The Ending of Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady: A Straight Path to the Bind and Choice

Abstract

We find the ending of The Portrait of a Lady troublesome in that, Isabel, always imagining herself free and independent, has in fact delivered herself into the cage of her bondage. This acute problem keeps open the debate as to whether her decision derives from her choice or from the outer forces of her environment. In this essay, I hope to explore Isabel Archer as both object and agent in terms of her final decision to go back to Rome. My argument is divided into three parts. The first part is given to a clarification of how Isabel's fate is pre-determined and set up by other forces. The second part is concerned with an examination of her theories and her characters by proving that her determination is partly her choice. In the third part, I attempt to illustrate her reasons to take that decision. By doing so, a balanced view of Isabel, having both free and conditioned will, is fully explained. Isabel is a victim of her environment in the sense that her destiny is determined by other people's carefully laid plots as well as her own surrender to the conventional, unbreakable bond of the marriage vow in her society. Her fate is decided, for all her efforts, mostly by others. On the other hand, it is equally possible to take the view that, likewise, she must carry much of the blame herself because, in fact, she is a victim of important flaws in her own character, her theories, and imagined versions of reality. It is she who makes the decision to marry Osmond in preference to Warburton and Goodwood. It is needed to note that her decision is her choice and free will. Consequently, Isabel's final resolution to return to her husband must not be seen merely in light of the outer forces of nature, or her inner character flaws. It is a rich complexity of both determinism and free will.