An Analysis Of Isabel Archer's Tragedy In Henry James' The Portrait Of A Lady

Henry James is generally considered as one of America's greatest novelists and critics. His novels largely share the well-known international theme, concerning the conflicts of the American and European cultures and values. He is also regarded as a pioneer of modern fiction. He employed a new narrative technique known as"centre of consciousness"1, which focuses on the development of consciousness of a certain character. In this way, the core of the novel shifts from description of the external world to the spiritual world of the characters. His innovation has grown into the fundamental principle of the modern fiction.The Portrait of a Lady, which is Henry James'masterpiece of his early writings and regarded as one of the best novels in the history of English and American literatures, marks a new tendency of the art of fiction. The success of the novel lies with James'subtle exploration of the heroine's flow of consciousness, which functions as a foundation for the development of the plot and relationships among different characters. The novel has received fervent praises from leading critics, who have done intensive research on its themes, craft of narrative and language style from perspectives of feminism, cultural studies, structuralism and psychoanalysis and so on.This thesis attempts to analyze Isabel's tragedy from both the internal and external perspectives. The discussion is made in three aspects. The first chapter deals with the internal cause with the support of psychoanalytical theories. The second chapter focuses on the external causes, i.e. the social causes. The last chapter elaborates on her tragic marriage based on the discussion of the previous two chapters. The internal cause for her tragic life is deeply rooted in her family background and upbringing. She suffers maternal absence in her childhood and her father dies in her adolescence. The lack of maternity leads to her psychological need for narcissistic self-sufficiency and superiority, which makes her turn down Caspar Goodwood and Lord Warburton's proposals. According to her theories, the marriage with either Goodwood or Warburton would threaten her liberty and independence. She accepts to give her hand to Gilbert Osmond for she feels that he could make up for her maternal loss, playing the role of a parental husband. What is more, her desire for superiority could be met. She is proud of her wealth in her marriage because she is the major contributor to Osmond who has"no career, no name, no position, no fortune, no past, no future, no anything"( p. 183). She mistakenly believes that she will keep her freedom in her marriage with Osmond. When falling into the trap of marriage, she realizes that her husband is nothing but a cold-blooded hypocrite and her free will is vigorously suppressed. The thesis also makes an analysis of the social causes for her tragedy. During the period when the story took place, women were supposed to be submissive and domestic. They had to be subject to their husbands. Isabel is suffocated by her marriage. But even so, she still tries to please her husband and is eager to be a good wife. Confined by the social values and conventions at that time ,she consequently goes back to her loveless marriage overwhelmed with unhappiness and suffering and shoulders the responsibility she has for her choice.