616 James, Henry
If Goodwood was less focused on his business, for
instance, he might have a better chance of winning
Isabel’s hand. But as it is, his overpowering ambi-
tion prevents him from truly understanding Isabel
and her motives. Warburton, on the other hand, is
really not ambitious at all but pretends to be in order
to make himself more interesting and to relieve the
boredom of his aristocratic lifestyle. He advocates
radical socialist views but never follows them up in
practice, which makes him appear insincere and dis-
courages Isabel—and us, the readers—from taking
him seriously. However critically they are regarded,
the ambitions of Isabel, Goodwood, and Warburton
are still depicted in a much more sympathetic way
than the ambitions of Osmond. All the other char-
acters are ambitious up to a certain point; when they
realize that they are hurting others they always put
their ambitions in second place. In contrast, Osmond
is never willing to put his ambitions in second place;
for him, his ambition is always more important than
the happiness of those around him.
Timo Müller
Freedom in The Portrait of a Lady
Isabel’s loss of her freedom is one of the central
themes of The Portrait of a Lady. Having been raised
by an independent-minded father, she comes to
Europe to move freely and have new experiences.
Her attitude is expressed in a key passage early in
the novel, when Isabel tells her aunt that she wants
“to know the things one shouldn’t do” because she
wants to have the choice to do them or not. She
turns down two suitors so that she can enjoy her
freedom and travel. Ultimately, she makes the wrong
choice. She marries Osmond and loses not only the
ability to go where she wishes but her freedom of
mind as well. Osmond is a master psychologist and
manipulator. In his world there is no freedom for
anyone. Everything—his wife and daughter, just as
his house, garden, furniture, clothes, and so on—
must conform to social expectations and be super-
vised at all times to keep up a perfect appearance.
Osmond has perfect control even over his speech
and can mimic anyone and he expects the same of
everyone around him. Madame Merle has already
become very good at it, and when we encounter
Isabel some years into her marriage, she has lost her
refreshing, cheerful manner because she is afraid to
displease her husband. Pansy, too, is unusually quiet
and self-controlled: Osmond sent her to a convent
for years in order to train her. This environment is
the exact opposite of Isabel’s untroubled childhood.
Instead of preserving her freedom, she has become
imprisoned in body and mind.
Obviously, Isabel’s notion of freedom has been a
mistaken one. James suggests that there can be no
such thing as complete freedom: We cannot just do
what we want but have to be considerate of those
around us. This sensitivity is the only way to find
out who wishes us well and who doesn’t. Freedom
must always be a reflected freedom. It presupposes
a knowledge of the limits society sets us, otherwise
it is just naiveté. Isabel is a naïve person when she
comes to Europe. She has been brought up on sto-
ries and abstract ideas. While she has read a lot of
books, she has not learned how to read people, as she
herself puts it in retrospect. Her judgment is severely
limited, so that she is much less free in her choices
than she thinks she is.
Even at the beginning of the novel, Isabel is less
self-reliant than she appears. She is influenced by a
number of people, many of whom have one-sided
or naïve ideas of freedom. Her father left her to
herself for most of her childhood, which certainly
gave her a lot of freedom but equipped her with
little knowledge of the adult world. In England, she
encounters Lord Warburton, whose freedom is an
irresponsible one: He claims to support reforms for
the benefit of the working class, but really he is con-
tent to enjoy his wealth and keep out of politics. The
most momentous mistake is Ralph Touchett’s. For
Ralph, freedom requires financial independence. He
persuades his dying father to leave Isabel a fortune
so that she can try out everything that interests her.
It turns out, however, that her wealth makes Isabel
above all a target for fortune-hunters like Osmond;
since she has never learned to judge people she is
easy prey. Basically, Ralph’s notion of freedom rests
on the same error as Isabel’s: He thinks that once
you have enough money, you can do what you want,
regardless of other people. But one of the things we
learn from the novel is that there is no such thing
as absolute independence. Human beings are “social
animals,” and in modern society there are too many