Fourth year ENGLISH students

[moon2]

meshooooo

thanks alot honey

:bye::bye::bye:
I want to ask you about the linguistics

where can I find the lectures

?
:066:

[moon2]

انا انتســـــــــــــاب

[mesho ~]

تلقينهم هنا بهذا الرابط بس لازم تسجلين عشان تقدري تحملي المحاضرات


http://groups.google.com/group/eng-dep-senior?hl=en

وبالتوووووفيق ..

[moon2]

thanks alot

[moon2]

هااااي بنوتات

كيف حالكم

حبيت اجيب لكم
the plot
for

The Portrait of a Lady

وكمان راح انزل بعض الاشياء اللي تفيدكم في الروايه





Plot Overview
Isabel Archer is a woman in her early twenties who comes from a genteel family in Albany, New York, in the late 1860s. Her mother died when she was a young girl, and her father raised her in a haphazard manner, allowing her to educate herself and encouraging her independence. As a result, the adult Isabel is widely read, imaginative, confident in her own mind, and slightly narcissistic; she has the reputation in Albany for being a formidable intellect, and as a result she often seems intimidating to men. She has had few suitors, but one of them is Caspar Goodwood, the powerful, charismatic son of a wealthy Boston mill owner. Isabel is drawn to Caspar, but her commitment to her independence makes her fear him as well, for she feels that to marry him would be to sacrifice her freedom.

Shortly after Isabel's father dies, she receives a visit from her indomitable aunt, Mrs. Touchett, an American who lives in Europe. Mrs. Touchett offers to take Isabel on a trip to Europe, and Isabel eagerly agrees, telling Caspar that she cannot tell him whether she wishes to marry him until she has had at least a year to travel in Europe with her aunt. Isabel and Mrs. Touchett leave for England, where Mrs. Touchett's estranged husband is a powerful banker. Isabel makes a strong impression on everyone at Mr. Touchett's county manor of Gardencourt: her cousin Ralph, slowly dying of a lung disorder, becomes deeply devoted to her, and the Touchetts' aristocratic neighbor Lord Warburton falls in love with her. Warburton proposes, but Isabel declines; though she fears that she is passing up a great social opportunity by not marrying Warburton, she still believes that marriage would damage her treasured independence. As a result, she pledges to accomplish something wonderful with her life, something that will justify her decision to reject Warburton.

Isabel's friend Henrietta Stackpole, an American journalist, believes that Europe is changing Isabel, slowly eroding her American values and replacing them with romantic idealism. Henrietta comes to Gardencourt and secretly arranges for Caspar Goodwood to meet Isabel in London. Goodwood again presses Isabel to marry him; this time, she tells him she needs at least two years before she can answer him, and she promises him nothing. She is thrilled to have exercised her independence so forcefully. Mr. Touchett's health declines, and Ralph convinces him that when he dies, he should leave half his wealth to Isabel: this will protect her independence and ensure that she will never have to marry for money. Mr. Touchett agrees shortly before he dies. Isabel is left with a large fortune for the first time in her life. Her inheritance piques the interest of Madame Merle, Mrs. Touchett's polished, elegant friend; Madame Merle begins to lavish attention on Isabel, and the two women become close friends.

Isabel travels to Florence with Mrs. Touchett and Madame Merle; Merle introduces Isabel to a man named Gilbert Osmond, a man of no social standing or wealth, but whom Merle describes as one of the finest gentlemen in Europe, wholly devoted to art and aesthetics. Osmond's daughter Pansy is being brought up in a convent; his wife is dead. In secret, Osmond and Merle have a mysterious relationship; Merle is attempting to manipulate Isabel into marrying Osmond so that he will have access to her fortune. Osmond is pleased to marry Isabel, not only for her money, but also because she makes a fine addition to his collection of art objects.

