardencourt, the Touchett familys English country

estate. This place is particularly significant to our characters, and to our understanding of the

novel as a whole. Isabels entrance is quite a dramatic one:

Ralph Touchett wandered away a little, with his usual slouching gait, his hands in

his pockets and his little rowdyish terrier at his heels. His face was turned towardthe house, but his eyes were bent musingly on the lawn; so that he had been an

object of observation to a person who had just made her appearance in the ample

doorway for some moments before he perceived her. His attention was called toher by the conduct of his dog, who had suddenly darted forward with a little volley

of shrill barks, in which the note of welcome, however, was more sensible than that

of defiance. The person in question was a young lady, who seemed immediately to

interpret the greeting of the small beast. He advanced with great rapidity and stood

at her feet, looking up and barking hard; whereupon, without hesitation, shestooped and caught him in her hands, holding him face to face while he continued

his quick chatter. His master now had had time to follow and to see that Bunchiesnew friend was a tall girl in a black dress, who at first sight looked pretty. She was

bareheaded, as if she were staying in the house a fact which conveyed perplexity

9 Klevan, Edward. Smiling and Hiding: The Earlier Novels and Tales of Henry James in The CambridgeQuarterly, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1996, p. 168.

21


22/62

to the son of its master, conscious of that immunity from visitors which had for

some time been rendered necessary by the latters ill-health.10

By framing the dramatic events of Isabels European adventures with the two

Gardencourt sections, James makes this space reflective and calm. However, both Gardencourt

sections are darkened by death: first Mr. Touchetts and then Ralphs. When Isabel arrives in

England from her trans-Atlantic voyage, Gardencourt is a kind of restful middle-ground; its a

very English landscape with American inhabitants, and provides a space for her to adjust to her

new life. By the time she returns to Gardencourt at the end of the novel, it again plays the role

of a retreat Ralph himself has returned to the house to die in peace, while Isabel flees to it to

escape from her imprisonment in Osmonds house.

Between these two Gardencourt episodes, we see Isabel in a variety of more exotic

European settings most importantly, in Italy. First, she goes for a short while in Florence at

the home of her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, then Isabel and Osmond move to Rome following their

marriage. Italy is a problematic and fascinating setting it is neither England nor America, and

our characters are strangely foreign in it. Isabel, most importantly, is in a kind of exile in her

Roman castle; shes removed from her friends and family, and, although she is something of a

famous hostess, shes still outside of Italian society. Interestingly, the characters that feel the

most at home in Italy, Mrs. Touchett and Osmond, are both the most removed from society as

a whole. Finally, Albany, New York, is a setting that is briefly seen, but quite significant we

first meet Isabel at her grandmothers house here, and, for the rest of the novel, the shadowlike

presence of America is very important. We are constantly reminded of the fact that Isabel is an

American, and Henrietta Stackpole and Caspar Goodwood both bring an aura of American-

ness with them wherever they go.

From the point of view of the plot, the novels and novellas of Henry James are well

structured, some are narrated by the author himself or by one of the characters in the story.

One such story that has some elements of the latter is The Portrait of a Lady. The plot can be

simply focused on some major key points in it. We shall study its constitutive elements in

order to draw some conclusions on the architecture of the Jamesian novel:

10The Portrait of A Lady, p. 13.

22


23/62

-Initial Situation: Isabels first few months in England set us up for her European adventures

beyond the Channel; we get to know more about her past and her hopes for the future,

as well as her perspective towards Europe on the whole. Our curiosity about what

Isabel will actually do once shes loosed upon the world builds and builds, as does

Ralphs.

- Conflict: Ralph is certain hes doing the right thing, and has almost boundless confidence in

his cousins abilities and potential. Others are less enthusiastic; Mr. Touchett worries

that shell be besieged by gold diggers, while Henrietta fears that becoming rich will

remove Isabel from the real world and allow her to live in the artificial, illusive

microcosm of the very, very wealthy. Madame Merle, on the other hand, sees the

opportunity for personal gain in Isabels windfall, and decides to introduce Isabel to

Osmond.

- Complication:Madame Merle skilfully uses everything she knows about Isabel to engineer

the relationship between Osmond and the girl. The complaints of her friends and

family only egg Isabel on, and, once she decides to marry Osmond, she wont listen to

anybodys warnings about him. Isabel believes that she acts completely independently,

but fails to see Madame Merles hand in all of this.

- Climax: In the intensely psychological, deeply personal musings of Chapter Forty - Two, we

see exactly what Isabel is thinking; she is horrified by what has happened to her, and

now begins to wonder who is really to blame for the misery in her life. While she

blames herself for some aspects of it, she is suspicious of the oddly intimate

relationship of Madame Merle and Osmond what can the other woman really have to

do with everything?

