HENRY JAMES

THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY

Henry James was born in New York City in 1843 and was raised in Manhattan. James's father, a
prominent intellectual and social theorist, traveled a great deal to Geneva, Paris, and London, so Henry and
his brother, William, accompanied him and virtually grew up in those locations as well. As a child, James
was shy, delicate, and had a difficult time mixing with other boys—his brother, who was much more active,
called him a sissy. William James, of course, went on to become a great American philosopher, while Henry
became one of the nation's preeminent novelists.
The James family moved to Boston when Henry was a teenager, and Henry briefly attended Harvard
Law School. But he soon dropped out in order to concentrate on his writing. He found success early and
often: William Dean Howells, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, befriended the young writer, and by his
mid- twenties James was considered one of the most skilled writers in America. In novels such as The
American, The Europeans, and Daisy Miller, James perfected a unique brand of psychological realism,
taking as his primary subject the social maneuverings of the upper classes, particularly the situation of
Americans living in Europe. For James, America represented optimism and innocence, while Europe
represented decadence and social sophistication; James himself moved to Europe early on in his professional
career and was naturalized as a British citizen in 1915 to protest America's failure to enter World War I.
Throughout his career, James earned criticism for the slow pacing and uneventful plotting of his
novels, as well as for his elliptical technique, in which many of a work's important scenes are not narrated,
but only implied by later scenes. But as a stylist James earned consistent admiration; he is often considered
to be a "writer's writer," and his prose is remarkable for its elegance of balance, clarity, and precision.
First written in the 1880s and extensively revised in 1908, The Portrait of a Lady is often
considered to be James's greatest achievement. In it, he explored many of his most characteristic themes,
including the conflict between American individualism and European social custom and the situation of
Americans in Europe. It also includes many of his most memorable characters, including the lady of the
novel's title, Isabel Archer, the indomitable Mrs. Touchett, the wise and funny Ralph Touchett, the fast-
talking Henrietta Stackpole, and the sinister villains, Gilbert Osmond and Madame Merle.
While he was a dedicated observer of human beings in society, James was a socially distant man who
formed few close friendships. He never married and openly claimed to practice celibacy. Perhaps this gave
him time to write: in four decades of his writing career, he produced nearly 100 books, including such
classics as The Golden Bowl, The Wings of the Dove, and the immortal ghost story The Turn of the Screw.
He died on February 28, 1916, shortly after receiving the English Order of Merit for his dedication to the
British cause in World War I.
Plot Overview
Isabel Archer is a woman in her early twenties who comes from a genteel family in Albany, New
York, in the late 1860s. Her mother died when she was a young girl, and her father raised her in a haphazard
manner, allowing her to educate herself and encouraging her independence. As a result, the adult Isabel is
widely read, imaginative, confident in her own mind, and slightly narcissistic; she has the reputation in
Albany for being a formidable intellect, and as a result she often seems intimidating to men. She has had few
suitors, but one of them is Caspar Goodwood, the powerful, charismatic son of a wealthy Boston mill owner.
Isabel is drawn to Caspar, but her commitment to her independence makes her fear him as well, for she feels
that to marry him would be to sacrifice her freedom.
Shortly after Isabel's father dies, she receives a visit from her indomitable aunt, Mrs. Touchett, an
American who lives in Europe. Mrs. Touchett offers to take Isabel on a trip to Europe, and Isabel eagerly
agrees, telling Caspar that she cannot tell him whether she wishes to marry him until she has had at least a
year to travel in Europe with her aunt. Isabel and Mrs. Touchett leave for England, where Mrs. Touchett's
estranged husband is a powerful banker. Isabel makes a strong impression on everyone at Mr. Touchett's
county manor of Gardencourt: her cousin Ralph, slowly dying of a lung disorder, becomes deeply devoted to
her, and the Touchetts' aristocratic neighbor Lord Warburton falls in love with her. Warburton proposes, but
Isabel declines; though she fears that she is passing up a great social opportunity by not marrying Warburton,
she still believes that marriage would damage her treasured independence. As a result, she pledges to
accomplish something wonderful with her life, something that will justify her decision to reject Warburton.
