Alternative Transcendentalism In Henry James’s The Portrait Of A Lady

Henry James is a preeminent American novelist, playwright, essayist and criticwho is well known as one of the most influential literary figures writing at the turn ofthe century. The Portrait of a Lady is one of his early masterpieces. This thesis willanalyze the heroine Isabel Archer’s initiation and the change of her transcendentalideas to reinterpret James’s attitude towards transcendentalism.The Portrait of a Lady has got extensive criticism since it was published. Mostcritics research the novel from cultural conflict, feminism, psychologist and writingskills and so on. Some critics recognize the heroine is the representative andexecutive of transcendentalism due to her pursuit of freedom and independence andindividuality. They make a conclusion that James is the follower of Emerson’stranscendentalism. However, few of them notice the difference of James’stranscendental idea with that of Emerson, which is the reason why the authorreinterprets the transcendentalism in the novel. James is influenced greatly bytranscendentalism, which emphasizes on spirit and disregards materialism.Transcendentalists state that the individual is his own world and able to thoroughlyrely on himself to achieve his own perfection. Thus, liberty and independence arenecessary as well. James has the same opinion on the existence and value ofindividual; however, he also recognizes the disadvantage of transcendentalism whichputs too much emphasis on individual, making people discern the society andisolating human and society, human and themselves. This is also the symptom ofspiritual crisis of current people. As a result, James puts Isabel into the society. Afterplenty of sufferings, she eventually realizes the inseparability of human and society.Knowing the importance of love and finally goes back to her marriage.The thesis consists of three parts. The first part mainly details Isabel’stranscendental idea, which exemplifies James’s positive attitude towardstranscendentalism. Isabel insists on individuality, liberty and independence and pursues them actively, who is a typical transcendentalist. However, her overconfidence and optimism lead her to egotism. The second part discusses the heroine’stragic marriage out of her egotism. In the face of reality, the transcendentalism shehas pursued turns out to be a failure, which makes her confused abouttranscendentalism. She tries to give up transcendental idea and change to be atraditional woman by compromising to society in way of submitting to her husbandand concealing her unhappiness to others. The third part mainly argues the heroine’sre-examination of transcendentalism after knowing the truth of her marriage. She hasgot a profound and thorough comprehension of herself and society and chooses to goback to her marriage, which proves that she has become a rational and maturetranscendentalist. Her change and maturity also embody the James’s transcendenceof transcendentalism.The thesis finally draws a conclusion that the heroine’s change oftranscendental ideas reflects James’s transcendence of transcendentalism whofocuses on individual value; at the same time, is aware of the insufficiency and itsnegative impact on individual. As a result, he puts Isabel into society to help hermature, which has educative significance to modern people who are over-optimisticand pay too much attention to themselves.