- Suspense: Osmonds dictatorial rule over Isabel rears its ugly head, and, in her weakened

state, Isabel is vulnerable to Countess Geminis own machinations. The latter reveals

the true nature of Osmond and Madame Merles relationship, and Isabel realizes that

shes just a rung in their social ladder they simply wanted to ensure a better future for

23


24/62

Pansy. Isabel faces a choice: does she stay in her chosen life, newly revealed as a total

lie, or does she return to Gardencourt to be with those who really love her?

- Denouement: Isabel finally comes clean with Ralph about her utter misery, and the two

cousins reconcile completely. Isabel realizes that love is still out there she

understands the full extend of Ralphs love for her, and hers for him (she loves him like

a brother), and acknowledges the fact that life is all about love. Something changes

here in Isabel; she reasserts herself and her beliefs, and, even though Ralphs death is

tragic, they both attain a certain kind of happiness in knowing that they are together, at

least for now. Isabel, removed from the dark influence of Osmonds mind, seems to

have regained some of her old clarity and strength.

- Conclusion: In one of the most infuriating conclusions of all time, Caspar Goodwood makes

a passionate appeal to Isabel, saying that Ralph entrusted him with her happiness. They

share an unforgettable kiss, but Isabel runs away from him as soon as its over. Her

decision to return to Rome comes as a shock both to him and to us we dont see what

her mental process is (we can imagine that Henrietta must have put up some kind of

fight), but, in the end, its in keeping with her sense of personal responsibility and duty.

The main innovation in the field of character construction developed by Henry

James is what we use to call the psychological analysis. The characters are all different, which

is why they are set apart, the originality that James used to characterize his characters is

amazing. James wrote fiction in an era before the modern technique of the stream-of-

consciousness was established. In the modern era, the author feels free to go inside the mind

of the character. But in James time, this was not yet an established technique.

In order to keep as objective as he could, James as a novelist wanted to remain

outside the novel that is, wanted to present his characters with as much objectivity and

realism as possible and, therefore, created the use of a confidant. The confidant is a person of

great sensibility or sensitivity to whom the main character reveals his or her innermost

thoughts. This character is basically a listener and in some cases an adviser. This technique of

having a confidant to whom the main character can talk serves a double function. First of all, it

allows the reader to see what the main character is thinking, and second, it gives a more

24


25/62

rounded view of the action. For example, after something has happened to the main character,

the confidant hears about it and in the discussion of the event, we, the readers, see and

understand the various subtle implications of this situation more clearly.

The confidant is also a person who is usually somewhat removed from the central

action. For example, Henrietta Stackpole in The Portrait of A Lady never meets many of the

characters in the story, but this does not stop her from giving advice or commenting on other

peoples actions. Thus, essentially the confidant observes the action from a distance,

comments on this action, and is usually a person of some exceptional qualities who allows the

main character to respond more deeply and subtly to certain situations.

Henry James has probably one of the most diverse, unique, original universe of

characters from all of authors. In The Portrait of a Lady we can see, as it is often the case in

Jamesian novels, the Americans struggle to fit in the European society. The novels central

character, Isabel is a young American woman who embodies all the best of what James depicts

as American qualities, especially vitality, sincerity, and independence. As the novel opens,

Isabel is arriving at the English home of her aunt and uncle. Her father has recently died. Her

aunt, who travelled to the United States after Isabels fathers death, feels that Isabel has more

potential than her circumstances in America will allow her to fulfil, and so she brings Isabel

back to England with her.

Isabel wins the admiration of everyone she meets, including her cousin Ralph.

Ralph convinces his dying father to leave half his estate to Isabel so that she can be free to do

as she pleases. In addition to this benefactor, Isabel also has suitors. Caspar Goodwood travels

from America to urge Isabel to marry him. Lord Warburton, a wealthy friend of the Touchett

family, also wants to marry Isabel. But Isabels independent nature leads her to reject both

men. She finds Caspar boring and turns down Warburton partly because she is not ready to

marry and partly because she fears life with him would be too easy. She longs for some

adventure even for some difficulty that will test her resourcefulness and determination.

Isabels independent spirit is the driving force in her personality, and it is what

urges her into an unhappy marriage. When she falls in love with Gilbert Osmond, her friends

and relatives almost generally warn her against him. But she refuses to take anyones advice

but her own and learns too late that she completely misjudged her husband. Her failure to

25


26/62

correctly judge Gilberts character comes from an innocence that is characteristic of youth and

also, in Jamess view, of Americans. Isabels direct, trusting nature is contrasted to that of the

books European characters, who have secret pasts and hidden motives for everything they do.

Obviously, we cannot omit the interpretations according to which Isabels apparently

unexplainable attitude towards a disastrous marriage is generated by fear. Writing on Isabels

various fears (of her sexual passion, her wealth, her freedom), Tony Tanner notes that beneath

all these specific apprehensions there is, she admits, a deeper, radical fear fear of herself 11.

