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    The Portrait of a Lady
    The Portrait of a Lady
    The Portrait of a Lady
    Ebook813 pages13 hours

    The Portrait of a Lady

    By Henry James

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    Isabel Archer, from New York, is invited by her rich family to visit their estate, near London. There she meets a robust man, Lord Warburton, who proposes. She declines his proposal, as well as Caspar Goodwood's. She feels that a marriage like either of these would infringe upon her freedom. She finally decides to marry an American expatriate, Gilbert Osmond. This is when life gets especially complicated for Isabel.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherStart Publishing LLC
    Release dateFeb 20, 2013
    ISBN9781625584991
    Author

    Henry James

    Henry James (1843–1916) was an American writer, highly regarded as one of the key proponents of literary realism, as well as for his contributions to literary criticism. His writing centres on the clash and overlap between Europe and America, and The Portrait of a Lady is regarded as his most notable work.

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    Reviews for The Portrait of a Lady

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      The story of a young, orphaned woman, Isabel Archer who arrives in England with her aunt. She is 23 years of age and is filled with bright optimism and doesn't want to settle but desires freedom. Men fall for her and she refuses them. Isabel had no money but when she inherits a large sum that she had no idea was going to come her way, this changes everything. She is no longer free but burdened by the burden of this inheritance. She is taken in by some two ex patriots who have their eye on this fortune. The rest of the story is about the choices she made and will make and the effects it has on her. I loved the prose, the characters, and the themes.
    • 5/5
      Great story. James captures most women at some time in their lives. I read this in college years and years ago. Never warmed much to the movies, but ate this book up. Henry James-the novelist who wrote like a psychologist. His brother, William James, the psychologist who wrote like a novelist. I always think of this statement that my history teacher, Dr. Wingo, from college used to quote.
    • 4/5
      This book took me about two months to read! I read it at my son's urging. Happily, in the end, I thought it was worthwhile. I enjoyed a number of good moments and, in comparison to other "epics" (e.g. "One Hundred Years of Solitude") which I have recently tackled, the gain was worth the pain. It was quite a story! I really enjoyed the way in which James sketched the characters in terms of their motives and attitudes within the context of societal norms (both prevalent and evolving). It was too bad that the goodies were buried in tons of 19C bloated verbiage and, surely, hundreds of impossibly long (and yet so exquisitely constructed) paragraphs, And despite all of the palpable passion, the total absence of steamy sex scenes was a bitter pill to swallow. Throw us a bone, Henry James! In sum,however, the book was worth reading, and parts of the story are bound to stick with me. As an aside: I am looking forward to renting the movie version (1996) of the novel, in which Nicole Kidman plays Isabel. (Sadly, the preview looks awful!) I hope the protagonists -- for their own sake and that of the novel's dramatic integrity as a 20C interpretation --- will share at least a few moments of lust. Because that's what most people are and do. But my expectations are low.
    • 4/5
      Dear god, the last three pages!!! More than make up for the rest of it. No, make the rest of it worthwhile. No, are something completely different. No, are the natural result of what came before.

      The introduction makes some confusing points, I think, including the assertion that it's very American to think in "types" of people. What, archetypes? Stereotypes? Musical theater? Hollywood? Flesh it out further, please.

      Finally, despite Jane Campion's tendency towards emphasizing the sexy, I can't believe she cast John Malkovich as Gilbert Osmond. The whole point is that Osmond is cold, fastidious(ly evil!), controlling, withholding, etc. and I really don't see JM as any of those. If anything, he projects overbearing sexual creepiness and belongs instead in Les Liasons Dangereuses (not an arbitrary comparison).

