Chapters 45 – 47
First it
was Ralph who lived vicariously through Isabel’s liberty and adventure because
his health prevented him from living as he pleased; now it is Isabel who seeks
to taste a bit of freedom through him, as he is more free in his poor health
than she in her repressive marriage.
Ralph is a good man; he is our moral guide throughout the narrative: he knows
the truth of every character. He even knows Isabel is miserable in her marriage.
Meanwhile, Pansy
still wishes to marry Rosier. She seeks
Isabel’s advice over her father’s because, she says,
“It isn’t because you love me - it’s because you’re a lady. A lady can advice a young girl better than a man.”
She even refers to Isabel as her guardian angel. Isabel recognizes how wise Pansy is already,
and she can no longer pacify her with useless words; Pansy has her own identity
and ideas.
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John Malkovich makes a great Gilbert Osmond in The Portrait of a Lady, 1996 |
Sadly, this
marriage has made Isabel a liar. When
Lord Warburton explains that he is returning to England, with obviously no
intention of marrying Pansy, Osmond confronts Isabel as if she orchestrated
Warburton’s departure and thwarted his possible marriage to Pansy. Osmond treats Isabel as if she has just been
downgraded from “an object” to just a disagreeable incident, of thought.”
Isabel has
been brought emotionally low, and now she feels regretful of the past. When Casper Goodwood and Henrietta Stockpole
arrive in Rome, Isabel reflects on her feelings of setting herself right. The author tell us:
“She [has] no near prospect of dying, and yet she [wishes] to make her peace with the world-to put her spiritual affairs in order.”
“She [has] no near prospect of dying, and yet she [wishes] to make her peace with the world-to put her spiritual affairs in order.”
Isabel does
not want Goodwood to know she is miserable, but she is open with Henrietta
about her feelings. Her friend suggests
Isabel leave Osmond, but Isabel does not want to publically admit that she made
a mistake.
To be continued…
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