Although she makes a bad marriage, Isabel is not a tragic character. Once she

realizes that she made a mistake in marrying Gilbert, she is decided to live with the

consequences of her actions. By refusing to leave her marriage, Isabel refuses to adopt the

corrupt ways of her European circle. Instead, Isabel intends to decently and courageously

accept the consequences of her unwise decision and to make the best life she can.

2.3 Oppressed by the setting: the American woman in Europe

Henry James was the first novelist to write on the theme of the American versus the

European with considerable success. Almost all of his major novels may be read as a study of

the social theme of the American in Europe, in which James contrasts the active life of the

American with the mannered life of the European aristocracy or he contrasts the free open

nature of the American with the more formalized and inflexible rules found in Europe.

Embodied in this contrast is the moral theme in which the innocence of the American is

contrasted with the knowledge, experience and corruption of the European.

One of the great differences that is emphasized is the difference between the

Americans spontaneity and the Europeans insistence upon form and ceremony. Isabel likes to

react to any situation according to her own desires. Even though people tell her that certain

things are improper, Isabel likes to do what she thinks is free and right. On the contrary, Mrs.

11Tanner, Tony. The Fearful Self: Henry Jamess The Portrait of a Lady inHenry James: Modern Judgements.

Ed. Tony Tanner. London, Macmillan, 1968, p. 143.

26


27/62

Touchett would never act in any manner except that approved by all society. The American

than acts spontaneously, while the Europeans have formalized certain rituals so that they will

never have to confront an unknown situation. Thus, there is a sense of sincerity in the

Americans actions, whereas the European is more characterized by a sense of extreme

urbanity. Throughout the novel, except for her final decision to return to an awful husband, we

never see Isabel perform any action but that which is natural and open.

At the beginning, Isabel is fascinated by the Touchetts estate and by England:

a comprehensiveness of observation easily conceivable on the part of a young

woman who was evidently both intelligent and excited. She had seated herself andhad put away the little dog; her white hands, in her lap, were folded upon her black

dress; her head was erect, her eye lighted, her flexible figure turned itself easily

this way and that, in sympathy with the alertness with which she evidently caughtimpressions. Her impressions were numerous, and they were all reflected in a

clear, still smile. Ive never seen anything so beautiful as this.12

James was in two minds about the American character. By temperament, he was

more sympathetic with the European way of life, with its emphasis on culture, education, and

the art of conversation. Like most Europeans, he saw his compatriots as ill-mannered,

undereducated, and ridiculously provincial, unaware of a vast and centuries-old world outside

their own new and expanding dominions. However, he was also fascinated by the touching

innocence of the American national character, with its emphasis on sincerity rather than

artifice. In later novels, such as The Wings of the Dove and The Golden Bowl,James would

continue to explore the moral implications of an openness that, like Isabels, cannot defend

itself against the worldliness and cynicism of a decadent society based on hypocrisy.

Certainly, The Portrait of a Lady is as timeless today as when it was published.

With its themes of oppression versus freedom, free will versus destiny, the role of women in

society, and the clash of American and European cultures, The Portrait of a Lady dealt with

many of the crucial issues of its day. In The Portrait of a Lady, James presents us with a tragic

tale of a woman choosing her own destiny and learning to live with it despite the

consequences. Isabel, who at the beginning of the book is referred to by her aunt as a clever

girl with a strong will and high temper, is a young woman of enormous possibility like the

modern America for which she is a metaphor. Isabel desires nothing more or less than

12The Portrait of A Lady, p. 20.

27


28/62

freedom. By the conclusion of the novel, Isabel has come to the realization that freedom and

maturity are perhaps best defined as the acceptance of ones destiny. As time goes by, she does

nor regret her European experience, which seems to have formed her:

Grave she found herself, and positively more weighted, as by the experience of

the lapse of the year she had spent in seeing the world. She had ranged, she wouldhave said, through space and surveyed much of mankind, and was therefore now,

in her own eyes, a very different person from the frivolous young woman from

Albany who had begun to take the measure of Europe on the lawn at Gardencourt acouple of years before. She flattered herself she had harvested wisdom and learned

a great deal more of life than this light-minded creature had even suspected. If her

thoughts just now had inclined themselves to retrospect, instead of fluttering theirwings nervously about the present, they would have evoked a multitude of

interesting pictures.13

Charming, confident, nave at the start, yet inquisitive-minded, Isabel discovers

evil, error, she loses her innocence and gains the mature power of accepting self-knowledge

and admitting limitation and loss of illusions. Her evolution is defined by the explicit

opposition between Ralph (supplier of means of freedom) and Osmond (usurper of that

freedom), the victory seems to go to the forces of conventions. Yet, the case is not isolated and

it has to be included in the permanent conflict between the demands of nature and the

exigencies of civilized social order. Moreover, we see a mythic pattern of fall and redemption

in Isabels marriage to Osmond, her knowledge of evil, and a redeeming visit to the dying

Ralph and the possession of the undying love, and the return to Osmond as a changed self. The

international theme is revealed in the re-discovery of Europe by an American protagonist.

