The End Of Masculinity: A Study Of The Portraits Of Men In Henry James’ The Portrait Of A Lady

Henry James is one of the founders of psychological realism in Anglo-American literary history, and The Portrait of a Lady is one of the representatives of his international theme. This thesis studies the portraits of men from the perspective of masculinity, and by textual reading, to study how Henry James describes the end of masculinity of these men.This thesis studies the portraits of men from three dimensions: the portrait of meek men, the portrait of flattering men and the portrait of devoted men. The Introduction briefly introduces Henry James and The Portrait of a Lady, at the same time, it does research of literature review and gives definitions to "masculinity" and "the end of masculinity". Chapter one focuses on Lord Warburton and Daniel Touchett, both of whom are meek men. Lord Warburton is in an inferior status in front of Isabel, while Daniel Touchett is in a passive and helpless status in his marriage. Chapter two focuses on Gilbert Osmond and Edward Rosier, both of whom are flattering men. Gilbert experiences from passive status to active status and then to passive status again. Edward Rosier pursues his lover Pansy Osmond painfully, and finally sacrifices himself. Chapter three focuses on Ralph Touchett and Caspar Goodwood, and both of them are devoted men. Ralph Touchett hides his love inside deeply in front of Isabel. Caspar Goodwood acts a role of "an obedient listener" and "a defeated fighter", once fights against the power of Isabel but finally fails.It makes a conclusion that all these men fail in showing their masculinity, because they have less power, they are short of resources and they are in unequal status.The academic value of this thesis is that it promotes the research of masculinity of this novel from literary text level, and it contributes to the domestic study of Henry James and masculinity.