Everyone in Isabel's world disapproves of Osmond, especially Ralph, but Isabel chooses to marry him anyway. She has a child the year after they are married, but the boy dies six months after he is born. Three years into their marriage, Isabel and Osmond have come to despise one another; they live with Pansy in a palazzo in Rome, where Osmond treats Isabel as barely a member of the family: to him, she is a social hostess and a source of wealth, and he is annoyed by her independence and her insistence on having her own opinions. Isabel chafes against Osmond's arrogance, his selfishness, and his sinister desire to crush her individuality, but she does not consider leaving him. For all her commitment to her independence, Isabel is also committed to her social duty, and when she married Osmond, she did so with the intention of transforming herself into a good wife.

A young American art collector who lives in Paris, Edward Rosier, comes to Rome and falls in love with Pansy; Pansy returns his feelings. But Osmond is insistent that Pansy should marry a nobleman, and he says that Rosier is neither rich nor highborn enough. Matters grow complicated when Lord Warburton arrives on the scene and begins to court Pansy. Warburton is still in love with Isabel and wants to marry Pansy solely to get closer to her. But Osmond desperately wants to see Pansy married to Warburton. Isabel is torn about whether to fulfill her duty to her husband and help him arrange the match between Warburton and Pansy, or to fulfill the impulse of her conscience and discourage Warburton, while helping Pansy find a way to marry Rosier.

At a ball one night, Isabel shows Warburton the dejected-looking Rosier and explains that this is the man who is in love with Pansy. Guiltily, Warburton admits that he is not in love with Pansy; he quietly arranges to leave Rome. Osmond is furious with Isabel, convinced that she is plotting intentionally to humiliate him. Madame Merle is also furious with her, confronting her with shocking impropriety and demanding brazenly to know what she did to Warburton. Isabel has realized that there is something mysterious about Madame Merle's relationship with her husband; now, she suddenly realizes that Merle is his lover.

At this time, Ralph is rapidly deteriorating, and Isabel receives word that he is dying. She longs to travel to England to be with him, but Osmond forbids it. Now Isabel must struggle to decide whether to obey his command and remain true to her marriage vows or to disregard him and hurry to her cousin's bedside. Encouraging her to go, Osmond's sister, the Countess Gemini, tells her that there is still more to Merle and Osmond's relationship. Merle is Pansy's mother; Pansy was born out of wedlock. Osmond's wife died at about the same time, so Merle and Osmond spread the story that she died in childbirth. Pansy was placed in a convent to be raised, and she does not know that Merle is her real mother. Isabel is shocked and disgusted by her husband's atrocious behavior—she even feels sorry for Merle for falling under his spell—so she decides to follow her heart and travel to England.

After Ralph's death, Isabel struggles to decide whether to return to her husband or not. She promised Pansy that she would return to Rome, and her commitment to social propriety impels her to go back and honor her marriage. But her independent spirit urges her to flee from Osmond and find happiness elsewhere. Caspar Goodwood appears at the funeral, and afterwards, he asks Isabel to run away with him and forget about her husband. The next day, unable to find her, Goodwood asks Henrietta where she has gone. Henrietta quietly tells him that Isabel has returned to Rome, unable to break away from her marriage to Gilbert Osmond

[moon2]

