James Described The Fate Of Female Characters In The Patriarchy Explore

Henry James is one of the most influential realist writers in 19th century American literature. For more than a hundred years, his works have been well studied in academic field home and abroad. As a male writer who lived in Victorian Age, Henry James chose to write from the female point of view. Many of the protagonists in his novels are Victorian women who struggle desperately in their marriages or love affairs. These innocent women are confronted with sophisticated patriarchal society in which they are suppressed and controlled by male dictators of family and society. Some papers and theses discuss the tragic lives of women in these novels from the point of view of women's attitudes toward love and marriage etc.This thesis aims at exploring the reasons for tragic lives of female characters from sociological angle. Based on close reading and careful studies of the four famous novels of James, namely The Portrait of a Lady, Washington Square, The Golden Bowl and The Wings of the Dove, this thesis classifies the main women characters of the four novels into three categories according to their fortune possession and studies their relationships with their fathers, husbands and lovers who are representatives of patriarchal society.The conclusion is reached based on the analysis:most women in patriarchal society, fortune-possessed or not are only victims of male snobs and are doomed to tragic lives. With social restrictions, women are unlikely to dominate their own destinies and their tragic lives are the inevitable outcome of patriarchal society.