The-Portrait-of-a-Lady----Henry-James.doc

The Portrait of a Lady- Henry James The Portrait of a Lady is a novel about the failure fate of a Lady whose dream did not come true. It is about the contrast between wish and failure, the hope and disillusion. The main character Isabel Archer, a young, clever, quick , decent and charming American girl, across the Ocean of Atlantic escorted by her aunt who wanted to present Isabel a noble, classy and old English world. Her aunt thought she was the kind of clever girls who just need hope and opportunity. Isabel is that kind of girl full of imagination as well as longing for knowledge. Her intimate friend Miss Stackpole is a correspondence of the Interview, a modern type of woman, who had great influence on Isabel. No sooner Isabel came to England than an English noble man Lord Warburton and another rich American man Casper Goodwood who followed Isabel to England had both proposed to Isabel out of pure love, however, Isabel refused their proposes, she wanted to see more of her life. She wanted to surf in it herself. She was so charming that her cousin Ralph also fell in love with here, but he got a disease and his life was limited. He hided his secret love and wanted to make Isabel an independent girl, so that she could choose her own life free. He suggested his father to give a large mount of surplus property to Isabel, thus, he made Isable, a rich woman. But to his disappoint, his selfless pure love of his cousin had brought a disaster to the inexperience innocent girl, she became a prey of a pair of greedy inscrutable fortune-hunters. Madame Merle, Isabels new friend, seeming charming and decentful, made the union of Isabel and Bilbert Osmond, who appeared charming and individual. In fact, Merle and Osmond had an illegal daughter pansy, then Isabel became the stepmother of pansy. Not long after her marrying, Isabel realized Osmond had no inner beauty at all, he lived in envious and prejudice. He was nothing but a narcissist. She had not supposed her own free choice is the worst. She lived in a world of darkness, a world of dumbness, a world of suffocation. Its not in the end of the novel did Isabel know the secret of her inheriting money and the evil deeds of Madam Merle and Osmond. Yet her life had changed greatly, though Lord Warburton and Casper Goodwood still loved her, she chose to went back to her husband out of her deep love for her stepdaughter Pansy . The fate of Isabel is so miserable in a desperate way, her cousins love had ruined her, which surely made Ralph feel regret and pain. Her wanting of seeing life had punished her. Perhaps we all want us or even the character in a novel can have a happy ending. We want to see the brightness of the world and life, so we are accustomed to see the hopeless destiny of Isabel, anyhow, at the end of the novel, we can assume another hope, Isabels rescuing of another pure, decent spirit.一位贵妇的画像一位贵妇的画像（1881）是亨利詹姆斯的早期代表作，也是他的杰作之一。这部作品内涵丰富，结构严谨，对青年女性的心理刻画细致而且精彩，被西方批评家看成是美国现代小说的一个发端。被誉为心理现实主义小说奠基人的亨利詹姆斯在小说中娴熟地运用了心理分析的艺术手段 ,将作品的表现对象从外部事件转移到了人物的内心世界。另外 ,詹姆斯又一次采用国际主题作为其创作的中心素材 ,并使用隐喻手法 ,描写了一位天真、单纯的美国姑娘 ,为追求自由和独立来到欧洲 ,最后其个性被她所追求的“自由”所毁掉的心理历程。小说所达到的反讽艺术效果从另一方面奠定了亨利詹姆斯作为美国小说艺术大师的地位。女主人公伊莎贝尔阿切尔是一位年轻貌美的美国少女，父母双亡后，被她富有的姨母带出美国一个小城，到她梦魂萦绕的古老欧洲去见识大千世界。她在伦敦郊外的“花园山庄”里暂住，先后拒绝了英国贵族沃伯顿和美国富商戈德伍德的求婚。她的表兄拉尔夫也暗暗爱上她，但他知道自己患不治之症无法结婚，只是说服病危的父亲把一笔巨额遗产留给表妹。伊莎贝尔又结识了高雅华贵、才艺超群的梅尔夫人，对这位已彻底欧洲化了的美国女人十分倾倒。姨父故世后，伊莎贝尔得到遗产去意大利游历。她在陶醉于佛罗伦萨和罗马的历史遗迹的同时，也渐渐进入梅尔夫人精心布下的圈套之中。梅尔夫人介绍她认识了一位长期侨居意大利的美国“半吊子艺术家”奥斯蒙德，此人看来儒雅斯文，富有教养。伊莎贝尔为之动心；还有他那位楚楚动人的女儿帕茜，也引起她的爱怜。她不顾周围亲戚和朋友的一再警告和反对，自作主张地下嫁于他。婚后她渐渐发现自己受了骗，奥斯蒙德确实是一条自私伪善的花丛中的毒蛇。她还发现梅尔夫人早就是奥斯蒙德的情妇，帕茜便是他们的私生女。在万分痛苦之时，她强作欢颜，对外人隐瞒了婚姻不幸的实情。表兄拉尔夫在英国病危，伊莎贝尔不顾丈夫的反对赶去看他。拉尔夫死后，伊莎贝尔出乎众人的预料，又回到罗马。在小说中，伊莎贝尔这个中心人物贯穿始终，牵动全局。作者在该书序言中说，他完全是从“一个特定的、引人入胜的少女的性格和形象”着手来构思整部小说的，所有的情节、场景、其他人物等，都是根据表现中心人物的需要来安排的。而写中心人物，作者把描写的重心又放在人物内心世界上，着力表现其品质、意识和感情，以及情节发展各个阶段人物的内心反应。小说中的事件、场景，其他人物的言行，都成为中心人物的一次次“启示”和“暗示”，使她逐步认识自己和周围世界。作者小心翼翼地把题材尽量控制在中心人物的意识活动的范围内。所以“画像”实际上是心灵的画像。全书匀称地分为三个部分。头一部分（1至19章）写女主人公初到英国时的经历，通过她和三个追求者和其他人物的关系详细介绍和分析了她的性格和理想。大量的笔墨花在描写她的自我评价和对世界的思索上。第二部分（20至35章）把故事引向欧洲大陆，通过女主人公同梅尔夫人、奥斯蒙德的纠葛，层层展开她心理的各个侧面，细致刻画她在特定生活场景中所显示出来的种种性格矛盾：既博学又幼稚，既刚强又软弱，既追求真理又固执己见，既深思熟虑又骄傲轻率。这样便铺垫了她落入陷阱的心理原因。第三部分（36至55章）写女主人公婚后的不幸，着重写她逐渐觉醒的过程，及其性格和心理的发展变化。第42章是全书最重要的一章，