Analysing the Female Characters in Henry James Fiction Essay

Analysing the Female Characters in Henry James Fiction ‘A woman it seems to me has no natural place anywhere; wherever she finds herself, she has to remain on the surface and more or less to control’ Discuss James’ representations of ‘places’ for women in his novels. There is an impressive range of female characters in Henry James’ fiction. Drawn to the world of wealth and leisure as a subject, a world which was at the same time, ironically the context for his own hermetic labours as a writer, James perhaps inevitably came to concentrate on the feminine. Correspondingly, most of his male characters seem to be†¦show more content†¦The theme so early recognised as particularly James’ own was the international one, and the expression of this theme pivoted around the figure of the American girl. The critic W.D. Howells (1958 P.63) credited James with being the inventor of the ‘International American girl’. The American girl, as she appears in James’ early stories and novels is independent, moral, free, innocent, and her attractiveness is either ‘delicate’ or of a pale and rather asexual kind. In her less refined or serious form, she may be ignorant, brash or simply naà ¯ve. She is, of course, as always unmarried. In using the American girl as central to his exploration of the interaction of American and European society, it was not at first in the girl herself that James placed the distinguished American moral consciousness, and when she was endowed Imran Hussain Henry James with moral seriousness the conscious response to its clash with social convention was again, in the early work, usually located in a male onlooker. Her self-consciousness according to Habegger (1960, P.67) developed out of a line of American girls who were absorbed by Europe, withdrew from it, or were destroyed by it, and this is the reasonShow MoreRelatedEssay on Protecting Miles and Flora in The Turn of the Screw2242 Words   |  9 Pagesher duty to protect Miles and Flora. What do they need protection from and how does Henry James illustrate this in his novel â€Å"The Turn of the Screw†? Henry James’s ‘Turn of the Screw’ can be interpreted in many different ways. He constructed his novel in order to make allusions to sexual topics, (without stating anything explicitly) madness, ghosts and the Victorian society. In this essay I will be analysing each of the above in order to make a conclusion as to what I think the children need Read MoreKhasak14018 Words   |  57 Pagesthe work considered. The second chapter, titled The Dark Vault, studies the aspects of psychoanalytic theory which can be used in the analysis of the novel. It deals mainly with Freudian theories which explore the dark vaults of the psyche of the characters in the novel. The third chapter, titled Ancient Moulds, studies Mythological or Archetypal criticism and analyses the novel for recurring mythical and archetypal patterns. The concluding chapter studies how psychoanalytic theory and mythologicalRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesproductivity The use of ratios Analysing ratios and trends Ratios and interfirm comparison vi CONTENTS 3.13 3.14 A strategic approach Summary 112 116 117 119 119 120 128 136 139 149 153 159 165 167 169 169 170 174 182 188 192 202 214 215 221 223 223 230 236 241 246 248 250 251 255 261 4 Market and environmental analysis 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 Learning objectives Introduction: the changing business environment (or the new marketing reality) Analysing the environment The natureRead MoreOrganisational Theory230255 Words   |  922 Pagesperspectives that constitute Organization Theory provide profound challenges for organizations in the twenty-first century. The book develops understanding of the increasing pressures created by heightened competition and processes of globalization by analysing their impact upon organizations with specific reference to the ways in which organization theory can help develop understanding and appropriate action. Who should use this book? The target audience is anticipated to be postgraduate students and