Close reading of a passage from Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Portrait Lady

Flat Mirrors and Telling Reflections in Henry James' Portrait of a Lady

Much of Henry James' skill as a novelist is found in the insight he provides into the human psyche and the stark honesty with which his characters are portrayed (Edel). This is especially true of the central characters in his novels, those who are most fully fleshed out and seen in multiple contexts and relationships. Isabel, the protagonist of James' novel Portrait of a Lady, is one of the most fully fleshed and complex characters in James' canon, and provides an excellent means for examining his conception of how human value is defined, how people perceive themselves, and how people are perceived by others (Edel). In her discussion with Madame Merle, an older and ostensibly wiser character, the dichotomy between inner definitions of self and external representations or conceptions of personhood are rendered explicitly clear. In Portrait of a Lady, the flat character of Madame Merle is used as a means of exposing and inspecting the roundness and complexities of Isabel's own character, and while the flat is often more fun and direct it is also far less nuanced and complete.

Success by Any Other Name

In Chapter 19 of Portrait of a Lady, the heroine Isabel encounters Madame Merle -- a woman who initially becomes a friend and something of a mentor to the younger and more recently moneyed protagonist. Though this relationship turns out to be built largely on pretense on the part of Madame Merle, this scene marks the start of what is for a time a strong friendship and affinity. Isabel and Merle represent two contrasting images and two opposing philosophical forces: youth, idealism, and emotionality on the part of the protagonist, and an older, more cynical and decidedly rational (though not truly dispassionate) approach in her foil Madame Merle (Tanner). Madame Merle describes this distinct two-way contrast herself, in fact: "I'm old and stale and faded,' she said more than once; 'I'm of no more interest than last week's newspaper. You're young and fresh and of to-day.'" Isabel is relevant, and Madame Merle is convinced that it is because of her youth and her vitality -- her "actuality," as Madame Merle phrases it. In this way, the older character is actually herself stating that Isabel is of greater interest -- is a rounder character in the world that they occupy together. Rather than a flat and out-of-date newspaper, Isabel is a full woman, one who will not "crawl" in the manner that Madame Merle perceives other women as being required to do. Madame Merle is a flat, distant, and distorted reflection of Isabel, or perhaps Isabel is a reflection of Madame Merle's youth that is more vibrant than the original.

Madame Merle's opening diatribe -- or at least, her lengthy monologue of dissatisfied pronouncements -- makes it clear that gender had a great deal to do with personal definition and constraint, in her view, and though Isabel protests it must be acknowledged that there is some truth to her assessment. At the same time, Madame Merle fully adopts and thus allows herself to be constrained by the notion that she must "cheat [her]self with some pretence [sic] of movement, of unconsciousness." Seeing how limited women are and how society functions on a superficial level, Madame Merle has decided to work within the system, seeing success as an ever-distant and fleeting, while Isabel persists in defining success as "to see some dream of one's youth come true." Madame Merle deems this to be impossible for any dream of real substance, though Isabel insists that she has seen it happen. Merle's rejection of the younger woman's earnest optimism is humorous, but it also presents a single note throughout the chapter compared to the complex and conflicting emotions Isabel evinces with growing "emphasis" and "eagerness."