      Wait, he *did* play Valmont (Dangerous Liasons, 1988) and wore a wig in an Annie Lennox video. So where does that leave us?
    • 5/5
      The only Henry James novel I've read (albeit I have not read many) in which the emotional elements cut through his thick prose and really moved me deeply. I cried at the ending-
    • 3/5
      I haven't read much Henry James before (I might possible have read The Europeans previously but I couldn't swear to it, and to be honest if The Portrait of a Lady is representative then I'm not sure if I'm going to be reading much in the future. I had great difficulty maintaining any interest at all in any of the characters, even in the heroine Isabel Archer (who is supposedly a remarkable woman) and I couldn't get a sense that the characters could ever have been real people. Isabel Archer is a young American woman who is invited by her aunt to spend some time with her in Europe. Mrs Touchett has her permanent home in Florence, only visiting her husband at his house of Gardencourt, overlooking the Thames Valley in England, for a month or so each year. But it is to Gardencourt that she initially takes Isabel, to meet her husband and her invalid son Ralph. Appreciating Isabel's determination that she must do something with her life, which has caused her to reject two offers of marriage during her stay in England, he is instrumental in obtaining for her the legacy which allows her to pursue the true freedom that she craves. But Isabel's new independence takes her to Paris, Florence and Rome the freedom which she craves remains elusive...To be honest I've never come across an account of the grand European tour that has just come across as so boring! The lives that are being led just seem so stultifyingly dull. I had hoped that when the novel reached Florence it would catch my attention as I've spent a lot of time there in the past, but no! According to the blurb on the back this is 'one of the finest novels in the English language' but do fine novels have to be so dull? It's not just that nothing seems to happen for long stretches, that I can cope with, but I can't cope with the artificiality of the characters.I'm giving this three stars because it seems too well written to give it less but I can't say that I enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      A young American lady thrown into 19th century European bourgeois society, into a balancing act between freedom and possession.Henry James takes his time in making us acquainted with the lady to be portrayed: The story unfolds rather slowly only to gain immense momentum in the final third. I especially enjoyed reading James' vivid descriptions of settings and situations and the witty dialogues. While at the end of the novel I feel I 'know' many of the book's prominent characters, the central figure, Isabel Archer, remains more complex and mysterious to some extent. A trait of her character and a fine mist on her portrait. All in all a delightful read.(By the way: I don't think the lady looks one bit like the one shown on the Wordsworth cover.)
    • 4/5
      The Portrait of a Lady is the story of an interesting woman, an attractive woman with many "theories".Isabel leaves America to travel to England with her aunt, rejecting an offer of marriage from a good and successful man. She arrives at the home of her uncle and cousin, Henry and Ralph Touchett. In no time she has captivated everyone. An English lord proposes marriage to her, and again she refuses, saying she is not interested in marriage.Henry and Ralph are intrigued by their lovely relative who keeps refusing marriage offers from these very good, suitable men. When Henry is on his deathbed, he and Ralph decide to leave Isabel a fortune. With a fortune, she will have independence and the freedom to remain unmarried if she chooses. Ralph in particular is very interested in seeing what she will do with her life.Sadly, Isabel's life is not as easy or as happy as her friends had hoped for. What will she do with her life when her "theories" don't work out?This book was my first by Henry James. It was much easier to read than I expected. HJ does write very long paragraphs, but I got used to them. I like the way HJ pulls the reader inside Isabel's mind. The more I read, the more I was determined to find out what would happen to Isabel and her friends. There are a lot of great characters here, to analyze and enjoy. This is a book to sink your teeth into.
    • 4/5
      A very good, although a bit dense in places. The ending a little strange as it stops almost in mid scene.
    • 2/5
      I'm not sure why I ended up taking this book out of the pile my mom was throwing out. At the time I either thought it was important? Or I thought that she really liked it and wanted to read it because of that? I talked to her about it later and it turns out she was pretty indifferent to it, and so was I. Parts of it were well written, and I liked the ending, but 600 pages is way too long to spend on how little happens in this novel (three marriage proposals and one entirely unshocking plot twist, which is visible from miles away). Unlike Madame Bovary there was a point to the fact that nothing interesting happens; the author gives every impression of the belief that he's telling a legitimate story.
    • 5/5
      Give the book its deserved five stars, but Isabel is boring. In fact, everybody in the book is boring except Ralph. Isabel and Ralph are the yin and yang of good and truth; Merle and Osmond the yin and yang of evil and deception. And who cares about little Pansy? She is simply the vapid cement bonding together the evil duo, as the blood tie bonds together the hero and heroine.

      James mercifully kills off the narrative ten pages after Ralph's demise, as if he knows who the main character really is. The best part of the whole book is when Ralph calls Osmond a "sterile dillettante." You go, Ralph.

      James rewards the reader's perserverance with plenty of depth. The novel is a psychological gold mine. It's only flaws are:

      1. a superfluity of suitors. There is a veritable swarm of them. They come out of the woodwork; lurk in every bush. The women in the book can't sit down in the park without lighting on a hopeless suitor. It gets really old.

