equally promising, yet not delightful proposals

I would rather not separate chapter 12 and 13 because they seem to equally shows the initial sign of the upcoming crisis that Isabel has to face in most of her life, that related to spouse. In these two chapters, Isabel is proposed by two different people of promising financial status, each with pros and cons.

Lord Warburton visits Gardencourt to propose Isabel. Although Isabel has knows early on that he would propose her, she finds it also difficult to reject his proposal in person. To her, the Lord is someone with a fixed position and marrying him will only end her independence, which has just started. He has a stable position, while she has her own orbit.

Meanwhile for Lord Warburton, proposing Isabel also entails significant consequences. Among others, the reason is because Isabel is from a ‘queer’ country with its different culture and it will be difficult to make her accepted in his society, the society of English noblemen.

In the next chapter, Isabel consults her uncle about her problem. It is quite curious why she wants to discuss this with her uncle rather than her aunt. It is probably her uncle’s objectivity (he doesn’t have any interest behind Isabel’s choice), his surely more comprehension about the Lord, and the fact that her aunt tends to command or dictate which to choose that makes her choose to consult her uncle. So vague as to what this might imply, Isabel shows (or starts to show) her independence even from Mrs. Touchett, the woman who takes her up and, possibly, wishes to teach her about the real life. This might lead to a conflict between Isabel and her aunt. As for the result of her consulting the uncle itself, Isabel doesn’t seem to get any clearer idea of the cause of her rejection. Or, to put better, she actually finds the reason why she rejects the Lord herself, that is, she loves her independence too much to sacrifice it in replace of marriage.

There’s a small fact that might escape our attention, that is, Mr. Touchett himself doesn’t really know how to answer such a dilemma. It is the second time that he avoids to discuss further or avoids being in opposition with Isabel, the first time being previous discussion about whether or not the Lord is a real radical. Is it possible that this very tendency of Mr. Touchett that has made her wife so free from him?

Later on chapter 13, we will find the narrator’s description of Mr. Goodwood. He is a man from Albany who previously proposed to marry her but she rejected without giving a clear cut answer. Mr. Goodwood is a successful young man who comes also from a wealthy family. He is the kind of man that American women might dream. But to her, he is not satisfactory because she doesn’t see him as a delightful person. He is an adventurous man, a character that is very likely to delight Isabel, but he is too stiff (if it pleases anybody, I would gladly relate his name to his character as a stiff person; we all know that a good wood is a strong one, an uneasilybreakable, :D) and seems to get difficulties to adapt to different situations. The narrator also contrasts him to Lord Warburton who can easily adapt to different situation and also appears more delightful to Isabel. (I think I had to make a confession at this point: in the discussion today, I said that Mr. Goodwood and Lord Warburton are totally different from each other in the sense that the Lord has a strong characteristic while Mr. Goodwood has a weak character. Mr. Goodwood says in his letter that he will move anywhere as Isabel pleases, which to me shows his being weak in character. I really forgot about this comparison in chapter 13, although I had underlined this part. Excuse my forgetfulness, than :D).

The next scene in this chapter shows Miss Stackpole’s persuading Ralph to invite Mr. Goodwood to Gardencourt so that he has an opportunity to talk with Isabel while he is in England. This scene, at the least, besides asserting how, as implied in the previous chapters, Miss Stackpole doesn’t respect someone’s private business, shows how Mr. Goodwood is somewhat on the same wavelength with Miss Stackpole by rejecting Ralph’s offer without any strong reasons—we will find the explanation for this rejection later in chapter 16.