Report on ‘The Portrait Of a Lady’

This is a paragraphed summary of the first seven chapters I managed

to read from ‘The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James’

The first chapter of the portrait of a lady opens on a mundane

afternoon tea in an English property where we meet Mr Touchett, an
old American banker, with his son Ralph who is handsome but
suffers from a chronic illness. And Lord Warburton, a rich English
nobleman. Along with Mrs Touchett who is about to return from
America with a Mysterious niece.
There are hints of secrets and hidden feelings. Mr Touchett worries
about his wife’s independence and doesn’t know exactly when she’s
coming back as she tends to makes unexpected appearances when
least expected, which is one of the features her husband doesn’t like
about her. The biggest surprise is she is bringing a niece from
America who is surrounded by mystery and scarce details about her.
Mr Touchett thinks the niece shares one of the independent traits of
his wife while Mr Ralph,son, shows curiosity and appreciation to her
self reliance characteristic. And Lord Warburton shows romantic
interests in this independent American young woman.
This chapter introduces themes of wealth, social class, potential love
and relationships and the mystery surrounding Mrs Touchett’s niece.

The second chapter, starts with Ralph bumping into the mysterious
young independent woman mentioned earlier, his cousin Miss Isabel
Archer. Right from the start she showed traits of confidence by
playfully taking over his dog. She arrived with her aunt, Mrs Touchett
who seems to be in the habit of surprising everyone. And Miss Archer
looks impressed by the beautiful house and place.
Lord Warburton who shows interest on Miss Archer, tries to invites
her to his house but she gently declines, while making it clear she
values her independence. This seems to catch Ralph’s attention as
well.
The chapter ends with Lord Warburton, clearly impressed by Miss
Archer’s character and personality, describing her as the interesting
woman he mentioned earlier. And this leaves the impression that
there might be romantic competition for Miss Archer between Ralph
and Lord Warburton.
The third chapter starts with the strange character of Mrs Touchett
who shows a strong sense of self, when she returned to her
husband’s house, she didn’t greet him first but goes handling her
appearance. This indicates the presence of personal disagreement
and lack of intimacy between them. She visits her niece, Miss Archer,
who is described as intelligent and curious. Miss Archer is reading in
her grandmother’s house which is filled with nostalgia for her.
Mrs Touchett is surprised by her niece’s not knowing much about her
inheritance, because Isabel was raised believing she will inherit a
fortune. Mrs Touchett wanted to take Isabel to Florence of she agrees
to her terms. In the end, the chapter finishes with hints for future
plans being cooked for Isabel after her aunt invites Isabel’s sister for
a visit.

The fourth chapter introduces Isabel’s relatives and her past life. The
chapter describes Isabel’s two sisters Lily and Edith, Lily, married
with children, while Edith is beautiful and considered more
successful. We learned that Isabel’s father spoiled his daughters and
traveled a lot but didn’t provide formal education. In spite of that,
Isabel is described as curious and prefers to learn from experience
instead of books.
The chapter also talks about the relation of Isabel with men, as many
find her intimidating because of her intelligence. Men are aware of
her and she seems to enjoy more social freedom as opposed to the
social limitations faced by women of her age.
The chapter ends with the arrival of Caspar Goodwood, who is a
young man who admires Isabel.

The fifth chapter starts by introducing Ralph Touchett as a young

man with sophisticated mind, who visits his father in England. Ralphs
mother, Mrs Touchett is shown to be a practical woman who has
arranged for her niece Isabel to come from America.
We learned that eventhough Ralph is smart and observant, he
struggles with chronic health issues. Mrs Touchett showed her plans
to introduce Isabel to European culture while Isabel is described as
being intelligent and has a strong sense of independent wich hints for
potential conflict between her and Mrs Touchett’s plans.
The chapter ends with Ralph meeting Isabel and exploring the house
with Isabel expressing desire to see the residing ghost, while Ralph
seemed fascinated by his cousin.
The sixth chapter talks about Isabel Archer and describes her as
being intelligent, independent and strong willed woman, who came
from America to visit her wealth relatives.
we learned that Isabel has an ideal perception of europ and she
believes it will be a place of discovery and self improvement.
Isabel’s uncle, Mr Touchett is portrayed to be kind and observant
man who enjoys her company and finds her more lively than his wife.
Mr Touchett tries to assure to Isabel that she will be successful in
England, while she is worried that the English society doesn’t
appreciate her choices and her independence.

The seventh chapter dives into the relationship between Isabel and
her aunt Mrs Touchett which is not smooth as Mrs Touchett likes to
portray herself as always right and tells only the truth, while Isabel is
annoyed by this.
Later Isabel and Ralph argue about whether they care about England
or America. We learned that Ralph’s father, Mr Touchett is not in
good health and Ralph is worried that he will die soon, wich makes
him feel obliged to take care of his father.
Isabel’s presence brings some joy to Ralph and he wonders if he is in
love with her. He enjoys her company and finds her beautiful and
entertaining person.
Isabel meets Lord Warburton ans seemed to like his charm and luck.
Isabel later tried to stay with men downstairs after her bedtime and
she surprisingly found through her aunt’s that women in England are
not supposed to stay up late with men.

By Mohamed Dellal