Term Paper on Washington Square
by Henry James
Introduction:
Washington Square is a remarkable novel. All in all the narrative is simple
enough to follow. A poor but handsome young man is desiring a young woman with
an immense estate. The heroine's father, Dr. Sloper, is opposing the marriage.
So the overall theme that underlies this novel is whether Catherine will choose
her love or her duty towards her father. This is what makes this book so amazing
and witty. The author has used a simple plot to draw out perplexing and
intricate characters that make you question what their actual considerations
are.
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Dr Sloper was a renowned physician in the city of New York. He enjoyed an
exceptional share of reputation for his distinguished accomplishments. This was
the persona of Dr Sloper. It was an element in Dr. Sloper's repute that his
knowledge and his skill were very evenly poised. One can already assume that
Morris Townsend, the penniless young man, is one a spree for fortune hunt.
Throughout the novel, new sides of each character are being shown, forming
multi-faceted characters out of the clear and comprehensible characters we first
see. Catherine isn't as simple-minded as initially depicted. Her devotion to her
father is graspable, as she is a merely trying to be a good and loyal daughter.
However, we also see that her loyalty and devotion can be given to someone other
than her father, unarguably her husband!
Dr. Sloper maintains a representative American viewpoint of understated wealth
and his house on Washington Square, rather than establishing luxury. Dr. Sloper
condemns Catherine's lack of common sense and silent personality. It was true
that she was in love, she was surely very quiet about it; but the Doctor was of
course prepared to acknowledge that her quietness might speak volumes. She had
told Morris Townsend that she would not disclose him to her father, and she saw
no objective to retract this pledge of discretion. Her very simplicity of nature
is conceivably a mirror of the tasteful home that depicts Dr. Sloper's concern
of indecency. Dr. Sloper's feelings of etiquette entangle his characters within
their societal standard and show their feelings as they conflict with the
prevailing uncertainties of the times. The author does show Dr Sloper’s
significant biased of rich and poor, educated and uneducated, mannered and ill
mannered. He uses the customs of society as stamped by Dr. Sloper's strong
psyche of propriety.
The novel is perplexing enough to exactly sort out what Doctor Sloper's motives
were. Did he really detest Morris Townsend or was he just trying to keep his
daughter from marrying anyone at all? In spite of the limited number of
characters and plainness of plot, the novel shows a conflict of virtue. At the
heart of this hostility is Dr. Sloper. The moral force of this novel lies in the
inconsistency of Dr. Sloper's wrong-rightness. This incongruity, of course,
assumes that Dr. Sloper is not only right about Morris Townsend's intent as
primarily a fortune hunter who will bring unhappiness to Catherine, but also
that Dr. Sloper is wrong to deny his daughter an inheritance based on her
intentions to marry Morris Townsend. However, Dr. Sloper might not be completely
right about Morris Townsend. And if he isn't right in assuming the worst for
Morris, then clearly Dr. Sloper is the one-sided brute of the novel.
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There is enough indication in the text to presume that Morris Townsend has large
interest in the wealth of Catherine. As Dr. Sloper inquires of Townsend's sister
of the young man's character, it sounds that the marriage would be a blunder for
Catherine. This problem is critical to the moral meaning of the book, for it
makes us assured that Catherine's marriage to Morris Townsend would make her
unhappy. Dr. Sloper most adeptly shows his skill in the defamation of Morris
Townsend. Dr. Sloper has something to prove, and as he claims throughout the
book, he understands people very well.
Conclusion:
‘Washington Square’ tells how the dashing but indolent Morris Townsend tries to
win the heart of heiress Catherine Sloper against the opposition of her father.
Precise and rare, the book withstands a matchless social study of New York in
the mid-nineteenth century. The narrative of Washington Square is plentiful with
conventional instances, conventional in the sense that the moments indicate a
distinct action of high society. A new vision of American perspective emerges in
Henry James’s novels. Washington square shows shredded picture of lost hopes,
bigotry, narrowed and constricted lives, disintegrating frustrations of poverty
and isolation and sorrow, bitterness and cynicism. Henry James adheres on scenes
of familial life that imply the style of an earlier era of fiction that depended
on the mannerisms and movements of the upper class for substance.
This combination of cynicism and convention create realism, which is manifested
all through the novel. However, before deconstructing the character of
Catherine, it is important to regard the moments of societal convention that
heavily influences the narrative flow of Washington Square. Catherine, too, has
a bearing in many of these scenes though her significance manifests itself in
her actions and words by the conclusion of the novel. Morris Townsend puts forth
a gallant effort in the end of the novel to win Catherine back, yet, he too,
fails in his quest and slinks away to remain alone.
The chief beauty of the novel lies in its expression--by setting,
characterization, and dialogue--of its mild heroine's mood of long-suffering
forbearance. Everything is ordered, polite, still. The charming old square in
the pre-brownstone city, the small, innocent, respectful social gatherings, the
formal good manners, the curious reasonableness of the dialogues. Henry James
makes no attempt to enfold up his novel with pretty red bow. Rather the
characters are left, shredded and worn, to continue to live their lives still in
the midst of convention, soured and solitary.
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