وهذي الشخصيات

اقرأوها واعملو لها تلخيص




Character List
Isabel Archer - The novel's protagonist, the Lady of the title. Isabel is a young woman from Albany, New York, who travels to Europe with her aunt, Mrs. Touchett. Isabel's experiences in Europe—she is wooed by an English lord, inherits a fortune, and falls prey to a villainous scheme to marry her to the sinister Gilbert Osmond—force her to confront the conflict between her desire for personal independence and her commitment to social propriety. Isabel is the main focus of Portrait of a Lady, and most of the thematic exploration of the novel occurs through her actions, thoughts, and experiences. Ultimately, Isabel chooses to remain in her miserable marriage to Osmond rather than to violate custom by leaving him and searching for a happier life.
Gilbert Osmond - A cruel, narcissistic gentleman of no particular social standing or wealth, who seduces Isabel and marries her for her money. An art collector, Osmond poses as a disinterested aesthete, but in reality he is desperate for the recognition and admiration of those around him. He treats everyone who loves him as simply an object to be used to fulfill his desires; he bases his daughter Pansy's upbringing on the idea that she should be unswervingly subservient to him, and he even treats his longtime lover Madame Merle as a mere tool. Isabel's marriage to Osmond forces her to confront the conflict between her desire for independence and the painful social proprieties that force her to remain in her marriage.
Madame Merle - An accomplished, graceful, and manipulative woman, Madame Merle is a popular lady who does not have a husband or a fortune. Motivated by her love for Gilbert Osmond, Merle manipulates Isabel into marrying Osmond, delivering Isabel's fortune into his hands and ruining Isabel's life in the process. Unbeknownst to either Isabel or Pansy, Merle is not only Osmond's lover, but she is also Pansy's mother, a fact that was covered up after Pansy's birth. Pansy was raised to believe that her mother died in childbirth.
Ralph Touchett - Isabel's wise, funny cousin, who is ill with lung disease throughout the entire novel, which ends shortly after his death. Ralph loves life, but he is kept from participating in it vigorously by his ailment; as a result, he acts as a dedicated spectator, resolving to live vicariously through his beloved cousin Isabel. It is Ralph who convinces Mr. Touchett to leave Isabel her fortune, and it is Ralph who is the staunchest advocate of Isabel remaining independent. Ralph serves as the moral center of Portrait of a Lady: his opinions about other characters are always accurate, and he serves as a kind of moral barometer for the reader, who can tell immediately whether a character is good or evil by Ralph's response to that character.
Lord Warburton - An aristocratic neighbor of the Touchetts who falls in love with Isabel during her first visit to Gardencourt. Warburton remains in love with Isabel even after she rejects his proposal and later tries to marry Pansy simply to bring himself closer to Isabel's life.
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.
Henrietta Stackpole - Isabel's fiercely independent friend, a feminist journalist who does not believe that women need men in order to be happy. Like Caspar, Henrietta is a symbol of America's democratic values throughout he book. After Isabel leaves for Europe, Henrietta fights a losing battle to keep her true to her American outlook, constantly encouraging her to marry Caspar Goodwood. At the end of the book, Henrietta disappoints Isabel by giving up her independence in order to marry Mr. Bantling.
Mrs. Touchett - Isabel's aunt. Mrs. Touchett is an indomitable, independent old woman who first brings Isabel to Europe. The wife of Mr. Touchett and the mother of Ralph, Mrs. Touchett is separated from her husband, residing in Florence while he stays at Gardencourt. After Isabel inherits her fortune and falls under the sway of Merle and Osmond, Mrs. Touchett's importance in her life gradually declines.
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 Rosier - A hapless American art collector who lives in Paris, Rosier falls in love with Pansy Osmond and does his best to win Osmond's permission to marry her. But though he sells his art collection and appeals to Madame Merle, Isabel, and the Countess Gemini, Rosier is unable to change Gilbert's mind that Pansy should marry a high-born, wealthy nobleman, not an obscure American with little money and no social standing to speak of.
Mr. Touchett - An elderly American banker who has made his life and his vast fortune in England who is Ralph's father and the proprietor of Gardencourt. Before Mr. Touchett dies, Ralph convinces him to leave half his fortune to his niece Isabel, which will enable her to preserve her independence and avoid having to marry for money.
Mr. Bantling - The game Englishman who acts as Henrietta's escort across Europe, eventually persuading her to marry him at the end of the novel.
Countess Gemini - Osmond's vapid sister, who covers up her own marital infidelities by gossipping constantly about the affairs of other married women. The Countess seems to have a good heart, however, opposing Merle's scheme to marry Osmond and Isabel and eventually revealing to Isabel the truth of Merle's relationship to Osmond and Pansy's parentage

[moon2]

