The Portrait of a Lady

Henry James presents an array of unique marriage situations in Portrait. Proposals are central to the novel’s plot, and marriages are closely connected to characterization. James emphasizes unconventional marriage situations, the gender politics of marriage, and the role of duty and obligation to emphasize the complex marriage politics women experience.

Mrs. Touchett and Countess Gemini are significant representations of unconventional marriage situations. Mrs. Touchett’s unique estrangement from her husband is detailed early in the novel: “It had become clear, at an early stage of their community, that they should never desire the same thing at the same time, and this appearance had prompted her to rescue disagreement from the vulgar realm of accident. She did what she could to erect it into law” (35). This passage is significant in its inclusion of diction like “vulgar” and “law,” emphasizing an unromantic view of marriage.

It is also important that Mrs. Touchett and her views are introduced early in the novel. Rather than an ideal of a typical or effective marriage, the first marriage portrait in the novel is characterized by distance. James characterizes marriages like individuals; this one functions as a