3.1 Personality of Isabel

Isabel is the main character of the novel and she has complex personality. For her, Zhao Luorui thinks that she is one that has the nature of viperous tragedy, quality of hero and fatal weakness. (Zhao Luorui, 1998: 41) Henry James reflects her personality in different ways. He adopts different characters’ attitudes toward Isabel, such as Ralph and Osmond. Besides, many dialogues and consciousness function as a way to show personality of Isabel. So reader can understand her by her perception of environment and the characters around her. In this way does the author employ psychological realism to manifest not only the conflict between Isabel and the whole society but also the reason of tragedy in the novel. This writing genre for her personality improves the interests of the plot and deepens the intention of the author.

3.1.1 Innocence

Isabel, living in an open atmosphere in America, is fond of reading and curious about the foreign culture. She reads lots of books to know more knowledge. At the beginning of the novel, the author says that “she had a great desire for knowledge, but she really preferred almost any source of information to the printed page.” (James, 1997: 42) When Mrs. Touchett decides to take her to Europe, “her imagination was by habit ridiculously active, when the door was not open it jumped out of the window.” (James, 1997: 40) From these, the image of Isabel that she understands the world from books and imagination not from actual experience is showed to readers. The author shows her consciousness to readers and makes her innocence and imagination clear vividly. This writing genre can combine the minds of Isabel with the intention of the author and let readers understand Isabel better. The better understanding of her innocence can lead to better understanding of her later tragedy. This method is supposed to evoke readers’ interest and curiosity to continue to read for the purpose to find what will happen in the plot.