Washington Square Henry James

ESSAY MODEL: 'WASHINGTON SQUARE' - HENRY JAMES

EMPHASIS ON CATHERINE'S CHARACTER:

In 'Washington Square', Henry James used a refined technique of narration, language, symbolism and irony as he explored the psychological dimensions of his characters' actions, motivations and interpersonal relationships. He did so as he confronted the tragedy of the immorality of human beings, personified in the characters of Dr. Sloper and Morris Townsend, in dominating the spirit of Sloper's daughter, Catherine, for their own ends.

In other works of fiction where the oppressive circumstances of protagonists usually arise from failures of society and within the specific individual there is often an optimism to the extent that it is suggested that progress might eventually lift the individual or mankind beyond the scope of the type of situations depicted. In 'Washington Square', however, James' depiction of Catherine's tragedy could well be interpreted, at a universal level, as our susceptibility to the manipulative and domineering elements in human nature combined with those factors which drive us with passionate longing for another. Our hopes for an enlightened perspective of Catherine's situation diminish as she confronts an environment of emotional, psychological and motivational disregard and cruelty displayed in numerous situations of dialogue, interviews and conniving. We recognize, however, that Catherine's sufferings are intrinsic to human nature as she is depicted also as a protagonist who displays substance and a willingness to develop her perceptions of human behaviour at the cost of being isolated physically, psychologically and emotionally.

Catherine's dilemma begins in an overtly conventional yet dismal setting. This is the ordered and understated fashionable New York setting where she is victim to her father's calculated disregard and domineering behaviour and of the perceptions others have of her given their economic and social positions. She is, in Sloper's words, "absolutely unattractive." She is twenty, yet has never before, as Sloper points out, received suitors in the house. Mrs. Almond's protestations that Catherine is not unappealing are little more than a matter of form and she is admonished by Sloper for suggesting he give Catherine "more justice." Mrs. Penniman, for her part, readily perceives that without Catherine's full inheritance, Morris Townsend would have "nothing to enjoy" and proceeds to establish her role in appeasing her brother and giving incoherent counsel to the courtship between Catherine and Townsend. For Townsend himself, Catherine's "inferior characteristics" are a matter of course and a means to a financial end.

The characters perceive that unfeigned love for Catherine is close to an impossibility. It is also suggested that Catherine herself is subject to the same human flaw as the tormenting characters; susceptibility to the superficial, that renders her unattractive to others; and that this flaw might be the source of her deepest longing. "We can't govern our affections," she initially bemoans. However we begin to experience an empathy for Catherine who is continually depicted as socially inexperienced and awkward, "decidedly not clever;.... not quick with her book, nor, indeed, with anything else," for as James develops the image of her growing consciousness, maturity, courage and ability to debate, he highlights her "interrogative eye." This develops in the face of such taunts as those described within her father's study which personifies his overt learnedness in the hope to shield his moral, social and personal inadequacies as well as in such conversations at that suggesting that she be given "spectacles" in order to be entrapped in his own vision of interpersonal relationships and monetary expectations. The fear that Catherine tries to deal with is symbolized in her attempts to control her emotions as he alludes to her being disinherited signified by the closing of doors and curt disposal of his conversations which created wounds within Catherine from the "surgeon's lancet." The fact that she is content to suggest she wait for marriage until Sloper's death for her decision of marriage highlights her perception of the danger of his intentions and the possibility of further manipulation should marriage to Townsend occur.

Our observations continue owing to the skillful third person narration employed by James. This same narration allows us to see emerge a character working through the emotions related to her situation and moving slowly past her "affectionate, docile [and] obedient" perceptions, as best as she is able. One of the ways Catherine's maturity begins to develop is in her inability to imagine some form of control at the abuse of her father where the unwarranted devotion Catherine feels for this situation, symbolized in the allusion to Shakespeare's 'King Lear' and his contorted relationships with his daughters, portrayed within the numerous conversations between Catherine and Sloper, is the basis of her life's greatest dilemma. Given that Sloper rarely addressed his daughter save in the ironical form she had to dissect her pleasure from the situation rarely knowing what to do with the onslaught of irony and her reactions to this nor with the way she would decide to behave. She had thought that "Heaven would invent some way of reconciling all things; the dignity

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