Isabel Archer of The Portrait of a Lady, the first scratch of freedom-lover

From the first seven chapters of The Portrait of a Lady, we get a somewhat clear idea that what Henry James wants to “play” with, that is, freedom. We can see how freedom is implicitly as well as explicitly expressed by the narrator and the characters of the novel.

After the first chapter, the “pleasantries chapter”, that basically sets the tone of the first setting—there will probably be many other settings, considering the size of the novel—the second chapter opens with the arrival of “our heroine”. She is an American girl who has won Mrs. Touchett's heart because of her genius. Isabel Archer, thus our heroine is called, is described as a New York girl with unquenchable thirst of knowledge. She reads heavy books found in her house. Her genius makes her contemporaries look pedestrian. She has

Further with the text, we will find how, in addition to her genius, she is also a very self-conscious person. This can be seen from the way, in contrast to the fact that that she doesn't really care about compliments addressed to her by other people, she shrinks when she hears other people say about her negative sides. She always tries to be as good as possible. Or, it might be appropriate if we label her a “perfectionist”.

Another character of Isabel that is noteworthy is her “Americanness”. She longs for freedom and tries to avoid being confined by rules when her consciousness is against them. The strongest proof for this is her questioning why Mrs. Troucett doesn't let her stay up late in the company of a young man who is not from her circle of relatives. She assertively says that she wants to know about things she shouldn't do not to disobey (or obey) them, but in order she can choose.

It is here that the several traits of American girls of that age are touched on. Mr. Touchett says that most of American girls are engaged. Besides the way Mrs. Touchett's saying that Isabel shouldn't stay up late in the company of Lord Warburton because she is not in Albany implies that in Albany it might be common to see ladies staying up late with gentlemen who are not their relatives.

Besides, there is also a slight flirt with the contemporary novels in that age. The way Mr. Touchett explains to Isabel that sometimes novels are not accurate because their authors don't listen to people carefully before writing their novels show the kind of literature that Henry James tries to avoid. It might be the same way as what happens in Washington Square.

I think that's all. I will develop this humble ideas as soon as I progress with the text.

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