Isabel's friend Henrietta Stackpole, an American journalist, believes that Europe is changing Isabel, slowly
eroding her American values and replacing them with romantic idealism. Henrietta comes to Gardencourt
and secretly arranges for Caspar Goodwood to meet Isabel in London. Goodwood again presses Isabel to
marry him; this time, she tells him she needs at least two years before she can answer him, and she promises
him nothing. She is thrilled to have exercised her independence so forcefully. Mr. Touchett's health declines,
and Ralph convinces him that when he dies, he should leave half his wealth to Isabel: this will protect her
independence and ensure that she will never have to marry for money. Mr. Touchett agrees shortly before he
dies. Isabel is left with a large fortune for the first time in her life. Her inheritance piques the interest of
Madame Merle, Mrs. Touchett's polished, elegant friend; Madame Merle begins to lavish attention on Isabel,
and the two women become close friends.
Isabel travels to Florence with Mrs. Touchett and Madame Merle; Merle introduces Isabel to a man
named Gilbert Osmond, a man of no social standing or wealth, but whom Merle describes as one of the
finest gentlemen in Europe, wholly devoted to art and aesthetics. Osmond's daughter Pansy is being brought
up in a convent; his wife is dead. In secret, Osmond and Merle have a mysterious relationship; Merle is
attempting to manipulate Isabel into marrying Osmond so that he will have access to her fortune. Osmond is
pleased to marry Isabel, not only for her money, but also because she makes a fine addition to his collection
of art objects.
Everyone in Isabel's world disapproves of Osmond, especially Ralph, but Isabel chooses to marry
him anyway. She has a child the year after they are married, but the boy dies six months after he is born.
Three years into their marriage, Isabel and Osmond have come to despise one another; they live with Pansy
in a palazzo in Rome, where Osmond treats Isabel as barely a member of the family: to him, she is a social
hostess and a source of wealth, and he is annoyed by her independence and her insistence on having her own
opinions. Isabel chafes against Osmond's arrogance, his selfishness, and his sinister desire to crush her
individuality, but she does not consider leaving him. For all her commitment to her independence, Isabel is
also committed to her social duty, and when she married Osmond, she did so with the intention of
transforming herself into a good wife.
A young American art collector who lives in Paris, Edward Rosier, comes to Rome and falls in love
with Pansy; Pansy returns his feelings. But Osmond is insistent that Pansy should marry a nobleman, and he
says that Rosier is neither rich nor highborn enough. Matters grow complicated when Lord Warburton
arrives on the scene and begins to court Pansy. Warburton is still in love with Isabel and wants to marry
Pansy solely to get closer to her. But Osmond desperately wants to see Pansy married to Warburton. Isabel
is torn about whether to fulfill her duty to her husband and help him arrange the match between Warburton
and Pansy, or to fulfill the impulse of her conscience and discourage Warburton, while helping Pansy find a
way to marry Rosier.
At a ball one night, Isabel shows Warburton the dejected-looking Rosier and explains that this is
the man who is in love with Pansy. Guiltily, Warburton admits that he is not in love with Pansy; he quietly
arranges to leave Rome. Osmond is furious with Isabel, convinced that she is plotting intentionally to
humiliate him. Madame Merle is also furious with her, confronting her with shocking impropriety and
demanding brazenly to know what she did to Warburton. Isabel has realized that there is something
mysterious about Madame Merle's relationship with her husband; now, she suddenly realizes that Merle is
his lover.
At this time, Ralph is rapidly deteriorating, and Isabel receives word that he is dying. She longs to
travel to England to be with him, but Osmond forbids it. Now Isabel must struggle to decide whether to obey
his command and remain true to her marriage vows or to disregard him and hurry to her cousin's bedside.