وهذا تحليل عام للروايه ارجو انه يفيدكم

بنوتااات ادعو لي اني انجح

ميشوو

ايش رأيك نعمل جدول للمذاكره

نمشي عليه حبه حبه



Analytical Overview
The Portrait of a Lady explores the conflict between the individual and society by examining the life of Isabel Archer, a young American woman who must choose between her independent spirit and the demands of social convention. After professing and longing to be an independent woman, autonomous and answerable only to herself, Isabel falls in love with and marries the sinister Gilbert Osmond, who wants her only for her money and who treats her as an object, almost as part of his art collection. Isabel must then decide whether to honor her marriage vows and preserve social propriety or to leave her miserable marriage and escape to a happier, more independent life, possibly with her American suitor Caspar Goodwood. In the end, after the death of her cousin Ralph, the staunchest advocate of her independence, Isabel chooses to return to Osmond and maintain her marriage. She is motivated partly by a sense of social duty, partly by a sense of pride, and partly by the love of her stepdaughter, Pansy, the daughter of Osmond and his manipulative lover Madame Merle.

As the title of the novel indicates, Isabel is the principal character of the book, and the main focus of the novel is on presenting, explaining, and developing her character. James is one of America's great psychological realists, and he uses all his creative powers to ensure that Isabel's conflict is the natural product of a believable mind, and not merely an abstract philosophical consideration. In brief, Isabel's independence of spirit is largely a result of her childhood, when she was generally neglected by her father and allowed to read any book in her grandmother's library; in this way, she supervised her own haphazard education and allowed her mind to develop without discipline or order. Her natural intelligence has always ensured that she is at least as quick as anyone around her, and in Albany, New York, she has the reputation of being a formidable intellect.

After she travels to England with her aunt, Mrs. Touchett, however, it becomes clear that Isabel has a woefully unstructured imagination, as well as a romantic streak that suits her position as an optimistic, innocent American. (For James, throughout Portrait of a Lady, America is a place of individualism and naïveté, while Europe is a place of sophistication, convention, and decadence.) Isabel often considers her life as though it were a novel. She also has a tendency to think about herself obsessively and has a vast faith in her own moral strength—in fact, recognizing that she has never faced hardship, Isabel actually wishes that she might be made to suffer, so that she could prove her ability to overcome suffering without betraying her principles.

When Isabel moves to England, her cousin Ralph is so taken with her spirit of independence that he convinces his dying father to leave half his fortune to Isabel. This is intended to prevent her from ever having to marry for money, but ironically it attracts the treachery of the novel's villains, Madame Merle and Gilbert Osmond. They conspire to convince Isabel to marry Osmond in order to gain access to her wealth. Her marriage to Osmond effectively stifles Isabel's independent spirit, as her husband treats her as an object and tries to force her to share his opinions and abandon her own.

This is the thematic background of Portrait of a Lady, and James skillfully intertwines the novel's psychological and thematic elements. Isabel's downfall with Osmond, for instance, enables the book's most trenchant exploration of the conflict between her desire to conform to social convention and her fiercely independent mind. It is also perfectly explained by the elements of Isabel's character: her haphazard upbringing has led her to long for stability and safety, even if they mean a loss of independence, and her active imagination enables her to create an illusory picture of Osmond, which she believes in more than the real thing, at least until she is married to him. Once she marries Osmond, Isabel's pride in her moral strength makes it impossible for her to consider leaving him: she once longed for hardship, and now that she has found it, it would be hypocritical for her to surrender to it by violating social custom and abandoning her husband.

In the same way that James unites his psychological and thematic subjects, he also intertwines the novel's settings with its themes. Set almost entirely among a group of American expatriates living in Europe in the 1860s and 70s, the book relies on a kind of moral geography, in which America represents innocence, individualism, and capability; Europe represents decadence, sophistication, and social convention; and England represents the best mix of the two. Isabel moves from America to England to continental Europe, and at each stage she comes to mirror her surroundings, gradually losing a bit of independence with each move. Eventually she lives in Rome, the historic heart of continental Europe, and it is here that she endures her greatest hardship with Gilbert Osmond.

