THE PROSPERING TEMPTRESS IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY AMERICAN FICTION: CHARACTERIZATION AND LITERARY REALISM IN THE NOVELS OF JOHN W. DE FOREST AND HENRY JAMES

This dissertation examines the development of the prospering temptress as a character-type in the novels of John W. DeForest and Henry James. The prospering temptress is a self-reliant, sexually forward, prosperous protagonist. As a character who eludes the reader's moralistic judgment, the prospering temptress exemplifies the supposedly objective, non-moralistic character-types of American literary realism.;DeForest created the first prospering temptress. After discussing DeForest's debt to Hawthorne, the dissertation analyzes the characters of Genevieve Westervelt and Jule Van Leer of Seacliff, Mrs. Larue of Miss Ravenel's Conversion, and Josie Murray of Playing The Mischief.;James's interest in the prospering temptress is linked to DeForest's supposed influence. The dissertation briefly surveys a number of prospering temptress figures in James's fiction, and looks closely at Christina Light of both Roderick Hudson and The Princess Casamassima, Kate Croy of The Wings of The Dove, and Charlotte Stant of The Golden Bowl.;The conclusion places the prospering temptress in cultural perspective. It establishes the prospering temptress as a peculiarly American character-type, distinct from the British femme fatale. Harold Frederic's The Damnation of Theron Ware is seen as the only American novel containing a femme fatale in the late nineteenth century, and is contrasted against the novels of DeForest and James.;The dissertation opens with a discussion of literary realism. It next defines the prospering temptress and her place in literary realism. The literary antecedents in American fiction of the prospering temptress are also discussed, most notably Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark lady figures: Hester Prynne of The Scarlet Letter, Zenobia of The Blithedale Romance, and Miriam of The Marble Faun.