James As A Moral Portrait Painter

A morally instructive art has been the pursuit of almost all of serious artists. But what is morally good? Or what is morally evil? Philosophers have been debating the criteria ever since the appearance of art. Henry James, a prolific novelist of the 20th century, has interpreted the complex question in his literary works. He makes an elaborate connection between art and life, openness and experience, experience and knowledge, suggesting that these forces continually interanimate each other as they play their roles in an individual's gradual understanding of self, world and moral judgment. This thesis will study The Portrait of a Lady from the ethical perspective and.explore James's attitude toward morality and experience. By mocking the failed judgments and dogmatic moral principles, James deconstructs the theoretic moral dogmas and presents a kind of moral phenomenon in his textual world, in which we feel, understand, and become wise and moral. By interpreting the moral dilemma in this literary way, we are informed that what people expect from the ethics is the guide of the right way of living and the insights that confer significance on the life. The morality of art goes beyond the mere judgment of right and wrong, or good and evil. A morally good novel, which is extension of our experiential life, is the one that arouses and encourages our great curiosity about the exploration of life. There is no fixed criterion for the question of morality in art and life. What can be of moral interest is discovered in the experience and in our devotion to life itself. Morality is, instead of a set of prohibitions of our behavior, an attitude toward living which would guarantee our blissful life and acquisition of truth in life.This thesis is divided into four parts: The first part is a critical review of Henry James and the creation background of The Portrait of a Lady. Based on the criticism and specific context, I find the validity of my ethical perspective from which I am to explore James's increased understanding of complexity and variety of social life and his moral philosophy and illustrate his understanding of morality and experience in the fictional world and the social life as well.The second part of this thesis explores the understanding of morality by HenryJames and other philosophers in the history. The criteria for morality are prescribed as obligations according to Plato, Kant and the utilitarian. The source of obligations or duties to others might be stated as God, or a holy book, or parental instruction. Obeying or defying the prescriptions is the measure when making moral judgments. These behavioral theories prescribe the quality of morality by focusing on the goodness or evil specific actions or responsibilities, but ignoring the executors and agents who possess their different intentions and comply with their principles of "morality." The new science of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) called seriously into question the reliability of the biblical account of creation and therefore shook the very foundations of religious faith. The whole question of the importance of "authority", including the authority of traditional moral principles, cried out for reexamination and redefinition. Henry James, by putting emphasis on experience and devotion to life, ridicules the dogmatic understanding and invalidity of the traditional moral principles. James deconstructs the theoretic moral dogmas and presents a kind of moral phenomenon in his textual world by making an elaborate connection between art and life, openness and experience, experience and knowledge, suggesting that these forces continually interanimate each other as they play their role in an individual's developing understanding of self, world and moral sense. In James's opinions, morality and the moralism of art go beyond the mere judgment of right or wrong, good or evil. It evokes our great curiosity about morality and sympathy and provides attitudes towards a blissful life.The third part of this argument is James's reflection on morality in The Portrait of a Lady, which focuses on the experience and growth of the heroine, Isabel. Isabel is a socially innocent girl of many theories. Mrs. Touchett, Isabel's aunt, offers to take her to Europe, to which Isabel eagerly agrees. She wants to see what will become of her in the old world. She lives and acts in accordance, with her textual knowledge and moral prescriptions. Out of her theoretic consideration of lofty ideals, she refused both the proposals of her native suitor, a capable proprietor of well-known cotton-mills in Massachusetts and an aristocratic lord in England, which startled her aunt and otherpeople. With a sum of money she inherited from Mr. Touchett, she fell in the trap of fortune-hunters. Her dogmatic ideals and traditional moral prescriptions are challenged in the complexity of social life. Saturated in the experience of her tragic marriage life, she gradually acquires a new understanding of freedom and independence, of conventional morality, and finally wins the practical wisdom about life and morality.I conclude the thesis in part four by reiterating the importance of proper understanding of morality and hoping that more of James's works will deserve serious consideration from the ethical point in furtherance of James's moral philosophy as a whole.