Analysis of the Portrayal of the Female Protagonists in Henry James’ The Portrait of A Lady and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening Using Feminism Approach.

ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini, saya akan menganalisis penggambaran tokoh utama
wanita dalam dua novel, yaitu The Portrait of a Lady karya Henry James dan The
Awakening karya Kate Chopin dari sudut pandang feminisme. Kedua novel ini
menceritakan tentang wanita yang mengalami tekanan sosial dalam institusi
pernikahan pada akhir abad ke-19.
Isabel Archer dalam The Portrait of a Lady, seorang wanita yang mandiri
(independent), berjiwa bebas (free-spirited), ekspresif (expressive), dan pandai
(intelligent) berubah menjadi tunduk (compliant) dan nonasertif (unassertive)
setelah memasuki institusi pernikahan. Edna Pontellier dalam The Awakening,
seorang wanita yang tunduk (compliant), pendiam (reserved), dan patuh terhadap
kewajibannya (dutiful), berubah menjadi tidak tunduk (incompliant), ekspesif
(expressive), dan tidak patuh terhadap kewajibannya (undutiful) setelah berusaha
lepas dari perannya sebagai wanita. Pada akhirnya Edna memutuskan untuk
mengakhiri hidupnya karena tidak mendapat penerimaan dari masyarakat.
Dari hasil analisis, saya mendapatkan kesimpulan bahwa pada abad ke-19
terdapat ketidaksetaraan gender antara pria dan wanita di dalam institusi
pernikahan. Wanita hanya dianggap sebagai “yang Lain” seperti yang disebutkan
Simone De Beauvoir dalam bukunya, The Second Sex, yang menjadi acuan teori
feminisme dalam menganalisis kedua novel

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... ii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study .............................................................................1
Statement of the Problem ............................................................................3
Purpose of the Study ...................................................................................4
Method of Research ....................................................................................4
Organization of the Thesis ..........................................................................4
CHAPTER TWO: THEORY OF FEMINISM ..................................................6
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE PORTRAYAL
OF THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST
IN HENRY JAMES’ THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
USING FEMINISM APPROACH ...........................................................9
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF THE PORTRAYAL

OF THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST
IN KATE CHOPIN’S THE AWAKENING
USING FEMINISM APPROACH .........................................................21
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION ...................................................................32
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...............................................................................................36
APPENDICES
Synopsis of The Portrait of a Lady ...........................................................39
Synopsis of The Awakening ..................................................................... 40
Biography of the Authors ......................................................................... 41

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study
In the 19th century, women and men were expected to fill separate spheres

of society. Men were expected to live a public life, while women were bound to
their domestic work at home (Sailus). In other words, women’s freedom were
limited to the responsibilities as a mother and a wife. The inequality roles between
men and women make women socially considered as inferiors.
There are two notable authors who deal with the issue of women in the
19th century. The first is Henry James, one of the major figures and successful
writers in American literary realism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
century. In some of his works, James creates “female characters, women who are
independent of their social role, remaining strong in their personality” (Ludwig).
Some of his major works are Daisy Miller (1878), Washington Square (1880), and
The Portrait of a Lady (1881). The second author is Kate Chopin, one of the
important American women writers in the 19th century. In some of her works, she
“transcended simple regionalism and portrayed woman who seeks spiritual and

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sexual freedom amid the restrictive mores of nineteenth-century Southern society”
(“Kate Chopin 1851–1904”). As she raises taboo issue about women in her

second novel The Awakening (1899), she got a lot of criticism. Chopin is
“recognized for her pioneering examination of sexuality, individual freedom, and
the consequences of action—themes and concerns important to many later
twentieth-century writers” (“Kate Chopin 1851–1904”).
There are two novels that I will analyze in this study. The first novel is
Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady, which “stands as James’s contribution to the
great nineteenth-century novel” (Bellringer 59). The story is about an American
woman who feels oppressed mentally by her husband; however, she prefers to
stay in her awful marriage. The second novel I chose is The Awakening, Kate
Chopin’s most prominent work. The story is about an American woman who feels
oppressed by her role as a mother and a wife and commits suicide at the end to get
the freedom that she wants. The novel becomes a controversy in the 19th Century,
as “most critics regarded the novel as vulgar, unholy, and a misappropriation of
Chopin’s exceptional talent” (Sprinkle). However, later it is “re-discovered in the
late 20th century, bringing Chopin attention as a remarkable storyteller and
feminist writer” (Godin). I think both novels are compatible to be compared as
both novels deal with women in the 19th century.
I am going to analyze the portrayal of the protagonists because the stories
of the two novels happen around the female protagonists. According to Harry
Shaw in Dictionary of Literary Terms, portrayal “refers to the portrait