Narratively, James uses many of his most characteristic techniques in Portrait of a Lady. In addition to his polished, elegant prose and his sedate, slow pacing, he utilizes a favorite technique of skipping over some of the novel's main events in telling the story. Instead of narrating moments such as Isabel's wedding with Osmond, James skips over them, relating that they have happened only after the fact, in peripheral conversations. This literary technique is known as ellipses. In the novel, James most often uses his elliptical technique in scenes when Isabel chooses to value social custom over her independence—her acceptance of Gilbert's proposal, their wedding, her decision to return to Rome after briefly leaving for Ralph's funeral at the end of the novel. James uses this method to create the sense that, in these moments, Isabel is no longer accessible to the reader; in a sense, by choosing to be with Gilbert Osmond, Isabel is lost.

[moon2]

وهذه بعض الأسئله والإجابه عليها

شوفو ياحلوات اهم شيء في الروايه انك تقرأيها كلهااااااا

وتفهميها اول شيء

وبعد كذا تبدأين بالقراءه عنها وتلخيص الأشياء المهمه

انا افضل انكم تكتبو التلخيص كتابه

ويكون منسق وكامل

علشان اذا جاء وقت الاختبارات يكون كل شيء جاااهز

اعملي تلخيص لــ
Plot
characters

وكمان للأشياء المهمه اللي تتحدث عنها الاستاذه

وصدقوني اذا عملتو كل شيء اول بأول راح تفلحوون

بإذن الله

ياحلواات كل وحده فيكم عندها معلومه او سؤال طلبته الاستاذه ياليت تكتبه هنا

واحنا كلنا راح نتساعد في انه نبحث عن الاجابه

وياليت تكتبو كل شيء اول بأول



Study Questions and Essay Topics
Describe the elliptical technique James often uses in his narration. What is a narrative ellipsis? How does James employ the technique? What effect does his frequent skipping forward have on the novel as a whole?


Answer for Study Question 1 >>
For many of the novel's most important scenes, James utilizes an elliptical technique, which means literally that he simply does not narrate them. Instead, many of the most crucial moments of the novel are skipped over, and the reader is left to infer that they have occurred based on later evidence and their mention in peripheral conversation. Moments which are eluded from the novel include Osmond's proposal to Isabel, their wedding, and Isabel's decision to return to Rome after traveling to England for Ralph's funeral. In this way, James tends to skip over the moments in which Isabel chooses to sacrifice her freedom for Gilbert Osmond; this helps to create the sense that Osmond is a sinister figure, as though, in choosing to be with him, Isabel is placing herself beyond the reach of the reader.

Close


Portrait of a Lady, as its title would suggest, is largely devoted to the character of Isabel Archer. How does James use his psychological portrayal of Isabel to justify her decision to surrender her treasured independence in order to marry Osmond?


Answer for Study Question 2 >>
James's use of psychology in Portrait of a Lady enables him to unite his thematic exploration with his character portrayal. In short, the novel is an exploration of the conflict between individualism and social convention; James ensures that Isabel has a conscious commitment to individualism, but an unconscious desire for the comfort, safety, and stability of social custom. Isabel's upbringing was haphazard, and her father often left her to herself; this gave her a sense of intellectual independence, but it also made her long for a more secure environment. Additionally, Isabel's active imagination was nourished by her self-directed education in her grandmother's library. When she meets Gilbert Osmond, Isabel is attracted to the stability and direction his life seems to offer her, and her imagination enables her to overlook his obvious flaws—his arrogance, his narcissism, and his cruelty—and to create her own idyllic picture of him. In this way, Isabel allows her need for social convention to overcome her commitment to independence, and her marriage to Osmond becomes the tragic turning point in her life.

