The Potrait of a Lady

A few years ago, I was feeling bad about never having read Henry James, so I picked up a Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The Portrait of a Lady. Of course, a 600-page classic always seems daunting, so I went a few more years having never read Henry James. But, now that I have, I realize what I was missing!

Isabel Archer is an American orphan taken under the wing of her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, who now resides in Europe. Isabel becomes a part of the family, and when her uncle dies, her Consumption-stricken cousin Ralph, convinces his father to bequeath her a large sum of money. Ralph hopes the money will open up the world to her, allowing her to travel and freeing her from the necessity of having to marry for financial stability. Unfortunately, it only makes her prey to the scheming of some very selfish people.

While Jane Austen’s characters have silly foibles that are easy to poke fun of, James’s characters have foibles that are lethal. They don’t think twice of ruining another person’s life if it leads to personal gain. In the first half, I found it hard to sympathize with Isabel: she is vaguely intellectual and independent but immensely silly at the same time. By the end, after she has fallen victim to those plotting around her, it is hard not to feel sympathy for her and hope she finds a way to escape her circumstances.

On a lighter note, one thing in James’s world seems to continue today is the obnoxiousness of American tourists in Europe. Most of the central characters of this novel are American ex-pats, as was James himself. They are not quite on the same level as native Europeans, but they are more refined than those merely visiting from the States. Semi-professional journalist Henrietta Stackpole, upon seeing Michelangelo’s dome at St. Peter’s, declares that is suffers by comparison with the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Now, while I admit the Capitol building is spectacular, it is nothing compared to St. Peter’s—especially when one takes into account how much older St. Peter’s is. But it is that attitude of things in the U.S. always being superior that I—and many other travelers—find so annoying when encountering fellow—albeit more obnoxious—American abroad.

All in all, I enjoyed the novel, and will look for more James in the future. I have it on good authority that The Turn of the Screw is quite good . . .