Different possible responses to Europe are illustrated:

1. Some Americans remain Americans in manners. An example is Henrietta Stackpole, a

featured character.

2. Other become wholly Europeanized, like Madam Merle. Ironically, Henrietta stays in

Europe, while M. Merle returns to America at the end.

3. Others take different position in-between, like the Touchetts. Lord Warburton, the only

European in the novel, is open and unaffected, while the Europeanized Americans

Gilbert Osmond and Madam Merle reveal a revolting subtlety, having assimilated only

the evil of Europe.

13The Portrait of a Lady, pp. 27-28.

28


29/62

James was himself an American living abroad, and he clearly loved his adopted

country. Speaking through Ralph Touchetts father, James offers a delightful point of view of

an American living in England:

Ive been watching these people for upwards of thirty-five years, and I dont

hesitate to say that Ive acquired considerable information. Its a very fine countryon the whole finer perhaps than we give it credit for on the other side. There are

several improvements I should like to see introduced; but the necessity of them

doesnt seem to be generally felt as yet.14

James usually presents Americans as innocent, though slightly simple-minded,

incapable of the subtle refinements of European culture, but charmingly uncomplicated and

straightforward in their belief in American superiority. He usually presents Europeans as a

little sinister in their often wicked judgment of conformity and artfulness over individual value

and genuineness. Isabel often perceives things in terms of morality, a morality deeply

connected to her American background, in opposition with the decadent Italian society:

She believed then that at bottom she had a different morality. Of course the

morality of civilised persons has always much in common; but our young woman

had a sense in her of values gone wrong or, as they said at the shops, markeddown. She considered, with the presumption of youth, that a morality differing

from her own must be inferior to it ; and this conviction was an aid to detecting an

occasional flash of cruelty, an occasional lapse from candour, in the conversationof a person who had raised delicate kindness to an art and whose pride was too

high for the narrow ways of deception. Her conception of human motives might, in

certain lights, have been acquired at the court of some kingdom in decadence, andthere were several in her list of which our heroine had not even heard.15

When Isabel goes to England, her cousin Ralph is so delighted with her

independent nature that he manages to convince his father to leave half his wealth to Isabel, in

order to stop her from ever having to marry for money, but ironically it attracts the

deceitfulness of the novels bad characters, Madame Merle and Gilbert Osmond. They plot to

persuade Isabel to marry Osmond in order to gain a way in to her possessions. Her marriage to

Osmond actually destroys Isabels free spirit, as her husband treats her as an object and tries to

force her to share his opinions and abandon her own.

This is the thematic background ofPortrait of a Lady, and James skillfully

intertwines the novels psychological and thematic elements. Isabels downfall with Osmond,

14The Portrait of a Lady, p. 43.15Ibid.,pp. 33-34.

29


30/62

for instance, enables the books examination of the conflict between her desire to conform to

social convention and her intensely independent mind. It is also perfectly explained by the

elements of Isabels character: her chaotic upbringing has led her to long for stability and

safety, even if they mean a loss of independence, and her active imagination enables her to

create an false picture of Osmond, which she believes in more than the real thing, at least until

she is married to him. Once she marries Osmond, Isabels pride in her moral strength makes it

impossible for her to consider leaving him: she once longed for hardship, and now that she has

found it, it would be hypocritical for her to surrender to it by violating social custom and

abandoning her husband.

In the same way that James unites his psychological and thematic subjects, he also

intertwines the novels settings with its themes. Set almost entirely among a group of

American expatriates living in Europe in the 1860s and 70s, the book relies on a kind of moral

geography, in which America represents innocence, individualism, and capability; Europe

represents decadence, sophistication, and social convention; and England represents the best

mix of the two. Isabel moves from America to England to continental Europe, and at each

stage she comes to mirror her surroundings, gradually losing a bit of independence with each

move. Eventually she lives in Rome, the historic heart of continental Europe, and it is here that

she endures her greatest hardship with Gilbert Osmond.

