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In our discussion of The Portrait of a Lady, Anne asked our class to consider “who is the tyrant” of the novel.  She was inquiring what character or concept constrained the formerly free and independent character of Isabel Archer.  A discussion ensued about whether Gilbert Osmond or Isabel Archer’s imagination was the tyrant.  I would like to propose a third interpretation; Henry James, himself, is the great tyrant of his own novel. 

Wai Chee Dimock’s article “Subjunctive Time: Henry James’s Possible Wars” broaches the idea of a “time-line that makes a subsequent event an important context for a text written prior to it” (249-250). The idea that literature is not temporally bounded is fascinating to me, and it is through this lens that I explore the connection between Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw and an episode of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Normal Again.”

Throughout the essay there will be clips from "Normal Again."

While speaking with Professor Dalke during our conference, the conversation turned towards Ralph from A Portrait of a Lady; and how I came to adopt him as my favorite character for his more pure-minded intentions, while Professor Dalke found him to actually be quite evil and suspicious, since he himself was manipulating Isabel for his own amusement. Finding that an interesting angle that I had not considered before, I decided to write a more creative-minded piece that emphasized not only Ralph’s motives for manipulation throughout the book, but also the love he held for Isabel (whether cousinly or otherwise, is up to reader discretion).

Isabel Archer, protagonist of Henry James’ novel The Portrait of a Lady, is “guided in a selection chiefly by the frontspiece” when looking for reading material (The Portrait of a Lady 23).  

The Ever-changing Portrait of Isabel Archer

Never a calm in the waters of her mind

Floating freely throughout time, without consideration

Inner beauty, outer tenacity

The future, an open adventure

No stings to break, no tethers wanted

Unadulterated freedom on the horizon

Straining to escape grounded boundaries

In class on Tuesday, May 2, 2010, we discussed the fact that Henry James, particularly in his novel The Portrait of a Lady, leaves a great deal unsaid. He chooses not to include in the novel several scenes in which his characters make important decisions, but instead references those decisions later, never having explored the nature of how they came about. Some of my classmates were very much against this idea, or felt cheated by the fact that James did not feel it necessary to provide them with all of the information pertaining to his story. Other classmates were intrigued, or even pleased by the fact that he left such a great deal up to the imagination of the reader.

 
“How do you feel today?” my therapist asks me at the start of our session.
“Anxious,” I reply.
“Want to try some EMDR?”
I shrug. “OK.”
It’s not like anything else has helped to ease my social anxiety, except for psychopharmaceuticals.
“What’s EMDR?”

 In the current society, personality plays a large role in the society. People are often judged by their characters as much as their appearances. The ones with an outgoing and assertive personality are usually the favored ones who are more loved and respected by others. The shy ones are often ignored and misunderstood and become more self-abased.  Yet shy people should not be blamed for their particular personality. According to recent studies, shyness is naturally built into our brain. It is a mechanism for dealing with stresses. There are also researches, which show that too much shyness is caused by genes.