The Evolution Of Selfconsciousness:A Study Of Isabel In The Portrait Of A Lady From The Perspective Of Bildungsroman

The Portrait of a Lady is the masterpiece of the American writer Henry James. It describes the psychological development of the protagonist vividly and thoroughly. This thesis mainly explores the evolution of Isabel’s self-consciousness from the perspective of Bildungsroman by applying the psychological theory of self-consciousness and that of the Bildungsroman. It could be seen that the evolution of Isabel’s self-consciousness could be divided into three stages as she grows up. In the initiatory period, she has deficiency in her self-consciousness, such as subjective and partial viewpoints, arrogance and inferiority complex, which foreshadows her errors and painful experience in her second stage. In her European trip, her self-consciousness develops and she becomes mature after she undergoes the false friendship with a tricky fortune-hunter and painful marriage with a hypocritical artist. But in the end she still chooses to return to her husband and take commitment to the family, which exhibits that she has developed a fuller and heightened self-consciousness. The thesis concludes that Isabel experiences the hardships in life and becomes a mature woman who is willing to confront the hardships and darkness in life bravely, and that The Portrait of a Lady is a novel which reveals a woman’s growing up into sublimity, which could be reflected in her choices and her unchangeable virtues.