A Study Of The Psychological Portrait Of Isabel Archer

The American writer Henry James (1843-1916) is generally considered the master of the psychological realistic novels. Unlike the traditional writers who usually base their characterization on the characters' action, James prefers to describe and reveal characters' inner minds. His early masterpiece The Portrait of A Lady is a model work of psychological realistic novels, in which the heroine Isabel Archer's inner mind is fully revealed.This thesis investigates James' application of the technique of internal focalization and its effect, applies the theory of internal focalization in narratology combined with the external realities of the novel to analyze the developing process of Isabel Archer's inner world. The thesis analyzes Isabel Archer's view of freedom, and finds the kernel part of it is the integrity of self. The stage of the negative freedom and the stage of positive freedom both aim at realizing the integrity of self. Isabel can not fulfill the integrity of self in neither of the two stages of pursuing freedom. The unhappy marriage leads her to see through the realities of her conditions, to understand life better and eventually defines her self in her existing marriage.