2.4 Losing innocence and resisting abuse

The Portrait of a Lady is seen by many as Henry Jamess supreme achievement. It

is a fully European novel, a novel of education, revealing the heroins growing consciousness,

in an effort of self-seeking, of self-exploration. Isabel Archer is one of the many innocent

Americans with whom writers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries found

themselves preoccupied. Her innocence is the primary element of her sense of her freedom. In

other words, James seems to be saying that Isabel only thinks shes free and capable of living

her life freely. In America she can nurture these fantasies. She has spent a childhood being

neglected by her father, neglect that is understood in terms of freedom. She has been free to

30


31/62

read anything in the library and she has done so, but has been unable to balance freedom and

the discipline necessary to get through the proper study of anything.

Sent to school as a young girl, she decided quickly that it was not the place for her

and she was allowed to stop going. In her adult life in America, she seems to have no place to

go besides marriage to the inflexible Caspar Goodwood. She sits alone in the little-used library

of her grandmothers almost abandoned house. Both of her sisters have married quite

conventionally despite their free childhood. Theres no reason to think Isabel wouldnt have

done the same if it were not for her aunts well-timed release. In the American scene then,

James demonstrates that unrestrained freedom will lead the protagonist nowhere. She will be

isolated and bored. She will not progress in her studies because she will have no direction. She

will be wasted on a marriage to a man so inarticulate that he cannot express his feelings. In the

final scenes of the novel, the simple thought of Rome gives Isabel the chills:

Her errand was over; she had done what she had left her husband to do. She had ahusband in a foreign city, counting the hours of her absence; in such a case one

needed an excellent motive. He was not one of the best husbands, but that didnt

alter the case. Certain obligations were involved in the very fact of marriage, andwere quite independent of the quantity of enjoyment extracted from it. Isabel

thought of her husband as little as might be; but now that she was at a distance,

beyond its spell, she thought with a kind of spiritual shudder of Rome. There was a

penetrating chill in the image, and she drew back into the deepest shade ofGardencourt. She lived from day to day, postponing, closing her eyes, trying not to

think. She knew she must decide, but she decided nothing; her coming itself had

not been a decision.16

It is interesting how such an independent woman as Isabel can become the victim

of abuse and limitation of action. In her reading of The Portrait of A Lady, Elizabeth Allen

considers Isabels freedom as a false impression. As she appropriately puts it, Isabel is facing

a choice of sign function rather than of exploration and action 17, because the real threat to her

freedom comes from the way she is seen and fitted into social structures of signification18.

Thus Allen notes that Isabel only thinks she makes a free choice in choosing Osmond.

It is also unbelievable how an intelligent young woman such as Isabel fails to

understand she is being taken advantage of by Mme Merle and Osmond. E. Klevan points out

that Isabel doesnt see that Osmond and Madame Merle are smiling and hiding; she doesnt

16The Portrait of a Lady, p. 368.17 Allen, Elizabeth.A Woman's Place in the Novels of Henry James. London, Macmillan, 1984, p. 68.18Ibid.,p. 65.

31


32/62

recognise the controlled concealments and revelations that shape their behaviour. It pleases her

not to see. It is part of the journey she travels, part of the process of her initiation, to

appreciate the character of social performance, the nature of society as an evaluating

audience, and the necessities of performance for herself.19

Women at the end of the nineteenth century are certainly the victims of the general

prejudgments against them. Anti-feminist Ouida argued in 1894 that Woman in public life

would exaggerate the failings of men, and would not even have their few excellencies, and

that there would be little hope from her humanity, nothing from her liberality; for when she is

frightened she is more ferocious than he, and when she has power merciless.20

In England, Isabel is spoiled by the kind Mr. Touchett, his kind-hearted son Ralph

and their nice neighbour Lord Warburton and she find here two kinds of women. One kind is

represented by the sisters of Lord Warburton. They are so calm and so disciplined that they

seem almost insubstantial. Despite her own beliefs that the free life is the best life for a

woman, Isabel is attracted to these women and finds their life a lovely one. The second kind of

woman represented in England for Isabel Archer is Mrs. Touchett, an American ex-patriot who

lives in Florence, Italy, and visits her husband for a month each year in England. She has not

been accepted by the English aristocracy as her husband and son have. While she lives

according to the strictest obedience to established social proprieties, she has made up so many

of her own social proprieties that she doesnt fit into English society. Apart from Henrietta

Stackpole, Mrs. Touchett is the most independent female character in the novel and she is so

depicted that the reader is not encouraged to see her as a possible model for Isabel Archer to

imitate. When Isabel gets the chance to make England her home, she rejects it, imagining her

life as the wife of the distinguished Lord Warburton to be life in a gilded cage. Even Mr.

Touchett doesnt think Isabel should marry Lord Warburton.

