第42章のIsabel Archer : H. James研究

The statement of Isabel Archer's extraordinary meditative vigil in Chapter XLII of THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY is one of the two most important representations, as H. James pointed out in his preface to this work of New York Edition. The technique applied here is said to have been developed into that of his so-called major phase masterpieces. The aim of this paper is to examine and clarify what of Isabel Archer, heroine, has been revealed through this famous meditative vigil scene. One day G. Osmond, her husband, demanded Isabel to make use of her assumed influence over Lord Warburton to decoy him into proposing to Pansy Osmond, her stepdaughter. As soon as her husband left the room after ordering her to act on his demand, she started to meditate. A scene comes to her mind during her vigil, which is the one she came upon unexpectedly on coming home from her outing to the Campagna with Pansy this afternoon. Just beyond the threshold of the drawing room she stopped short, and glimpsed the scene of her husband and Mme. Merle alone together. The former was leaning back in a deep chair while the latter was standing on the rug, which gave the eyewitness a strange impression. They were looking at each other without talking. There was a silence of anomalous familiarity between them. Mme Merle noticed Isabel first. Her husband instantly jumped up, and left the room making a poor excuse of wanting to take a walk. Mme Merle remained and explained that Osmond did not ask her to sit down because she was on the point of going away. After this, she asked Isabel to arrange matters for Lord Warburton to propose to Pansy, referring to her influence over him, which made Isabel feel unpleasant. The strange impression of the scene seemed to have gone out of her mind in a moment then. However, it comes to her twice during the meditation and affects it. The memory of the scene she glimpsed remains deep in her consciousness like hidden water under the ground and surfaces occasionally. However, her whole night meditation does not find the meaning of the scene for her. It remains as a puzzle for her till the time when Countess Gemini tells her that Osmond and Mme Merle committed adultery and Pansy is their daughter, not Mr. and the late Mrs. Osmond's. This divulgence took place more than a month after Isabel's vigil. That is, Isabel could not have found it for herself without Countess Gemini's help. Another puzzle she faces in her vigil is whether Lord Warburton still loves Isabel and it has something to do with his approach to her stepdaughter. What is important here is that she never susupected it till someone else suggested it to her. In her meditation she adimits the possibility. Probably Lord Warburton is approaching Pansy without being conscious of the true motive, but the result means the same to Isabel. Knowing this, she guides Lord Warburton to draw away from her stepdaughter. She carries out this without any direct expression. While she behaves apparently as if she were obeying her husband, she leads Lord Warburton to become aware of his true motive only by pointing out a few of his deeds which contradict his confessed love toward Pansy. As a result he becomes aware of his hidden desire. He also finds out that Pansy's prospective choice is not he but Rosier. Consequently, he goes back to England, which angers Osmond and Mme Merle. Both of them suspect that Isabel betrayed them. During the vigil, quite a few things come to her which she has experienced before and after her marriage with Osmond. Most of them show how she has anguished since after their honeymoon period was over. Now her mind is haunted by terrible images which are assumed to represent Osmond's true self. The worst of them is "the evil eye". Another image is that of Osmond mocking cold-heartedly, from a small high window, at her while she is confined in the house of suffocation. The image of Osmond as a votary of the worldly vanity is also quite contrary to the one she had held before their marriage. Undeniably Osmond has married her for her money. Now he is rancorous toward her. In spite of these terrible images, Isabel is far from criticizing him one-sidedly to her own advantages: she occasionally even tries to defend her husband and take some of the responsibilities to her, admitting her own faults. The ways she thinks and acts tell what her character is. She is too innocent to notice evil. She is too innocent to be infiltrated by evil. She cannot commit evil. Her nature is quite different from those of Osmond and Mme Merle.

5

KJ00004276322

論文

Article