Acknowledgments One of the greatest joys during the writing of this thesis is reading the novel first and then discussin¬g with the people who read it about the feelings of the novel. I would like to thank the following people for their dedication and contribution, without whom the path to the finishing line would have been a whole lot more bumpy. 21422
My profound gratitude goes to Prof. Huai Peixin, my supervisor, who has generously shared her inspirational and provocative ideas during many of our face-to-face discussion sessions. Thank you for giving me so many advices and revising my paper.
High tribute shall be paid to Prof. Liaojing, who did me a great favor during the time I writing my paper. I am also deeply indebted to all the other tutors and teachers in college studying for their direct and indirect help to me.
Finally, in particular, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents for their support; they provided the computers for me to search for information. It is of great help for me to finish this thesis successfully.
Abstract
The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who in "affronting her destiny", finds it overwhelming. After the death of Mr. Touchett，She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two sinister Europeans.
The main theme of The Portrait of a Lady is the conflict between inpidualism and social custom. Through examining the life of Isabel Archer, a young American woman, the paper reveals the conflict between her independent spirit and the demands of social convention. Her pursue for freedom conflicts with the demand of society. When she married, her duty as a wife is incompatible with her care for her step daughter. As a result, she failed to fulfill her quest for liberty as well as her obligations and responsibilities of a wife and mother. Through all this, it reflects the unbridgeable gap between aspiration and reality.
Key words: The Portrait of a Lady, independent spirit, social convention
摘要《淑女本色》是一个朝气蓬勃的美国女青年伊莎贝尔的故事，故事讲述了女主人公在想要贯彻自己自由信念的同时，却发现其根本难以实现，在杜歇先生的死亡之后，她继承了一大笔资金，随后因为两个用心险恶的欧洲人而成为阴谋诡计的受害人。
《淑女本色》的主题是个人和社会风俗的冲突，本论文通过观察伊萨贝尔，一个年轻的美国女孩的生活，分析其个人自由精神与世俗的冲突。她对自由的渴望与社会的要求大相径庭，她嫁入人妇之后，作为一个妻子的义务又与作为人母的关心难以共存，导致其最终无法实现自己自由的意志，也无法完全贯彻作为人妻和人母的责任和义务。通过这些矛盾，反映了现实和理想无可跨越之鸿沟。
毕业论文关键词：《淑女本色》，独立精神，社会风俗
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments.i
Abstract ii
摘要. iii
1 Introduction.1
1.1 Henry James’s Place in Modern American Literature.1
1.2 The Significance of The Portrait of a Lady2
1.3 General Thesis3
2. Independent Spirit.4
2.1 Formidable Intellect4
2.2 Far-fetching Freedom6
3. Demand of Social Convention8
3.1 The Irrational Marriage as a Social Existence. 8
3.2 The Alienated Role of a Wife10
3.3 The Awkward Mother’s Responsibilities for a Step Daughters.11
4. Failure to Protect Freedom and Fulfill Social Roles13
4.1 Freedom Lost through misjudgment.13
4.2 Marriage without being a Qualified Wife and Mother14
5 Conclusion 16
Bibliography. 17
1 Introduction
In this section, the paper will give a brief introduction of the author, his significance in the modern American literature, the significant achievement of The Portrait of a Lady, the general thesis of the masterpiece— the unbridgeable gap between aspiration and reality in The Portrait of a Lady and then concisely introduce how the author demonstrate the gap through the conflict between inpidualism and social convention by examining the life of Isabel Archer . 从《淑女本色》论理想和现实的冲突:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_13615.html