      2. a gross, unforgiveable scarcity of Ralph.
    • 5/5
      I LOVE this book and have read it several times. Yes, James's sentences tend to be long and involved, but I like that--it slows down my reading and makes me pay attention to all the words.
    • 4/5
      Fascinating to think about (and possibly disagree with) the heroine's choices throughout the book. I didn't love the ending, but I believed that Isabel would have made this choice. I didn't find this an easy or quick read; in fact, it took me most of a busy June to finish it. I started it in Modern Library edition (500+ pages) but was too overwhelmed by it and switched a to a Barnes and Noble edition that was a Nook freebie some time ago. Somehow the smaller e-page size was right for me with this book. It's fun to remember that the book originally was published in Atlantic Magazine and Macmillan's over the course of years - similar to how some Dickens novels were published. Members of book club who did not have time to read "Portrait" tackled the shorter "Daisy Miller" by Henry James instead; one of them liked it well enough to continue on to "Washington Square."
    • 4/5
      What can I possibly add that hasn't been said?Henry James has painted a masterful portrait of the life of Isabel Archer, especially her thoughts and feelings as she comes of age in Europe. And every character is similarly well drawn, vivid and real. I read mostly comtemporary fiction, so it took me a while to get used to the flow and cadence of this book; after about 100 pages, I couldn't put it down. The writing is so beautiful, with a flair for description so many of us have lost in this screen-based culture. As in real life, it is mainly the characters who carry the story, rather than the opposite.Isabel is a young woman with opinions and a strong sense of herself; one of the great heroines of classic literature. I only with Mr. James had shared with us how Isabel decided to marry Osmond in the first place!
    • 2/5
      The Portrait of a Lady. I expected more from this book than it was able to give me. True, this is my first book by Henry James, and I have not heard much of his work, but my expectations were yet high. The title was enchanting and romantic, and I could only hope that the book would be equally so. Alas.It started out well enough-romantic, interesting, and very English. But I didn't even much like Isabel. She seemed conceited and unnatural-and trying so hard to be "American." All of her suitors were too likable-except for the one she ended up marrying. Why couldn't one have them been extraordinarily repulsive, or something? I wanted her to marry Lord Warburton, Caspar Goodwood and Ralph Touchett. I could never quite make up my mind which was best of the latter two. Lord Warburton got disgustingly sentimental and selfish towards the end.And the whole outlook of the book seemed so-immoral. Not at all in the usual way-there was nothing "improper," and only one kiss-at the end. Just the attitude of it, I suppose-so independant. Isabel didn't want to get married the whole book-and when she finally did, she had to chose the wrong husband. And then they hated each other and all that . . .And the ending was unsatisfactory. Of course I couldn't help hoping she'd end up liking Caspar Goodwood-but she was still married, even though her husband's adultery was a tidy excuse for leaving him.Pshaw. Caspar and Ralph were the only good parts of the book, and they deserved better fellow characters and plot.She wasn't at all what a lady should have been-she was immature, rushed into things, had not much discretion or foresight-it would have better been titled, "A Portrait of a Girl."A disappointment. If she had not married, it would have been altogether better.
    • 5/5
      This book flows smoothly, gently propelled by James's magnificent prose. Not over-written, but rather a precisely-written work designed to tell a very specific story. Isabel, a young woman from New York, recently orphaned, is swept up by her aunt and carried off to England and Europe. She's a wonderfully intelligent, beautiful girl, inherits a fortune, and makes an unfortunate marriage. The unfolding of Isabel's sad decline from being an earnest, eager young woman who wants to experience everything to a much sadder but much wiser woman is amazingly done; James really understands psycology and motives. There are many well-drawn supporting characters, none of whom seems far-fetched or unreal. A most ingruing and marvelous novel.
    • 3/5
      What started as a Goodreads Group read, turned out to be a massive undertaking for me. A few years ago I made a resolution to finish everything I started reading...and out of all the books I've read since then, none of them came as close to forcing me to break that resolution as "The Portrait of a Lady". Tried to finish it, sat it back down several times. It's not a bad book, Henry James, the man can write...and I think that was one of the problems I had in finishing it...Henry James loves his vivid descriptions. So much so, at times, I would forget what was happening with the plot, he'd just go on and on, and not get to the point quickly enough for me. In other words, this would be the type of book I'd like to have on a desert island, if I had all the time in the world to enjoy reading all his extra little details. But with a busy life and a 2000-generation attention span, I had to set this one aside several times.

