outline范本
吸血鬼日记结局-父亲节祝福
Course Paper
Outline
The statements: This paper is
going to discuss the liberalism that rooted in
Isabel
Archer’s mind—the heroin in the
portrait of a lady. But sometimes she seems to go
against her liberalism after marriage with
Gilbert Osmond.
1. Introduction
2. The Maturity of Isabel Archer
3.
Isabel's View of liberty
3.1 Liberty of Mind
3.1.1 Isabel's Attitude toward Life
3.1.2 Isabel's Attitude toward Love and Marriage
3.2 Liberty of Behaviours
3.2.1 Isabel's
Refusal to Ideal Suitors—Goodwood and Warburton
3.2.2 Isabel's Choice to Marry Gilbert Osmond
4. Paradoxs in Isabel's View of
Liberalism
4.1 Request for Liberty Versus
Social Limitation
4.2 Love of Liberty Versus
Fear of Liberty
4.3 Preservation of Dignity
Versus Acceptance of Mistakes
5.
Conclusion
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Course Paper
Liberalism of Isabel Archer in The
Portrait of a Lady
Abstract: abel Archer,
the heroine of The Portrait of a Lady, a
brilliant female figure in the world's literary
gallery, is a controversial figure . The
thesis focuses on the analysis of Isabel Archer
view of liberty and paradoxes
in her
liberalism in order to explore that her arrogance
and blindness lead to her tragedy marriage. Then I
will
further illustrate her attitude toward
life, love and marriage. Later analyzing her
liberalism in details by presenting
her mind
and behaviors aims at discovering her inner
thoughts. At last, I will dissect three paradoxes
in Isabel’s
view of liberalism—her own
requests against social limitations, love against
fear and preservation of dignity
against
acceptance of mistake . The causes lead her betray
mind are herself mostly and her arbitrary husband
partly.
Key Words: Henry James; paradoxes;
liberalism；atitude
分析《贵妇画像》中伊丽莎白˙阿切尔的自由主义观
摘要: 莎白˙阿切尔，《贵
妇画像》这部小说的女主人公，是享誉全球文艺画廊的一位出色的女性形象，同
时她也一个具有争议性的
人物。本篇论文主要分析伊丽莎白˙阿切尔的自由主观以及与其自由观相违背的
行为，旨在找出导致她婚
姻悲剧的真正原因—自大和盲目。继而进一步分析她的生活观、爱情观和爱情观。
通过呈现其行为和想法
具体阐释其自由主义观，来揭示她内心的真实想法。最后，具体分析其行为与想法
违背的表现—自身对自
由的诉求与当时社会的限制的相悖，热爱自由同时也惧怕自由，对尊严的捍卫违背
了接受其犯下的错误。
而真正导致她悲剧的最终原因是她自己，而他专横霸道的丈夫也难辞其咎。
关键词：亨利˙詹姆斯；相反思想； 自由主义； 价值观
1.
Introduction
The portrait of a lady is
praised highly as the best work of James Henry. It
fully
reveal his characteristics of realism.
Isabel Archer, the heroin of the novel receive has
received various critisms since the novel was
published. In the novel, by the
description of
Isabel, we can find an independent American woman
who may be
regarded as a symbol of
of the
most important theme of the novel. Isabel, proud
and strong-minded. She has
no desire to marry
and wished to create her own future, rather than
finding it as a wife.
In order to achieve her
liberalism, she refuses two ideal suitors and
marries to Gilbert
Osmond—a charming but
worthless dilettance who regards their marriage as
a way to
gain money. After she finds her
tragic disillusionment, because of preservation of
dignity, she declines to accept her mistake.
In his exquisitely crafted and deeply ironic
novel, Henry James depicts the heart and soul
of a young woman whose destiny is
taken from
her own hands.
2. The Maturity of Isabel
Archer
Isabel Arhcer is an orphan without
any money when her father died and guarded
by
her aunt Lydia Touchett. She grows up in the
United States,obtaining a typical
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so-called American spirit—liberalism. Later,
she visit her aunt's rich husband Daniel
at
his estate near London. There she meets her cousin
Ralph Touchett,a friendly
invalid, who later
becomes her lifelong intimate but not lover.
Her aunt, who is also a typical liberalist,has a
big impact on her mind. And her
special family
background and urging for books and knowledge also
are reasons that
make her to become
When
she moves to the UK, she is confronted with many
typical Europeans in
upper class,especially
the British aristocracy—her deadly illed uncle,
munificent
cousin and Lord Warburton . Their
conservative value has not diminished her
liberalism . Instead when two adverse values
meet in the mind of Isabel, they develop
into
a stronger sense of liberty. By reducing two
suitors to prove that Isabel doesn't
submit a
elagant life at the expense of liberty. When
married to a money-less man,in
the Portrait of
a Lady there was explanation enough in the fact
that Osmond is her
lover, her own,and that she
was able to be use of him. She could marry him
with a
kind of pride; she was not only taking,
but giving(326;ch.35). When she get married,
she is one of inheritors of her uncle,as a
result of which she has 5000pounds. But such
huge money has also misled her view to
liberialism. And in the closing, she is hurt
badly by her tragic marriage, but she doesn't
give up her dream after the death of
Ralph.