(*characterization) of individuals presented in literary selections” (295). Both
female protagonists of the novels are dynamic characters. By definition, dynamic

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character is ”one that does undergo important change in the course of the story”
(Baker).
As both novels happen around the 19th century, an age characterized by
gender inequality (“Women in the 19th Century”), I think it is suitable to use
feminism approach. Feminism is “the organized movement which promotes
equality for men and women in political, economic and social spheres”
(“Different Types of Feminist Theories”).
I choose the theory from Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949).
Simone De Beauvoir is a French existentialist philosopher and women’s rights
activist (“Simone De Beauvoir”). De Beauvoir states that man considers himself
as the self or the subject and woman as “the Other” or the object which causes
men to oppress women fundamentally. Her theory is to attack the facts which
make women regarded as “the Other”. By stating, “One is not born, but rather

becomes, woman” (De Beauvoir 330), she wants to prove that a woman is not
born as an inferior and feminine, but she is shaped by the society. De Beauvoir
also gives her negative view about marriage institution that makes women
subjugated by men. Thus, feminism approach will be used in analyzing the
portrayal of the female protagonists in order to make the readers understand the
portrayal better.

Statement of the Problem
The problems I would like to discuss in this thesis are:
1. How do the authors portray the female protagonist?
2. How is the change in characteristics of the protagonists related to feminism?

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Purpose of the Study
Based on the statement of the problems above, the purposes of the study
are:
1. To show how the protagonists are portrayed in the novels.

2. To show how the change in characteristics of the protagonists is related to
feminism.

Method of Research
I use the library research that includes reading and understanding the
primary texts which are Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady and Kate Chopin’s
The Awakening. Then, to support my analysis, I perform a research for additional
information, which is done through secondary reading from Simone De
Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Then I gather some information from the Internet
which supports my research. Lastly, I draw some conclusion from my analysis.

Organization of the Thesis
This thesis consists of five chapters, preceded by Table of Contents, and
Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which consists of Background of the
Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Method of Research, and
Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two deals with the theoretical background of
feminism. Chapter Three is the discussion on the portrayal of the protagonist of
Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady. Chapter Four is the discussion on the
portrayal of the protagonist of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. The last chapter,
Chapter Five, is the Conclusion. The thesis ends with Bibliography and

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Appendices, which consist of the synopses of the two novels and the biographies
of the authors.

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the portrayal of the female protagonists in Henry James’
The Portrait of a Lady and Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and relating it with
feminism theory in Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, I am going to draw
some conclusions in this chapter. Both the protagonists of the novels are women

who experience changes in their characteristics. Thus, they are dynamic characters.
Isabel Archer, the protagonist in Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady is an
American bachelorette. As her father lets her live by herself, she grows to be an
independent, free-spirited, expressive, and intelligent woman. However, she enters
the patriarchal system after she marries a man who controls her life totally. She
experiences a change in her characteristics and becomes compliant and unassertive.
From her characteristics before she gets married, it is shown that Isabel is free from
man’s authority, she is also independent financially by the great fortune she gets
from her uncle, on top of that, she is intelligent. Thus, it is obvious that she is an
ideal woman De Beauvoir mentions in her theory. From the analysis, Isabel’s
change in her characteristics before and after she gets married proves De Beauvoir’s

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theory that in a marriage, a woman is subjugated by a man and defined as “the
Other”.
Edna Pontellier, the protagonist in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening is an
American wife of a successful businessman and a mother of two children. At first,

Edna is portrayed as compliant, reserved, and dutiful. However, she experiences a
change in her characteristics when she is aware of her position as her husband’s
possession. Feeling oppressed by her husband, who forces her to be a motherwoman, she tries to escape from her roles as a mother-woman by losing her
womanly characteristics. Edna changes into an incompliant, expressive, and
undutiful woman. In accordance with De Beauvoir’s theory, Edna’s changes
represent her effort to escape from her being labelled as “the Other” by her husband.
However, it is still hard for the society to accept her new self, which leads her
committing suicide to get the freedom she yearns.
There are some similarities in both The Portrait of a Lady and The
Awakening. First, both stories have similar setting of time which is the late 19th
century. Second, both novels are about a woman who undergoes the oppression
from a man in a marriage. Last, both authors depict the negative view of marriage
institution in the late 19th Century, which suits the depiction of marriage institution
in De Beauvoir’s book The Second Sex. It is said that in a marriage, a woman is
defined as “the Other”.
Besides the similarities, these novels also have some differences. First, The
Portrait of a Lady tells a story about a bachelorette until she gets married, while
The Awakening tells a story about a wife who tries to escape from the oppression
she gets in her marriage. Second, the setting of place where the protagonists live is