Close


"The Portrait of a Lady is consistently focused on the idea of Isabel Archer's independence: whether she has it, whether she is true to it, whether she betrays it, and whether it is more important than her social duty. But the novel never really defines what "independence" means, and as a result, it lacks thematic focus." Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Defend your answer.


Answer for Study Question 3 >>
The answer you choose will largely depend on how you felt about the novel's thematic focus and its presentation of the idea of independence. A "yes" answer should focus on the fuzziness of Isabel's thinking about her own independence, especially about the lack of direction she seems to experience and her confusion about how to treat her own autonomy. (After rejecting Warburton, for instance, Isabel decides to do something remarkable with her life, but she never decides what it will be, and instead simply goes on a vacation with Mrs. Touchett and Madame Merle.) A "no" answer should try to extract a definition of the idea of "independence" from the novel, focusing on Isabel's desire to make her own decisions, her insistence on having room and time for her intellectual growth. A "no" answer might also locate the book's definition of independence in its portrayal of America, contrasting the individualistic spirit of America with the corrupt, socially rigid spirit of Europe.

Close


Compare and contrast Isabel's three suitors, Gilbert Osmond, Caspar Goodwood, and Lord Warburton. How are they alike? What are their important differences? What ideas do they each symbolize? How does Isabel respond to each of them, and why does she respond to them as she does? What light do they cast on Isabel's relation to the idea of romance?



With particular attention to the characters of Henrietta Stackpole and Mrs. Touchett, what does the novel's position seem to be with regard to feminism? Is Portrait of a Lady a feminist book in any way or ultimately a conservative novel?



Describe the character of Madame Merle. What role does she play in the novel? Where does she seem to fit on the spectrum between personal independence and social conformity? Is she ultimately a villain, or does she have qualities that enable the reader to sympathize with her behavior?



Discuss James's use of geography as an object of symbolism in the novel. How do particular places take on thematic qualities? What symbolic trajectory does James chart by having Isabel travel from Albany to London to Florence to Rome?

[moon2]

ملخص وتحليل للفصول


من فصل واحد الى ثلاثه

Summary
It is teatime at Gardencourt, an old English country manor built during the reign of Edward VI and now owned by an old American banker. The old man now sits on the lawn holding a large teacup; his sickly son and a young Englishman stroll nearby, stopping occasionally to make sure that he is comfortable. The old man tells them lightly that he has always been comfortable. The young Englishman, Lord Warburton, drolly replies that comfort is boring. The old man's son, Ralph, counters by saying that Lord Warburton only pretends to be bored by everything. Lord Warburton replies that the old man's son always seems cynical, but that he is really a fairly cheerful person. The old man says that Warburton would find life more interesting if he found himself an interesting woman to marry; the young men politely keep quiet about the fact that the old man's own marriage is unhappy. Lord Warburton wonders what sort of woman he might find "interesting."

The old man says that his wife, Mrs. Touchett, will soon be returning from her visit to America and that she plans to bring their niece with her for a stay in England. He jokingly tells Warburton not to fall in love with his niece. Mr. Touchett and Ralph joke about the ******** they received from Mrs. Touchett informing them of her intention to bring this niece back to England with her. The ******** is nearly incomprehensible ("sister's girl, died last year, go to Europe"), but it mentions that the girl is "quite independent." Mr. Touchett says that American girls today are all engaged but that they continue to behave however they like regardless. He jokes again that Warburton must not fall in love with his niece.

Ralph strolls away from his father and Lord Warburton. He hears his dog barking near the door of the house and sees that a young woman has just emerged; she picks up the eager little dog, and Ralph notices that she is beautiful. He approaches her, and she introduces herself as his cousin Isabel, saying that she has just arrived with his mother. She compliments the house, and when Ralph points out his father and Lord Warburton on the lawn, she happily declares that having a real lord about the place makes it seem just like a novel.

