The Fate Of Returning To A Loveless Marriage

Henry James is universally acknowledged to be one of America's most important novelists and critics. His writings are largely characterized by his well-known subject—the international theme(the meeting of America and Europe). He is also called a pioneer of psychological realism. His distinctive writing technique has profound influence on modern American and English literature and his brilliance as an innovator of psychological realism makes him stand out as an international writer.The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James's first unquestioned masterpiece, has received ample praise from many leading critics, and remains his most appealing novel. The success of this novel greatly rests on James's subtle probing of its heroine's consciousness and the device of psychological realism, by which James unfolds the journey towards the heroine's self-discovery. It is this unique device, which James employed in this novel at great length, that has a far-reaching influence on modern American and English writers. Despite the ample praise from critics, this novel also receives a continual negative report. The ending of the novel—an American woman clinging to her ideal of freedom and independence chooses to return to her loveless and suffocating marriage—really irritates and puzzles some readers. Critics have done intensive researches on its theme, craft of narrative, techniques, and so on. In recent years, more researches have been done on this novel from perspectives of feminism, realism, naturalism and cultural studies.This thesis attempts to explore the major causes of the tragedy ofIsabel from three aspects: the defects in the heroine's character, social causes, and the influence of the author's ambivalent attitude towards love and marriage in the hope that it may bring some fresh insight in the novel. This thesis is composed of an introduction, three chapters, and a conclusion. The introduction gives a brief account of James's life and career and a survey of the criticism on this novel, provides a glimpse into the text, and states the purpose and importance of the thesis.Chapter One analyses the heroine's flawed character from four aspects: romance of self, narcissism, inconsistency and aestheticism. Isabel's romance of self exempts her from the reality. Her narcissistic self-sufficiency explains her wrong choice in the face of widespread opposition. Her creation of a "fine theory" about Osmond is attributable to her inconsistency and aestheticism. It is her flawed character that foreshadows her tragic career.Chapter Two explores the social causes for Isabel's tragedy: the social and economic restraints and the restrictions of the conventional image of a lady suffered by an average woman of the nineteenth century, which are inevitably suffered by Isabel. Isabel's tragedy is not merely resultant from her flawed character but also reflects James's determination to present a realistic portrait of a particular kind of nineteenth-century woman.Chapter Three analyses Isabel's choosing to return to her unhappy marriage based on two factors: James's ambivalent attitude and the influence on James of the elder James's conservative view on marriage. The elder James disapproved of divorce and emphasized the role of submission and suffering of women. Influenced by his father's view, James forces Isabel to satisfy the moral code that the elder James...