Whether she will continue to purse her idea, or to
give up is an answer that left
readers to
answers it.
3. Isabel's View to Liberty
3.1 Liberty of Mind
In the beginning of
the novel, Isabel Archer is described as a young
man with
many theories. Her imagination is
remarkably active. It has been her fortune to
possess a finer mind than the most persons
among whom her lot was cast. She insists
on
having not only liberty of mind,but also liberty
of behaviours.
She should have room and time
for her intellectual growth. Out of late
nineteenth
century, Isabel cherishes
individual liberty which she believes to be the
essence of
human emotion
3.1.1 Isabel's
Attitude toward Life
Isabel Archer is a person
who regards liberty as the crowning theme of life.
She
is the suitor of complete liberty. She
will consult with her wise uncle or cousin. But
she will remain her own stance and persist her
opinion.
She doesn't live a luxury and
dissipation life after inherited a huge money from
her uncle. She remains her dream and
independence. She won't mislead in the public
view and surroundings.
3.1.2 Isabel's
Attitude toward Love and Marriage
Her
attitude toward love and marriage is extremely
stubborn. She like Lord
Wanburton very much,
but she refuses his proposal for not wanting love
to submit to
wealth and social status. Her
ideal husband is not marry for her beauty, wealth,
but for
love. And the one could not be too
strong to overshadowed herself.
That is, she
want to be use of her husband in some ways. She
love someone who
is great enough, but she
won't marry to him. In my view, she also love
Ralph Touchett,
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her munificent cousin,who has sacrificed a lot
to her and died very young. But she
also want
her marriage to be blended with a straw of
sympathy.
3.2 Liberty of Behaviours
Isabel Archer is not person who always talk in
talk, but not walk in walk. She is a
practitioner. In her whole life, she is
carrying out liberalism. She never eats her words,
even she find that she was misled by her
dream. As a reader, I have to admit her
pursuit for liberty has some side-effect to
her life.
3.2.1 Isabel's Refusal to Ideal
Suitors—Goodwood and Warburton
Isabel Archer
admires and thinks highly of European high culture
because she
takes it for granted that she
could grow culturally mature as she desires once
she gets
assimilated by it. She is concerned
about her perfection of personality in the whole
novel. Her worship to European culture may
shed light in her refusal to Goodwood'.
Because she does not think that Goodwood is
able to make up for what she really
lacks,
considering he is a young, passionate and typical
American enterpreneur. That
shows she does not
think highly of her native culture.
Her
refusal of Warburton is really odds. But it can
perfectly prove her idea.
Warburton is too
perfect to marry to, for she fears losing herself
in the marriage. And
that is the least she
want. She want to remain herself in the matrimony.
She holds the
idea that his perfection would
irritate her. Doroththy Berkson points
out,
heart of Isabel's concept of independence
is the idea that taking is a form of
dependency.( Berson, 59)
3.2.2 Isabel's
Choice to Marry Gilbert Osmond
Isabel is
completely free to choose anything as she like.
And her refusal to
Wanburton lies foundation
to her decision to marry Gilbert Osmond. As I
previously
have mentioned that she marry to
Gilbert is for a kind of pride;she is not only
taking
but giving. This marriage is exactly
what she has dreamed of that she will begin to
ahchieve. Although at that time, everyone
around her except Madame Merle strongly
oppose
her decision, including Ralph who is always
standing at her side.
It seems to predict sad
prospects of the marriage. Everyone at her side
knows the
mariage will absolute develop into
tragedy. But her dream or rather her arrogance
mixes her eyes. She just believe she will be
completely independent in the latter life.
Later on, still failing to see the intricate
web of relationship,and resolutely ignoring
Ralph's socializing warning, she chooses to
stay in marriage. Even three years later,
people find she is losing herself and obeying
Gilbert's aspiration without her own
thought.
She later find the cruel fact, but she refuse to
escape from it. Because her
liberty made her
believe escaping means submitting to the
arrangement of fate. And
that is also a ironic
fact that what she pursue leads to her failure
marriage.
4. Paradoxs in Isabel's View of
Liberalism
4.1 Request for Liberty Versus
Social Limitation
Even in the so called
any limitations,which let alone with our
heroin is in the social background of
nineteenth century. Compared with previous
female figures in other novels, Isabel
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Archer is set in a rather opening-minded
society,even though she does not do any
misleads. At least,she has right to choose her
husband.
