Grand Omissions and Feminine Revelations: A Psychoanalytic Portrait of Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

Grand Omissions and Feminine Revelations: A Psychoanalytic Portrait of Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady

Name: Miranda Paikowski
Major: English, French
Hometown: West Bend, WI
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors: N/A
Type of research: Senior thesis
Funding: N/A

Abstract

Henry James’ late nineteenth-century novel The Portrait of a Lady presents one of the most enigmatic heroines in American literature: Isabel Archer. As an attractive, intelligent, young expatriate, Isabel is presented as the ideal “interesting woman.” James provides a breathtaking portrait of Isabel, but limits how much of her character is revealed in the frame. In fact, many aspects of Isabel’s identity are absent in James’ narrative, which only heightens the reader’s fascination. In my thesis, I explore the omissions in Portrait and how they impact Isabel’s development. Isabel’s experience as an upper-class woman can be understood through the examination of what James excludes, which includes the absence of the mother figure, the lack of sexual description, and the significant temporal gap which exists between parts one and two of the novel. I use Lacanian psychoanalysis and Cixousian feminist criticism to explain the essential role these omissions play in uncovering Isabel’s psychological feminine reality. In the first volume of Portrait, Isabel tests the limits of her independence by rejecting two acceptable suitors. Although she desires autonomy, she often fixates on how much she is able to please others while expanding her own understanding of the world. Isabel’s need to please ultimately leads to her undoing in Volume II of the novel, when she marries Gilbert Osmond. Although her social independence is compromised through marriage, Isabel achieves a fuller consciousness through her suffering. I analyze how the omissions of feminine detail influence our understanding of Isabel’s psychological development throughout the novel. Once we recognize the aspects of Isabel’s “female unconscious” (Cixous) which have been repressed to maintain traditional gender roles, we come to understand how Isabel’s connection to her maternal senses and sexuality helps to complete James’ portrait of the autonomous, complex American woman.