Ralph introduces this strange young girl to his father, who kisses her and asks where his wife has gone. Isabel says that Mrs. Touchett has retired to her room; Mr. Touchett observes wryly that they will not see her for a week. But Isabel predicts that she will make an appearance at dinner. Looking about her, Isabel says that the old manor is the most beautiful thing that she has ever seen. Lord Warburton offers to show her his own Tudor manor, and he and Mr. Touchett joke with one another about who has the better house. Ralph asks Isabel if she likes dogs and offers to give her his own dog. She agrees to keep it while she is at the house. Ralph asks how long she will stay, and she says that Mrs. Touchett will have to decide that, as they are to travel to Florence after leaving England. Ralph notes that Isabel does not seem like the kind of woman who lets people decide things for her. Isabel agrees that she is very independent. He asks why they have never met, and she says that after her mother died, her father had a quarrel with Mrs. Touchett. Mr. Touchett asks Isabel how his wife is—she has been traveling in America for a long time. Isabel begins to tell him, and Warburton says quietly to Ralph that he has found his idea of a very interesting woman, and it is Isabel.

Mrs. Touchett has been traveling in America for a year, and has only stopped in England on her way home to Florence—she has been separated from Mr. Touchett since the first year of their marriage, though she spends one month with him each year. When Mrs. Touchett went to visit Isabel, she found her reading in the library of her grandmother's house, which she had been given unrestricted access to as a young girl and which formed the basis of her education. Mrs. Touchett invited Isabel to come to Florence, and Isabel agreed, though she warned her aunt that she was not always obedient.

Analysis
The opening sentence of Portrait of a Lady may not be the most exciting in all of literature ("Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea"), but the novel's opening perfectly prepares the reader for the development of the novel's main themes.

The main theme of Portrait of a Lady is the conflict between individualism (represented here by Isabel Archer's "independence") and social custom. The novel begins with the ultimate social custom, the English tea ceremony, set amid a genteel landscape populated by good-natured, affectionate members of the high upper classes. This well-ordered and familiar scene, which has obviously been acted out by the three men involved a hundred times before, is then disturbed by the appearance of Isabel, who arrives amid a chaos of barking dogs and ruffled expectations. At once, Isabel is at odds with the calm traditions of social convention, and the novel's thematic exploration is off to a strong start.

To say that Isabel's individualism is at odds with social convention is not to say that she is at odds with the conventional people around her; on the contrary, all of the men on the lawn seem very taken with her, especially Ralph, who impulsively gives her his dog, and Lord Warburton, who declares that she is his idea of an "interesting woman." It is important to note that we do not learn a great deal about Isabel herself in this section, virtually nothing of her past, and very little of her personality beyond what we see through the eyes of the other characters. All we are told is that she is an "independent woman," a very vague de************************ion that nevertheless piques the interest of Lord Warburton and the Touchetts—in the late 1860s in upper-class English country houses, we can infer, independent women of any sort are in very short supply.

Throughout Portrait of a Lady, James will alternate between showing us Isabel's life from Isabel's perspective and showing it through the perspective of peripheral characters such as Ralph. The use of peripheral points of view casts a great deal of light on Isabel's actions—here, for instance, James uses Ralph's perspective to show us what kind of impression Isabel makes on those around her, giving us the sense that she is different and special, a sense that would have been difficult to impart had we viewed the same scene through Isabel's eyes.

It is also important to note that Portrait of a Lady is set almost entirely among a group of Americans who live in Europe, and the novel's most significant secondary theme is the contrast between the idea of Europe and the idea of America, and how those ideas are negotiated in the minds of the expatriated Americans. In a very general sense, James uses the idea of America to represent innocence, individualism, optimism, and action, while Europe tends to represent sophistication, social convention, decadence, and tradition.

In these early chapters, we are given very little sense of those distinctions; here, Europe is simply a familiar home to the American Touchetts, and an exciting place to visit for Isabel Archer. But as the novel progresses, and Isabel travels deeper into continental Europe, the contrasts will be made very clear, and Gardencourt will emerge as a kind of ideal combining the best of Europe with the best of America

[moon2]

اذا حابين اكمل خبروني