『여인의 초상』에 나타난 제임스 형제의 경험론|RISS 상세보기

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This thesis tries to analyze the consciousness of the characters in Henry James's The Portrait of a Lady. This is based on the characteristics of consciousness Williams James details in his work, The Principles of Psychology. It is worthy of note that existing research about The Portrait of a Lady was so focused on Isabel's consciousness that the importance of the other characters in the novel has been overlooked. So this thesis seeks to readdress the balance.
According to William James, our experience influences human consciousness. We can say then Isabel's consciousness is largely determined by her experience
with other people. In The Principles of Psychology, William James believed that human minds are brains, and considered brain cells to be part of the body, and their function can be analyzed by dissection. He also emphasized the importance of habits acquired through our repetitive experiences. Notably, he insisted that we could even accumulate our ethical forces through our habits. In modern times, the brain's plasticity has been proven through the development of PET Studies. It is widely known that Williams James's thoughts can be found in Henry James's novels. This is shown through the psychology of the characters in The Portrait of a Lady, where we can find the characteristics of consciousness
William James talks about in The Principles of Psychology. When arriving at the Gardencourt, Isabel was so innocent, ignorant of evil and had little life experience. In Europe, she got to meet various people and experience many things she had never done before. Although many people were good to her, the immature Isabel experienced evil due to her own extreme stubbornness. William James insists that we have the power to guess 'the unseen' from 'the seen', and our experiences can help us to determine this. Isabel experienced goodness and evil from her proposers,
Gardencourt's people and Palazzo Rocarena's people. William James suggests that consciousness is extremely subjective as it is determined by our past experiences.
Isabel's consciousness was also subjective but now she can see Osmond and Madame Merle differently. And her final decision to return to Rome makes not only people around her but also the readers surprised. Many critics think that the decision is the result of her mental growth. This thesis agrees with them but charts the path of her mental growth very differently when compared to prior research. William James thought we could also accumulate our ethical consciousness in the brain through repetitive ethical thoughts and activities. Relating Isabel's
consciousness to his theory, the contemporary American ethical spirit kept true to, her ethical practice and Pansy, willed her to return to Osmond. The structure of this thesis is as follows. It looks at Isabel's mental limitations, her
mental growth and her final decision. This is similar to some other critics, but unlike theirs, this interpretation of The Portrait of a Lady is focused on the characteristics of William James's consciousness, especially the materiality of consciousness. This will prove to be meaningful study adding value to this body of research in this area.

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