She won't obey others' arrangements
of course. But after she finds out her
unfortunate marriage. Gilbert's sister who is
a honest admirer of Isabel doesn't advice
she
break the marriage. And whether divorce is legal
at that moment is another matter.
Women do
have right to choose their love especially for our
heroin,but they didn't
have right to divorce.
So what Isabel's request could not be
comprehensively achieved
at that social
background. People can accept widow, but not a
woman who has
divorced.
4.2 Love of
Liberty Versus Fear of Liberty
It is true
without any doubt that Isabel is a spokesman of
liberty at nineteenth
century. She love
liberty whole-heartedly. The first glimpse of
Isabel is that she is
Portrait 24). She
flattered herself that she was a very just
woman, and had mastered the sovereign truth
that nothing in this world is got for
nothing(James,portrait,chap.7). Because her
love for liberty, Ralph has said,
me there are
only two classes: the people I trust, and the
people I don't. Of course two,
my dear Isabel,
you belong to the firstportrait,chap.6). She once
confesses
to Ralph that she is very fond of
her liberty. With the deeply rooted American
spirit,she love liberty before she was born.
And she takes this love for granted. She is
a
woman who perfectly know what she wants to be.
But in the final chapters of the novel, we as
readers can easily find that her fear
of
liberty. First i found it is strange , but then I
think I think I find the true reason. In
the
marriage life, she is gradually losing herself in
Rome. She no longer speaks for
herself; she
speaks for her husband. She no longer has her own
idea. We hate that kind
of Isabel—a weak-
minded and dreadful lady. Even she find her
depravity( we may
say that), she refuse to
admit and refuse to change the current situation.
In the last
chapter, she eagerly return to
Rome—the start of her nightmare. She seems to fear
something. That confuses all of us. Maybe she
realises that her love for liberty is the
final culprit of her tragic life. So she
becomes to be fearful for liberty. And she ger
down in the situation of lost-mind.
4.3
Preservation of Dignity Versus Acceptance of
Mistakes
By her marriage, Isabel had
wanted to
other conscience, to some more
prepared receptaclePortrait 365). She wants
to
obtain love and her dignity simultaneously. She
won't at any rate lose her dignity in
her
marriage. But just her desire made her so
confident, even rampant. Thus, in the
end,
after Ralph died,she recognizes her misfortune,
but her dignity let her refuse to
accept her
mistake. So proud is she, she has to return to her
sad marriage at last. No
matter, she will
choose to end it or continue. In some aspect, she
must preserve her
dignity, especially in front
of Madame Merle. In the end of the novel,
Goodwood,Portrait,544).
She once had the
idea of for when she gave herself away she had
lost sight of
this contingency in the perfect
belief that Isabel's husband's intentions were as
generous as her own( James, Portrait,426), but
she has a wish to avoid an open
rupture with
her husband( James, Portrait,426). She even hope
Ralph to help her
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break her shackles. She does not realise the
shackle is not set by Gilbert nor Madame
Merle
nor the society, but her dignity. We can feel the
conflicts in her inner world. She
is
struggling with her dream of liberty—for desire
for liberty is the only reason for she
to
change her current situation, but it is also the
reason that lead her marriage.
5. Conclusion
Henry James is the pioneer of the stream of
consciousness novelist. And he is
deemed to
stand for the realism. In the whole novel, the
plots are not that exciting.
There are so many
figures' inner thoughts in the novel. By the
description of these
inner world, we can know
each figure better. Thus, when I read the chapter
about
Ralph's death, I can't help crying. The
place is the bed where Ralph's father died,and
the conversation between Isabel and Ralph is
not vehementa, but I just could not stop
crying. That is the reason why the novel has
received such high reputation. Isabel
Archer's
strong desire for liberty can be also be found in
the novel between the line.
Work Cited
James Henry, The
Portrait of a Lady. London: Penguin
Publication,1997
Allen, Elizabeth. A Woman's
Place in the Novels of Henry James. London:
Macmillan,
1984.
Berkson, Dorothy.
The American Transcendental Quarterly 60
(1986):53-71
Berland, Alwyan. Culture and
Conduct in the Novels of Henry James. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press,1981.
Jones,
The Portrait of a ophy and Literature, 5
(1981):49-61
李良彦，试析亨利·詹姆斯《贵妇画像》中伊莎贝尔·阿切尔的自由观. 学位论
文，2005
胡文华，从幼稚到成熟，亨利·詹姆斯《贵妇画像》的主题研究。学位论文，2006
潘向阳，从《一位女士的画像》等三部作品看亨利·詹姆斯的女性观，学位论文，
2005
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