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also different. Both are American women, but they live in different places. Isabel
moves to Europe and lives there after she gets married, while Edna lives in America.
Third, the ending of the story is different. Isabel in The Portrait of a Lady prefers
to stay in her dreadful marriage, while Edna in The Awakening decides to commit
suicide by drowning herself in the sea instead of going back to her family.
The decisions that the protagonists make describe that a woman does not
have a choice except to accept their role as a woman. Isabel who is once a free
woman becomes “the Other” in a marriage and cannot escape from it, while for
Edna, the only way to escape from her role as “the Other” is by committing suicide.
Thus, I conclude that marriage institution in the 19th Century is an unfair institution
for women as it provides unequal roles between men and women, the roles which
make women not to have freedom.
In my opinion there is a connection between where the protagonists live and
the decision that they take in the end of the story. America is known as a land of
freedom while Europe is very conventional. The conventional society in Europe
changes Isabel’s American idealism. Thus, at the end of the story, she decides to
conform the social rules to go back to her husband and sacrifices her freedom. On
the Other hand, Edna lives in America. Furthermore, it is known that although she
marries a Creole, she is not involved in the Creole society. As an American, she
feels different from them and feels unfamiliar with their culture. Therefore, it is
obvious that she still has her American idealism. Thus, after she is aware of the
oppression she gets from her husband, she does not want to sacrifice herself to go
back to her family and prefers to die to get the freedom she wants.

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I am of the opinion that these novels are worth-reading and interesting to be
analyzed. I find it surprising that both authors make a contrastive change in the
protagonists’ characteristics. James, as a realist, creates a character more lifelike
than Chopin, who portrays her woman character frontally. She creates in different
kind of woman, which causes the novel to receive a lot of criticism and to be banned
due to the taboo issue of women. However, through feminism approach, I can get a
better understanding of what both authors want to deliver. Concerning the writing
style, I find out that James uses more details in describing things than Chopin, who
writes the story simpler and not long-winded. Therefore, James makes the readers
easier to imagine the situation of every events that happen in the story.
After reading the novels and doing my profound analysis, I learn a lot about
women’s existence and the gender inequality between men and women, especially
in marriage institution. In the novels, both of the authors describe that women do
not have an equal position as men in the patriarchal society and how they can be
subjugated by men in the patriarchal society. The position of men and women is
constructed by the society, which leads to the perception that women are inferior to
men. However, I find it wrong for the system in society to make a woman as the
inferior because I believe that women, as human being, have the same rights as
men.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Texts
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Short Stories. New York: Bantam Dell,
1988. Print.
James, Henry. The Portrait of a Lady. Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited,
1996. Print.

References
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Kansas State University. 2000. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
Bellringer, Alan. Modern Novelists Henry James. London: Macmillan, 1988. Print.
“Biography.” KateChopin.org, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
“Biography of Henry James.” Grade Saver, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
“Brief Biography of Kate Chopin.” Bucknell University. 1999. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
“Compliant.” Entry 1. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New 8th ed. 2010.
Print.
“Compliant.” Entry 2. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster
Online, 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. New York: Vintage Book, n.d. PDF.

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“Different Types of Feminist Theories.” Caragillis, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
“Dutiful.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New 8th ed. 2010. Print.
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Ludwig, Meredith. “Henry James and His Women.” Northern Kentucky University,
n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2015.
“Reserved.” Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. New 8th ed. 2010. Print.
Sailus, Christopher. “Feminism in the 19th Century: Women’s Rights, Roles, and
Limits.” Study.com, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.
Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw Hill, 1972. Print.
Simkin, John. “Marriage in the 19th Century.” Spartacus Educational, Sep 1997.
Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
“Simone De Beauvoir.” A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.

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Sprinkle, Russ. “Kate Chopin’s The

Awakening: A Critical Reception.”

womenwriters.net, n.d. Web. 31 May 2015.
“Unassertive.” Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press, 2015. Web. 31 May
2015.
“Undutiful.” Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster Online, 2015.
Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
“Women in the 19th Century.” eNotes, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
“Women’s History in America.” Women’s International Centre, n.d. Web. 17 Oct.
2015.

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