The journey to Europe starts like the adventure of her life, and Isabel is delighted

and anxious to see what the future might bring:

19 Klevan, Edward, op. cit., p. 167.20 Despotopoulou, Anna, op. cit., 2002, p. 230.

32


33/62

She had a desire to leave the past behind her and, as she said to herself, to begin

afresh. This desire indeed was not a birth of the present occasion; it was as familiar

as the sound of the rain upon the window and it had led to her beginning afresh agreat many times. () Her imagination was by habit ridiculously active; when the

door was not open it jumped out of the window. () At present, with her sense

that the note of change had been struck, came gradually a host of images of thethings she was leaving behind her. The years and hours of her life came back to

her, and for a long time, in a stillness broken only by the ticking of the big bronze

clock, she passed them in review. It had been a very happy life and she had been avery fortunate person this was the truth that seemed to emerge most vividly. She

had had the best of everything, and in a world in which the circumstances of so

many people made them unenviable it was an advantage never to have known

anything particularly unpleasant. It appeared to Isabel that the unpleasant had beeneven too absent from her knowledge, for she had gathered from her acquaintance

with literature that it was often a source of interest and even of instruction. Her

father had kept it away from her her handsome, much loved father, who always

had such an aversion to it. It was a great felicity to have been his daughter

21

.

2.5 Women as objects

InA Womans Place in the Novels of Henry James, Elizabeth Allen suggests that

the attempt to reconcile the contradiction of womans existence, both as sign and as conscious

subject, is central to many of Jamess major novels22. For Allen, in the course of his career

James progresses from utilizing woman simply as sign, through various intermediate stages,

to the final achievement of his later fiction where the woman controls how she is seen and

what she represents23.

According to Allen, patriarchal society demands of women always to be potential

signs, carriers of meaning meaning that is generally socially constructed, not normal or

essential. In such a relationship man functions as subject while woman is his object,

appropriated by him as a sign. In turn man attempts to resist any reciprocity in the

relationship that would grant woman subjectivity, for this would necessarily constitute him as

object24.

21The Portrait of A Lady, p. 31.22 Allen, Elizabeth, op. cit., p.3.23Ibid.,p. 10.24Ibid.,p. 2.

33


34/62

Chris Foss mentions what he calls Osmonds objectification as Isabel explained

by the critic through the conviction that Osmond relates to Isabel as art collector25:

Obviously Osmond is the primary perpetrator here, the particular patriarch who places her as

an art collector displays a prize possession. Ralph, on the other hand, is certainly one of the

most sympathetic characters in the novel and, significantly, he helps to undermine Osmonds

powerful grip on Isabel by refusing to allow it to remain unspoken. Traditional views of Ralph

usually admit that he too sees Isabel as an object but this fact more often than not gets lost in

the touching farewell scene, so that one primarily thinks of him as Isabels friend and ally,

someone attempting to free her instead of fix her.26

Thus, not only Osmond, but also Ralph and, basically, all men at the end of the 19 th

century had the same opinion about women: they are mainly decorative, not suited for social

functions and dependant on men: Ralphs version of masculinism is similar to that of his

father, an idealized view of woman positing her as innocent, natural, and somehow morally

beneficial to man. Ralph cannot let go of his vision of Isabel as somehow above the

contamination of the world in her beautiful youthful freedom, which for him should manifest

itself mainly in her refusal to be caught by a man in marriage. If ever there were a life-

sustaining fiction, it is Ralphs one learns it is in large part only to see what she will make of

her marriage (whether she will rise above it as he hopes/expects) that he lasts as long as he

does, and it is only after he has convinced himself this fiction is still in place that he can rest in

peace. While not as sinister as Osmonds, Ralphs own idealized adoption of Isabel is no less

selfish. It is more for his own pleasure than for her own good that he looks forward to a

fourth, a fifth, a tenth besieger27 of Isabel.28

It is intriguing, however, how men, even the better ones, tend to see women as

objects of art: Apart from Osmonds cruelty and malice, the whole situation of the novel

refers to questions of art: Ralph is correct in telling himself that A character like that [Isabel]

25 Foss, Chris. Female innocence as other in The Portrait of a Lady and What Maisie Knew: Reassessing the

feminist recuperation of Henry James inEssays in Literature. Vol. 22, No. 2, Macomb,1995,p. 255.26 Foss, Chris, op. cit., p. 254.27The Portrait of A Lady, p. 235.28Ibid.,p. 256.

