1、The Portrait of a LadyLike all great works of literature, The Portrait of a Lady demands careful reading in order to get the full taste of its delights. However, unlike other works, its not a novel of exciting action, nor does it have thrilling adventure. Many times, I just wanted to scan it and the
2、n knew the result, but its not a work that can be hastily read and appreciated, but a work rich in detail, meaning, significance and creation . After finishing the book, I sat there for minutes, I was wondering and hesitating where to go and which point to write. The book can be read very simply its
3、 just a description of a girl, Isabel and four men. It can also be read very deeply the Jamesian novel and his theme. Then I had an impulse to cry, which I didnt know exactly the reason ,for her tragic ending or for Raldeath? Based on the information from the Internet and my own understanding, here
4、is my report. People regard Henry Jamess fiction as a work of art. To him, the novel is a form complete itself. In the Preface to the New York Edition of the Novels and Tales, James provided some insights into the book. He asserted that his subject was a single character, Isabel Archer, and it was a
5、 matter of a “certain young woman affronting her destiny ”. He then pictures a house with a million windows, out of which are eyes looking out. What these eyes see, James sys is life, the human scene and the choice of subject. Actually, there are many metaphors there,and the most common one is the u
6、se of a house. In the beginning, Isabel falls in love with Garden court, for the house fulfills her ideal of a European romantic house. Later, the Palazzo Roccanera is the opposite, which is the end of her illusion. The house reflect the people. Another theme is that the youthful, passinate free Ame
7、rican confront European society. America has no conventions, while Americans are free of conventions. Isabel disrupts them, while Osmond lives by them, but she finds out it to late. This is ythe authors theme:the American in Europe. Isabel, just as the title says, is a lady. She is beautiful, brilli
8、ant, knowledgable and idealistic. She has romantics notions. She loves freedom and the experience of life, she turns Lord Warburton down, for she thinks marrying will restraint her life fully and he is too good for her. Then she chooses Qsmond, an “original without being an eccentric man”. He is nar
9、row, selfish and he takes himself so seriously. Everyone tells her, but her own choice is idealized in her mind. She has changed Osmonds views and failings into virtues and is too proud to realize it. However, it turns out she is wrong in the end. But she is still a great woman. She never changes he
10、r character and she is able to make her husband to realize he cannot change her, even at last, she knows heis a shadow hypocrite, she still decides to go back to Rome, which is out of expectation and shocks me. Ralph Touchette: No one is worth your tears, and the one who is wont make you cry.He is t
11、he my favourite character in the book. He also loves Isabel and always at her back, but in a silent and supportive way. He is the one who persuades his father to give her half of his fortunes so that she can travel the world. He is the one who gives her ideas and analyzes them frankly, but she accep
12、ts. He is the one who sacrifices his health to stay in Rome, just wanting to know whether she is happy. He is the very first one to recognise Isabels characteristic. Actually, he is the most perspective character in the novel. Maybe his sichness detaches him, but it gabber ives him the opportunity t
13、o observe more fully: he sees through the superficial level of Osmond,and he is suspicious of Madame Merleit seems that he speaks with the voice of the author, but he dies for his disease.Lord Warburton: The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them, knowing you cant have them.The
14、 first time we first meet him is in the first chapte. He is born with life. As a lord, he is noble, handsome, wealthy, intelligent and like women with “ideas”, but Isabel rejects him, for the reason that she wants to explore life. However, he never changes his love to her, even when others think tha
15、t he is courting with Pansy Osmond, he is still in love with her. When he finally is to marry, he feels uncomfortable and embarrassed to meet her. I have always been thinking what would happen if Isabel marries him. Caspar Goodwood: Love is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing e
16、ver dies.”To Goodwood, he loves Isabel. From America to Europe, even though she becomes other peoples wife, he never gives her up. He is strong, persistent, a leader of men. Whenever Isabel wants to see him, he can arrive immediately, and each of the meeting between them can cause her to feel a deep
17、 emotion reaction. He affects her strongly that she fully realizes that she probably would have married him if it were not for her has changed circumstance. When Isabel writes to him announcing her marriage. He comes immediately. He says:”I came because I wanted to see you once more even just as you
18、 are.” “Five minutes after he had gone out she burst into tears.” Caspar is not the one to accept defeat easily, but his kiss at last convinces Isabel of her final resolve to return to Rome. The story ends with Isabels returning, leaving us to think. Many people feel that the author didnt finish the novel, but he said “the whole of anything is never told”. We cant help wondering why she goes back to Rome after experiencing so many thing, for the promise to Pansy? Her special characteristic? We never know but imagine
