Abstract This paper looks at the miserable characters in Henry James' novels "The Beast in the Jungle", "The Jolly Corner", and "Portrait of a Lady" as contrasted with the alone but happy character of Nick Dormer in "The Tragic Muse".
From the Paper "In contrast, Portrait of a Lady presents Ralph as an invalid who lives vicariously through a woman named Isabel Archer whom he leads to doom. He bestows upon her a large sum of money, despite his father's warning that fortune hunters will target her for it. Ralph replies, "That's a risk, and it has entered into my calculation"I"m prepared to take it" (p. 161). Ralph is financially generous to Isabel not out of love but out of a morbid fascination. He wants to see what she will do with it. When Isabel marries a gold-digger, she fulfills the victim role that Ralph's father had feared. Ralph's fascination with Isabel's life overcomes any concern he might have had for her welfare."