34


35/62

is finer than a work of art, while Osmond may well insist with her that one ought to make

ones life a work of art with all the negative connotations of such an assumption .29

Some critics suggest that Isabel is a victim of the social pressure and of her

inability to cope with this situation: Isabel Archers experience may be traced in terms of the

losses andgains of a progressive sensitivity to the importance of social surface; the knowledge

she acquires is a paradoxically enlarging and restricting one. The menace of social

performance is the latent potential for the more insidious kinds of manipulation that may have

wrecked her life. It necessarily entails a certain emotional closure, a hardening that may easily,

imperceptibly, turn sour.30

We can add to this interpretation the obvious intention of the author to present

Isabels life as a play where the heroine herself has only a secondary part:

Isabel took on this occasion little part in the talk; she scarcely even smiled when

the others turned to her invitingly; she had sat there as if she had been at the play

and had paid even a large sum for her place these two had it for the effect of

brilliancy, all their own way, and might have been distinguished performers

figuring for a charity. It had all the rich readiness that would have come from a

rehearsal. Madame Merle appealed to her as if she had been on the stage31

29 Perosa, Sergio.Henry James and Unholy Art Acquisitions in The Cambridge Quarterly. Vol. 37, No. 1, 2008,

p. 156.30 Klevan, Edward, op. cit., p. 165.31The Portrait of A Lady, p. 298.

35


36/62

3. DAISY MILLER AND THE AMERICAN INNOCENCE

3.1 American vs. European and the international theme

Daisy Miller is one of James earliest works involving the international theme.

From the very beginning, the American characters are described in terms of innocence:

It was a beautiful summer morning, and in whatever fashion the youngAmerican looked at things, they must have seemed to him charming.

He had come from Geneva the day before by the little steamer,to see his aunt, who was staying at the hotel32

In its most general terms, that is, in terms that will apply to almost any Jamesian

novel, the contrasts is seen as follows: The American vs. the European, innocence vs.

knowledge or experience, utility vs. form and ceremony, spontaneity vs. ritual, action vs.

inaction, nature vs. art, natural vs. artificial, honesty vs. evil. The above list could be extended

to include other virtues or qualities, but this list will be sufficient to demonstrate Jamess

theme or idea in the use of this American - European contrast. From the very beginning, the

American characters are described in terms of innocence. The reader should also remember

that James uses these ideas with a great deal of flexibility. It does not always mean that every

European will have exactly these qualities or that every American will. Indeed, some of the

more admirable characters are Europeans who possess many of these qualities and in turn lack

others. Because a European might possess urbanity and knowledge and experience does not

necessarily mean that he is artificial and evil. And quite the contrary, many Americans come

with natural spontaneity and are not necessarily honest and admirable.

The reader should remember that James uses these ideas with a great deal of

flexibility. It does not always hold that every European will have exactly these qualities or that

every American will. Indeed, some of the more admirable characters are Europeans who

32Daisy Miller, p. 7.

36


37/62

possess many of these qualities and in turn lack others. Because a European might possess

sophistication and knowledge and experience does not necessarily mean that he is artificial and

evil. And quite the contrary, many Americans come with natural spontaneity and are not

necessarily honest and admirable.

InDaisy Miller, James is more concerned with the difference in behaviour than he

is with the specific person. But generally, the character that represents the American is, of

course, Daisy Miller herself. The representative of the European attitude in the worst sense of

the word is Mrs. Costello, and to a lesser degree Mrs. Walker and Winterborne. Of course, all

of these Europeans were actually born in America, but they have lived their entire lives in

Europe and have adopted the European mode of viewing life. One of the great differences

emphasized is the difference between the Americans spontaneity and the Europeans

insistence upon form and ceremony. Daisy likes to react to any situation according to her own

desires. Even though people tell her that certain things are improper, Daisy likes to do what

she thinks is free and right. On the contrary, Mrs. Walker would never act in any manner

except that approved by all society. The American than acts spontaneously, while the

Europeans have formalized certain rituals so that they will never have to confront an unknown

situation. Thus, there is a sense of sincerity in the Americans actions, whereas the European is

more characterized by a sense of extreme urbanity. Throughout the novel, we never see Daisy

perform any action but that which is natural and open.

The Americans sense of spontaneity, sincerity, and action leads him into natural

actions. He seems to represent nature itself On the other hand, the Europeans emphasis on

form, ceremony, ritual, and sophistication seems to suggest the artificial. It represents art as an

entity opposing nature.

Ultimately, these qualities lead to the opposition of honesty versus evil. This

question is not investigated in Daisy Miller, but in terms of James final position, it might be

wise to know his final stand. When all American qualities are replaced by all of the European,

we find that form and ritual replace honesty. The ideal person is one who can retain all of the

Americans innocence and honesty, and yet gain the Europeans experience and knowledge.