      As for the plot, when you get down to it, lots of drama and secrets. However, I was really disappointed in the abrupt ending. Isabel Archer starts out as a young, wannabe-independent American woman, who happens to visit some wealthy family in Europe. After she is left an inheritance that could make her independence dreams come true, she is tricked into marrying a man with his own schemes. Based on her character's previous actions I really thought the story was building up to her leaving her husband or remaining married in name only and living as an independent woman (hey, it was her money), but I was wrong. I wouldn't feel so bad about being wrong if Henry James had used one of his vivid descriptions to explain what was going on in Isabel's mind, so I could have understood her decision.
    • 5/5
      The Portrait of a Lady dispelled for me the notion that Henry James wrote impenetrable, stuffy novels. Instead, this was a beautifully written series of character studies, full of an understated humor. Isabel Archer comes to England at the invitation of her aunt, to stay at Gardencourt, where she grows close to her uncle and her cousin, the kind and sickly Ralph. She's young and full of herself (really, she's wonderfully self-involved and in love with her own charms), but she's also determined to forge her own independent path, despite her lack of means and society's expectations. To that end, she turns down marriage proposals from eligible men and plans to travel with her aunt. This book is chock-a-block with great character studies. There's Henrietta, a brash, out-spoken young woman working as a journalist. She's a comic character, but James writes of her with open affection, despite the things she says. Then there's Madame Merle, a femme fatale as calculating as any found in a hardboiled crime novel, and the character you can't (and shouldn't) look away from. And, of course, Isabel, who acts erratically and is misled, but who longs so much for freedom, even as she's uncertain of what that would look like. So, once again, I read a Victorian novel, expecting it to be a slog and finding, instead, a page turner with delicious pacing.
    • 4/5
      Beautiful Isabel Archer is an American woman who travels to Europe hoping to find adventure, excitement and live an unconventional life. She is pursued by many men for her beauty and charm, but she turns them all down wanting her life to be something bigger than settling for a typical marriage. But after inheriting a large fortune, she falls victim of a scheme by 2 American ex-patriates and marries one of them. The plot of the story seems pretty straightforward, but the motivations and personalities behind the characters are what make this book a real gem. As the title suggests, Isabel is depicted as a portrait and although her actions are described, it is not clear why she makes her choices in life. I read this book together with members of the Goodreads Victorians group and had a great many discussions over this novel. Definitely a controversial and interesting book.

