Henry James's Washington Square

Henry James's short novel Washington Square presents the story of Catherine, a young woman who lives with her father, a doctor, and who is dependent on him for her livelihood. Her story represents the plight of women in the nineteenth century, dependent on men and able to escape from one situation only if they find another man to take care of them. The woman had less choice in this matter in the nineteenth century than women do today. Her choices were limited first by social standing and economic realities, and second by decisions made by the paternal figure watching over her before she was betrothed. The novel addresses gender issues James saw in his own time and suggests that women should be given greater freedom. Catherine becomes stronger in the course of the novel, and though she remains alone, she has made a choice that is entirely her own, asserting her right to decide how she will live her own life.

The man who courts her is an opportunist, but he is also representative of his time, a man who takes a view of women that was prevalent in the nineteenth century. The role of women in nineteenth-century society was largely subordinate to the male and was also limited to the household to a very great degree. Middle- and upper-class women had an ideal for women, and the perfect woman was one who was devoted to the care and attention of her husband and children. For the unmarried woman, such devotion was to be directed toward a good cause serving the community. So

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is not. His cruelty is constant, including direct verbal assaults on both women, but he has much more power than they in the patriarchal society in which they live: If his daughter and sister do not do as he wishes, he can disinherit them. Homelessness and poverty are very real possibilities for both Lavinia and Catherine in the world they inhabit, the Washington Square home governed by a domineering father whose idea of child-rearing is shaped by the idea of obedience (Goldfarb 44). Catherine's role in this world is determined from birth by the disappointment of her father, for Catherine "was an infant of a sex which rendered the poor child, to the Doctor's sense, an inadequate substitute for his lamented first-born, of whom he had promised himself to make an admirable man" (James 5). Of course, his definition of an admirable man would continue the same prejudices against women--in some ways, Dr. Sloper is not that different from Townsend except in the pride he takes in his own accomplishment. For his part, Townsend sees women as no more than objects to be used for his own needs, both sexual and financial. He seeks out women who can provide him with the funds he needs to live in the manner he prefers. Marriage for hi

Category: Literature - H