37


38/62

Daisy Millerwas one of Jamess earliest treatments of one of the themes for which

he became best known: the expatriate or footloose American abroad. Americans abroad was a

subject very much of the moment in the years after the Civil War. The postwar boom, the so-

called Gilded Age, had given rise to a new class of American businessman, whose fashionable

families were impatient to make the grand tour and expose themselves to the art and culture

of the Old World. Americans were visiting Europe for the first time in record numbers, and the

clash between the two cultures was a novel and widespread phenomenon. The perception of

the Americans about Europe is an idyllic one at the beginning:

That English lady in the cars, she said Miss Featherstone asked me if wedidnt all live in hotels in America. I told her I had never been in so many hotels in

my life as since I came to Europe. I have never seen so many its nothing but

hotels. But Miss Miller did not make this remark with a querulous accent; she

appeared to be in the best humor with everything. She declared that the hotels werevery good, when once you got used to their ways, and that Europe was perfectly

sweet. She was not disappointed not a bit. Perhaps it was because she had heardso much about it before. She had ever so many intimate friends that had been there

ever so many times. And then she had had ever so many dresses and things from

Paris. Whenever she put on a Paris dress she felt as if she were in Europe. 33

3.2 Innocence and corruption

Henry James was in two minds about the American character. By temperament, he

was more sympathetic with the European way of life, with its emphasis on culture, education,

and the art of conversation. Like most Europeans, he saw his compatriots as ill-mannered, not

very educated, and ridiculously provincial, unaware of an immense and centuries-old world

outside their own new and increasing territories. On the other hand, he was also fascinated by

the touching innocence of the American national character, with its emphasis on sincerity

rather than artifice. In later novels, such as The Portrait of a Lady and The American,James

would continue to explore the moral implications of a simplicity that, like Daisys, cannot

defend itself against the worldliness and cynicism of a decadent society based on hypocrisy. In

an extract, Daisy combines the premonition of the symbolic death of an innocent American in

a corrupted environment and the European life:

33Daisy Miller, p. 17.

38


39/62

Weve got splendid rooms at the hotel; Eugenio says theyre the best rooms in

Rome. We are going to stay all winter, if we dont die of the fever; and I guess

well stay then. Its a great deal nicer than I thought; I thought it would be fearfullyquiet; I was sure it would be awfully poky. I was sure we should be going round all

the time with one of those dreadful old men that explain about the pictures and

things. But we only had about a week of that, and now Im enjoying myself. Iknow ever so many people, and they are all so charming. The societys extremely

select. There are all kinds English, and Germans, and Italians. I think I like the

English best. I like their style of conversation. But there are some lovelyAmericans. I never saw anything so hospitable. Theres something or other every

day.34

Throughout Daisy Miller, Winterbourne is preoccupied with the question of

whether Daisy is innocent. The word innocent appears repeatedly, always with a different

shade of meaning. Innocent had three meanings in Jamess day. First, it could have meantignorant or uninstructed. Daisy is innocent of the art of conversation, for example. It

could also have meant nave, as it does today. Mrs. Costello uses the word in this sense when

she calls Winterbourne too innocent in Chapter 2. He is also aware of the differences

between American and European women:

Miss Daisy Miller looked extremely innocent. Some people had told him that,

after all, American girls were exceedingly innocent; and others had told him that,after all, they were not. He was inclined to think Miss Daisy Miller was a flirt a

pretty American flirt. He had never, as yet, had any relations with young ladies of

this category. He had known, here in Europe, two or three women--persons olderthan Miss Daisy Miller, and provided, for respectabilitys sake, with husbands who were great coquettes dangerous, terrible women, with whom one's relations

were liable to take a serious turn. But this young girl was not a coquette in that

sense; she was very unsophisticated; she was only a pretty American flirt.35

Finally, when Winterbourne protests, twirling his moustache in a sinister fashion,

he invokes the third meaning, not having done harm or wrong.

This third meaning is the one that preoccupies Winterbourne as he tries to come to

a decision about Daisy. He initially judges the Millers to be merely very ignorant and very

innocent, and he assesses Daisy as a harmless flirt. As the novel progresses, he becomes

increasingly absorbed in the question of her culpability. He fears she is guilty not of any

particular sex act but merely of a vulgar attitude, a lack of concern for modesty and decency,

34Daisy Miller, p. 124.35Ibid., p. 23.

39


40/62

which would put her beyond his interest or concern. One could argue that it is the way in

which Daisy embodies all the different meanings of innocence that is her fall. At the end of

the novel, her symbolic death is a proof of the irreconcilable differences between the New and

the Old Continent:

But, as Winterbourne had said, it mattered very little. A week after this, the poor

girl died; it had been a terrible case of the fever. Daisys grave was in the little

Protestant cemetery, in an angle of the wall of imperial Rome, beneath thecypresses and the thick spring flowers. Winterbourne stood there beside it, with a

number of other mourners, a number larger than the scandal excited by the young

ladys career would have led you to expect. Near him stood Giovanelli, who came

nearer still before Winterbourne turned away. Giovanelli was very pale: on thisoccasion he had no flower in his buttonhole; he seemed to wish to say something.

At last he said, She was the most beautiful young lady I ever saw, and the most

amiable; and then he added in a moment, and she was the most innocent.36

At times, the authors obsession with the national identity covers e

Used and Abused

Documents

Transcript of Used and Abused