      I both listened and read this book. I started with an audio version narrated by Laural Merlington. If you have never heard Merlington's voice, it is beautiful - the type of voice that you hear when you are hold on the phone, or that announces messages - pure in quality and tone. But I found that a beautiful voice doesn't do the characters of this book justice. Everyone seemed very vanilla and almost sing songy. I switched to a different audio version read by Nadia May who has a much throatier and almost husky voice. Her nuances of the characters was much better. The reason I bring this up is that I didn't really like Isabel Archer until the second half of the book and I wonder if it was the narrator. She seemed flightly and superficial in the beginning and it wasn't until the end of the book that I appreciated her angst over the difficult choices in her life. Was it the narrator or the writing? Still not sure...
    • 5/5
      Mind which edition you're reading; the earlier one, published in the 1880's, is very different from the final one.
    • 3/5
      The first book of Henry James that I have enjoyed. A wonderful picture of the life of Americans of unearned incomes in Europe in the Victorian era.Read Samoa Dec 2003
    • 4/5
      Scintillating dialogue, fine observation, antithetical development, The style is breathtaking. yet I have rarely been so annoyed with the characters depicted in a fiction. Increasingly as the tale unravels they seem to merge into a portrait of an under-employed over-privileged class of snobs, preening around European palaces like ancestral jet-setters with too much time on their hands. Despite this the heroine is complex and compelling and the loose ends of unresolved lives illuminated
    • 5/5
      Isabel Archer and her dear dying friend Ralph Touchett are easily one of my favourite non-items in literature. And what would we do without Miss Henrietta Stackpole?
    • 4/5
      There is a reason some books will last through the centuries as classics and thousands of others will float off into the land of anonymity. There is really not too much to this story, yet I was captivated the whole way through. There is so much happening underneath the actual events that if you do not allow yourself to be fully engaged you will miss and not be as struck by the ending.There is such a shift in your interpretation of characters as the book goes on and you do not fully realize until you step back and think back. Doing this now and realizing the shift that takes place in Isabel is so odd because you are along the whole process and you do not fully realize what is happening.This was an excellent book and comes highly recommended!
    • 4/5
      My first thought was along the lines of "Alright, but Jane Austen did it better," and then halfway through my esteem somewhat increased as I began to hear the music of James' prose. I see now the roots of elements I enjoy in William Gass' work and understand why he holds James in such esteem, but I still think Austen did it better. Also, Pansy and her father, EVEN as characters, just plain CREEPED me out.
    • 5/5
      This book got me to journaling again! I call it a psychological study of how narcissitic-like people can attract each other, marry and learn to live with it for the sake of appearances. I originally watched the old version on DVD. The production put enough in and left enough out to stimulate interest to get the book. I read in one week and couldn't wait to see what happened next to the heroine, so young, really inexperienced with a head full of who knows what ideas. The narrative of Mr. James for me was outstanding and several of the characters remarks make interesting, humorous, and thought provoking quotes. Loved it. This was not a smutty novel--very classy stuff.
    • 4/5
      The Portrait of a Lady is a story of Americans abroad, and a story of love and loss. Isabel Archer arrives in England with her aunt, Lydia Touchett, who is intent on broadening her horizons. Lydia is the mother of Isabel's cousin Ralph, who lives with his father on their English estate, Gardencourt. Within a few weeks of her arrival at Gardencourt, Isabel turns down two marriage proposals, insisting on maintaining her independence. She inherits a considerable sum of money, and it appears she will be able to achieve her goal. Unfortunately, her "friends" have other ideas, and when Isabel travels to the continent, she soon finds herself falling for Gilbert Osmond, an American living in Italy. Sadly, their marriage is not a happy one and Isabel is stuck making the best of a bad situation.The story evolves quite slowly, but there's much more to this rich novel than can be described in a simple plot summary. Henry James' writing is complex, but not as difficult to read as I'd feared. James was himself an American living abroad, and he clearly loved his adopted country. Speaking through Ralph Touchett's father, James offers a delightful point of view of an American living in England:I've been watching these people for upwards of thirty-five years, and I don't hesitate to say that I've acquired considerable information. It's a very fine country on the whole--finer perhaps than we give it credit for on the other side. There are several improvements I should like to see introduced; but the necessity of them doesn't seem to be generally felt as yet.And the characterizations are superb. Ralph cares deeply for Isabel, but never acts on his feelings. Lydia is self-centered, but in an amusing way. Madame Merle, a good friend of Lydia, is quite eccentric and takes Isabel under her wing; however, there is a mysterious side to her as well. Isabel's friend Henrietta is assertive and brash, perhaps representing the "typical American" in Europe. Gilbert Osmond is completely unlikeable, and his sister Amy, the Countess Gemini, is vapid and self-centered, but pulls off a major feat near the end that shows there's much more to her than meets the eye.Throughout this novel Isabel is caught between a desire for independence, and societal pressures and expectations. James' understated prose delivers surprising emotional intensity, through a collection of memorable characters. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Yet another book I've studied, so i've little memory of it, it was so long ago. I do remember liking it lots though. There, that's my analytical response.
    • 2/5
      I attempted this work because it was so highly recommended by Timothy Spurgin in his Teaching Company lectures on the British Novel. I was unable to make it past the first third, however, and finally peeked at a synopsis of the plot on the web. I have no doubt that my failure to cope with this book reflects a weakness in me, rather than the author, but I found it unbearably tedious.
    • 5/5
      Another excellent read. I decided to read this one because I hadn't read any real James before and I felt like that was a situation that needed to be remedied. Although a bit arduous at times, and I am still a bit puzzled about the ending, this book was a delightful read. Another 19th century realist novel full of rich character development, although they were not as sympathetic here as they were in Eliot. James seems to examine his characters more than he loves them, even though it is clear he loves some of them. The book did feel a little dry and removed at times, as if you could feel the ticking of an almost mechanical examiner or observer, but the insights and characters were intriguing and thought-provoking. I probably would not recommend this one to the casual reader--too many dry spells to get lost in--but it is a rewarding read, especially if you like to examine some great writing yourself. A great artist and a good read, I really liked this book.

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    The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James

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