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PORTRAIT OF A LADY

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Richard Nathan

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Dec 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM12/27/96
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I hated "Portrait Of A Lady," but I am not quite sure why.

I have to admit that I only got half way through the novel by Henry James.
I do intend to finish it someday. I was annoyed with Isabell Archer in
the novel, for being so pig-headed and full of herself, but I also liked
her for reasons that escape me.

Maybe I felt sorry for her.

In the film I found her pig-headed and full of herself, but unlike the
character in the novel I found nothing to like about her.


One thing did strike me. In the novel, much more was made of the fact
that Isabell was quite poor before she got the inheritance. I thought
that one of the reasons she turned down Warburton and Goodwood in the
novel was the fact that she was worried they would feel that they had
bought her - and the reason she accepted Ormond was because she felt she
would have more freedom with him because she was the one with more money.

James never stated that in his novel, but I felt it was implied. Or maybe
I was just reading that into the novel.


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