Encouraging her to go, Osmond's sister, the Countess Gemini, tells her that there is still more to Merle and
Osmond's relationship. Merle is Pansy's mother; Pansy was born out of wedlock. Osmond's wife died at
about the same time, so Merle and Osmond spread the story that she died in childbirth. Pansy was placed in
a convent to be raised, and she does not know that Merle is her real mother. Isabel is shocked and disgusted
by her husband's atrocious behavior—she even feels sorry for Merle for falling under his spell—so she
decides to follow her heart and travel to England.
After Ralph's death, Isabel struggles to decide whether to return to her husband or not. She promised
Pansy that she would return to Rome, and her commitment to social propriety impels her to go back and
honor her marriage. But her independent spirit urges her to flee from Osmond and find happiness elsewhere.
Caspar Goodwood appears at the funeral, and afterwards, he asks Isabel to run away with him and forget
about her husband. The next day, unable to find her, Goodwood asks Henrietta where she has gone.
Henrietta quietly tells him that Isabel has returned to Rome, unable to break away from her marriage to
Gilbert Osmond.
Isabel Archer - The novel's protagonist, the Lady of the title. Isabel is a young woman from Albany,
New York, who travels to Europe with her aunt, Mrs. Touchett. Isabel's experiences in Europe—she is
wooed by an English lord, inherits a fortune, and falls prey to a villainous scheme to marry her to the sinister
Gilbert Osmond—force her to confront the conflict between her desire for personal independence and her
commitment to social propriety. Isabel is the main focus of Portrait of a Lady, and most of the thematic
exploration of the novel occurs through her actions, thoughts, and experiences. Ultimately, Isabel chooses to
remain in her miserable marriage to Osmond rather than to violate custom by leaving him and searching for
a happier life.
Gilbert Osmond - A cruel, narcissistic gentleman of no particular social standing or wealth, who
seduces Isabel and marries her for her money. An art collector, Osmond poses as a disinterested aesthete, but
in reality he is desperate for the recognition and admiration of those around him. He treats everyone who
loves him as simply an object to be used to fulfill his desires; he bases his daughter Pansy's upbringing on
the idea that she should be unswervingly subservient to him, and he even treats his longtime lover Madame
Merle as a mere tool. Isabel's marriage to Osmond forces her to confront the conflict between her desire for
independence and the painful social proprieties that force her to remain in her marriage.
Madame Merle - An accomplished, graceful, and manipulative woman, Madame Merle is a popular
lady who does not have a husband or a fortune. Motivated by her love for Gilbert Osmond, Merle
manipulates Isabel into marrying Osmond, delivering Isabel's fortune into his hands and ruining Isabel's life
in the process. Unbeknownst to either Isabel or Pansy, Merle is not only Osmond's lover, but she is also
Pansy's mother, a fact that was covered up after Pansy's birth. Pansy was raised to believe that her mother
died in childbirth.
Ralph Touchett - Isabel's wise, funny cousin, who is ill with lung disease throughout the entire
novel, which ends shortly after his death. Ralph loves life, but he is kept from participating in it vigorously
by his ailment; as a result, he acts as a dedicated spectator, resolving to live vicariously through his beloved
cousin Isabel. It is Ralph who convinces Mr. Touchett to leave Isabel her fortune, and it is Ralph who is the
staunchest advocate of Isabel remaining independent. Ralph serves as the moral center of Portrait of a Lady:
his opinions about other characters are always accurate, and he serves as a kind of moral barometer for the
reader, who can tell immediately whether a character is good or evil by Ralph's response to that character.
Analytical Overview

The Portrait of a Lady explores the conflict between the individual and society by examining the
life of Isabel Archer, a young American woman who must choose between her independent spirit and the
demands of social convention. After professing and longing to be an independent woman, autonomous and
answerable only to herself, Isabel falls in love with and marries the sinister Gilbert Osmond, who wants her
only for her money and who treats her as an object, almost as part of his art collection. Isabel must then
decide whether to honor her marriage vows and preserve social propriety or to leave her miserable marriage
and escape to a happier, more independent life, possibly with her American suitor Caspar Goodwood. In the
end, after the death of her cousin Ralph, the staunchest advocate of her independence, Isabel chooses to
return to Osmond and maintain her marriage. She is motivated partly by a sense of social duty, partly by a
sense of pride, and partly by the love of her stepdaughter, Pansy, the daughter of Osmond and his
manipulative lover Madame Merle.
