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Description edit
When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy Aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors. She then finds herself irresistibly drawn to... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
James's mastery of psychology has never been more elegantly expressed nor more gripping than in his tale of Isabel Archer, a young American in search of her destiny, and Gilbert Osmond, the ultimate cold fish and one of literature's most repellent villains.
Characters/People edit
- Isabel Archer: The protagonist. An American lady in Europe.
- Gilbert Osmond: An American who lives abroad.
- Mrs. Lydia Touchett: Isabel's aunt
- Caspar Goodwood: The son of a prominent Boston mill owner, Isabel's most dedicated suitor in America. Goodwood's charisma, simplicity, capability, and lack of sophistication make him the book's purest symbol of James's conception of America.
- Madame Merle: A friend of Isabel's aunt. A woman of the world.
- Pansy Osmond: Gilbert Osmond's placid, submissive daughter, raised in a convent to guarantee her obedience and docility. Pansy believes that her mother died in childbirth; in reality, her mother is Osmond's longtime lover, Madame Merle. When Isabel becomes Pansy's stepmother, she learns to love the girl; Pansy is a large part of the reason why Isabel chooses to return to Rome at the end of the novel, when she could escape her miserable marriage by remaining in England.
- Edward 'Ned' Rosier: Pansy's suitor
- Ralph Touchett: Isabel's cousin.
- Lord Warburton: Liberal English peer. A friend of Ralph's.
- Henrietta Stackpole: Isabel's journalist friend.
- Mr. Touchett: Ralph's father.
Quotes edit
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“If you're ever bored take my advice and get married. Your wife indeed may bore you, in that case; but you'll never bore yourself. p.556”
Osmond -
“Is she beautiful, clever, rich, splendid, universally intelligent and unprecedentedly virtuous? p. 291”
Osmond -
“Deep in her soul – deeper than any appetite for renunciation – was the sense that life would be her business for a long time to come. And at moments there was something inspiring, almost enlivening, in the conviction. It was a proof of strength – it was a proof she should some day be happy again. It couldn't be she was to live only to suffer; she was still young, after all, and a great many things might happen to her yet. To live only to suffer – only to feel the injury of life repeated and enlarged – it seemed to her she was too valuable, too capable, for that. (53.2)”
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“"Well, I don't like originals; I like translations," Mr. Ludlow had more than once replied. "Isabel's written in a foreign tongue. I can't make her out. She ought to marry an Armenian or a Portuguese." (4.2)”
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“He's not intellectual, but he ppreciates intellect. On the other hand he doesn't exaggerate its claims. I sometimes think we do in the United States.'Ah,' said Isabel, 'you're changed indeed! It's the first time I've ever heard you say anything against your native land.''I only say that we're too infatuated with mere brain-power; that, afte rall, ins't a vulgar fault. But I am changed; a woman has to change a good deal to marry.' p. 612”
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“Her imagination was by habit ridiculously active; when the door was not open it jumped out of the window. She was not accustomed indeed to keep it behind bolts; and at important moments, when she would have been thankful to make use of her judgment alone, she paid the penalty of having given undue encouragement to the faculty of seeing without judging.”
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He wished her to have no freedom of mind, and he knew perfectly well that Ralph was an apostle of freedom.
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If there’s a thing in the world I’m fond of,” she went on with a slight recurrence of grandeur, “it’s my personal independence.”
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it appeared to him it was not himself in the least he was taking care of, but an uninteresting and uninterested person with whom he had nothing in common. This person, however, improved on acquaintance, and Ralph grew at last to have a certain grudging tolerance, even an undemonstrative respect, for him.
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With the prospect of losing them the simple use of his faculties became an exquisite pleasure; it seemed to him the joys of contemplation had never been sounded.
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It was the house of darkness, the house of dumbness, the house of suffocation. Osmond’s beautiful mind gave it neither light nor air; Osmond’s beautiful mind indeed seemed to peep down from a small high window and mock at her.
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Sometimes she went so far as to wish that she might find herself some day in a difficult position, so that she should have the pleasure of being as heroic as the occasion demanded.
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It appeared to Isabel that the unpleasant had been even too absent from her knowledge, for she had gathered from her acquaintance with literature that it was often a source of interest and even of instruction.
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She knew of no wrong he had done; he was not violent, he was not cruel: she simply believed he hated her.
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A swift carriage, of a dark night, rattling with four horses over roads that one can’t see – that’s my idea of happiness.”
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the clothes which, as you say, I choose to wear, don’t express me; and heaven forbid they should!”
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First Sentence edit
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in Guardian 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read. (authoritative list)
This book is in Hopeless Romantic. (community list)
This is book 69 of 101 in Penguin English Library. (publisher series)
This is book 833 of 1286 in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. (authoritative list)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Henry James (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1881
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 488
Publisher: Add the publisher.
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1881
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 488
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
- Dewey: 813.4
Subjects edit
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