As the title of the novel indicates, Isabel is the principal character of the book, and the main focus
of the novel is on presenting, explaining, and developing her character. James is one of America's great
psychological realists, and he uses all his creative powers to ensure that Isabel's conflict is the natural
product of a believable mind, and not merely an abstract philosophical consideration. In brief, Isabel's
independence of spirit is largely a result of her childhood, when she was generally neglected by her father
and allowed to read any book in her grandmother's library; in this way, she supervised her own haphazard
education and allowed her mind to develop without discipline or order. Her natural intelligence has always
ensured that she is at least as quick as anyone around her, and in Albany, New York, she has the reputation
of being a formidable intellect.
After she travels to England with her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, however, it becomes clear that Isabel has
a woefully unstructured imagination, as well as a romantic streak that suits her position as an optimistic,
innocent American. (For James, throughout Portrait of a Lady, America is a place of individualism and
naïveté, while Europe is a place of sophistication, convention, and decadence.) Isabel often considers her life
as though it were a novel. She also has a tendency to think about herself obsessively and has a vast faith in
her own moral strength—in fact, recognizing that she has never faced hardship, Isabel actually wishes that
she might be made to suffer, so that she could prove her ability to overcome suffering without betraying her
principles.
When Isabel moves to England, her cousin Ralph is so taken with her spirit of independence that he
convinces his dying father to leave half his fortune to Isabel. This is intended to prevent her from ever
having to marry for money, but ironically it attracts the treachery of the novel's villains, Madame Merle and
Gilbert Osmond. They conspire to convince Isabel to marry Osmond in order to gain access to her wealth.
Her marriage to Osmond effectively stifles Isabel's independent spirit, as her husband treats her as an object
and tries to force her to share his opinions and abandon her own.
This is the thematic background of Portrait of a Lady, and James skillfully intertwines the novel's
psychological and thematic elements. Isabel's downfall with Osmond, for instance, enables the book's most
trenchant exploration of the conflict between her desire to conform to social convention and her fiercely
independent mind. It is also perfectly explained by the elements of Isabel's character: her haphazard
upbringing has led her to long for stability and safety, even if they mean a loss of independence, and her
active imagination enables her to create an illusory picture of Osmond, which she believes in more than the
real thing, at least until she is married to him. Once she marries Osmond, Isabel's pride in her moral strength
makes it impossible for her to consider leaving him: she once longed for hardship, and now that she has
found it, it would be hypocritical for her to surrender to it by violating social custom and abandoning her
husband.
In the same way that James unites his psychological and thematic subjects, he also intertwines the
novel's settings with its themes. Set almost entirely among a group of American expatriates living in Europe
in the 1860s and 70s, the book relies on a kind of moral geography, in which America represents innocence,
individualism, and capability; Europe represents decadence, sophistication, and social convention; and
England represents the best mix of the two. Isabel moves from America to England to continental Europe,
and at each stage she comes to mirror her surroundings, gradually losing a bit of independence with each
move. Eventually she lives in Rome, the historic heart of continental Europe, and it is here that she endures
her greatest hardship with Gilbert Osmond.
Narratively, James uses many of his most characteristic techniques in Portrait of a Lady. In addition
to his polished, elegant prose and his sedate, slow pacing, he utilizes a favorite technique of skipping over
some of the novel's main events in telling the story. Instead of narrating moments such as Isabel's wedding
with Osmond, James skips over them, relating that they have happened only after the fact, in peripheral
conversations. This literary technique is known as ellipses. In the novel, James most often uses his elliptical
technique in scenes when Isabel chooses to value social custom over her independence—her acceptance of
Gilbert's proposal, their wedding, her decision to return to Rome after briefly leaving for Ralph's funeral at
the end of the novel. James uses this method to create the sense that, in these moments, Isabel is no longer
accessible to the reader; in a sense, by choosing to be with Gilbert Osmond, Isabel is lost.