Washington Square
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| Written by: | Henry James |
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| Synopsis: | |
| First published: | December 1, 1880 |
Henry James's Washington Square tells the story of Catherine Sloper, a cripplingly shy woman who lives with her widowed father, Dr. Austin Sloper, and his flighty sister, Lavinia Penniman. Viewed by everyone as lacking personality, it's a big surprise when handsome and charming Morris Townsend takes an interest in her after meeting her at a party. Within weeks, they are saying they love each other and even consider getting engaged. Dr. Sloper thinks there is something not quite right about this match. After all, what kind of man would actually be attracted to such a dull girl?
Originally written in 1880, it was adapted into a play and retitled The Heiress in 1947. It was made into a movie in 1949 with the play's title starring Olivia de Haviland, Ralph Richardson, Miriam Hopkins, and Montgomery Clift, and won de Haviland an Oscar. It was adapted to film again under the original title in 1997 starring Jennifer Jason Leigh.
The plot is simple and self-contained, with a lot of Talking Is a Free Action, but the extensive narration and dialog serve to fully develop the four main characters in a way that is hard to do otherwise and is perfectly appropriate for the story being told. A subversive story that plays with a lot of love and romance tropes of its time and even now, its resolution stands out.
Tropes used in Washington Square include:
- Break the Cutie : A double-whammy for Catherine. The first one comes from her father during their stay in Europe; when she tells him she still plans to marry Morris, he gives a speech lathed with sarcasm, comparing her to a mindless animal whose "value is twice as great" after her experiences abroad, ending it with "We have fattened the sheep before he kills it!"
- Second comes from Morris--after finding out that Catherine will not be as rich as expected, he turns his inner Jerkass Up to Eleven and starts treating her like crap hoping it will turn her off him, and when that fails, he just dumps her out of nowhere.
- The Charmer: Morris.
- Deadpan Snarker; Dr. Sloper--most of his dialog with Catherine is nothing but snark.
- The Ditz: Aunt Penniman, no doubt!
- Foil: Marian Almond, Catherine's cousin, who is extroverted, conventional, and gets married at her earliest convenience. Note that this is a non-antagonistic example, as Marian was the closest thing Catherine had to a friend growing up and they are still somewhat close at the time of the story.
- Genre Savvy: Aunt Penniman's meddling in Catherine's life is her deliberately playing the role of The Matchmaker in a lot of romance stories. Deep down, she is perfectly aware of what is really going on, but doesn't let it get in the way of her foolish romantic delusions.
- Gold Digger: Dr. Sloper assumes that Morris is this. He's right!
- Jerkass: Dr. Sloper, Morris.
- Love At First Sight: Seems to be this for Catherine and Morris at first.
- Maiden Aunt: Aunt Penniman is a widow, but she never sought out another man after the death of Rev. Penniman, and is content living her romantic fantasies through her niece and Morris.
- Master of None: Catherine was trained in a variety of skills as a child, including singing and the piano, but as an adult she has no particular talent in any of them except embroidery.
- Missing Mom: Catherine's mother died shortly after she was born.
- Naive Everygirl: A major part of the story is Catherine maturing out of this trope.
- Oedipus Complex:Inverted--Morris actually can't stand Aunt Penniman, but she is both attracted to him and he reminds her of the son she wish she'd had.
- Only Sane Man: Mrs. Almond, Dr. Sloper's other sister, who is the most reasonable person in the story by a long shot. She thinks her brother's handling of the Morris situation and treatment of Catherine in general are needlessly cruel while at the same disagreeing with Aunt Penniman's meddling, guessing correctly that Morris is a Gold Digger.
- Old Maid: A bit of subtext in the story is the other characters' belief that due to Catherine's shyness and "dullness", she will never find a man and will end up as this. When the story skips ahead 20 years, it concludes with Catherine at age 40, unmarried, and childless. However, Catherine chose never to marry, and is perfectly content with her life and comfortable in her own skin in a way that she was never as a younger woman when she had to worry about pleasing her father or fulfilling social obligations of courtship and marriage, a very rare positive twist of this trope.
- Overprotective Dad: Dr. Sloper's attitude towards Morris seems like this on the outside... but in reality, he is trying to protect his money, not his daughter.
- Plain Jane: Catherine, and while she never has a Beautiful All Along moment, the narrator and other characters describe that she has the kind of looks that would be better suited to an older woman than a 20 year old, making this perhaps a delayed version of She's All Grown Up.
- Promotion to Parent: Mrs. Montgomery, Morris's older sister who more or less raised him after the death of their parents.
- Relationship Sabotage: Dr. Sloper takes Catherine with him to Europe for a year to make her forget about Morris.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Being a work of Henry James, practically the modern Trope Codifier, the language can be purple-ly and hard to grasp at times. Incidentally, contemporaries praised the book for being more straightforward in comparison to his other works.
- Shipper on Deck: Aunt Penniman, arguably a Deconstruction of this type of character as her obsession with getting Catherine and Morris together is treated as unhealthy.
- Shrinking Violet: Catherine, to the point where every time she asserts herself seems like a Moment of Awesome.
- Well Done Daughter Girl: Catherine begins the story desperate for her father's approval.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Dr. Sloper not-so-secretly despises his daughter--she's not even a shadow of her beautiful clever mother in his eyes. Not only that, but she is The Unfavorite compared to her brother who died before she was even born! In his heart he probably feels she should have died instead.
- The Will: Catherine already receives $10,000 yearly from her mother's estate, and by default she is going at get an additional $30,000 after her father's death. Dr. Sloper already considers Catherine an Inadequate Inheritor, and makes it very clear to her that he will change his will to completely disinherit her and donate his money to various organizations after his death. He ends up doing it, too... which is why Morris breaks it off with Catherine.
- Will They or Won't They?: They don't--Morris comes to see her when they are both approaching middle-age after failing to hit it big. Catherine says that she does not hate him, but has no interest in having any kind of relationship, with him or anyone.
The Heiress uses most of the tropes above, in addition to:
- Pragmatic Adaptation: Most of the changes were carried over from the play, and were made arguably due to being more dramatically interesting:
- Dr. Sloper's Break the Cutie tirade against Catherine is much more direct--he basically states flat-out that she is plain, boring, and the only thing a man would want of hers is her money. Additionally, while in the book Catherine becomes detached from her father, in the movie it becomes a clear hatred, even refusing to see him on his deathbed. Her disposition overall after her experience is colder than what was portrayed in the book, and ironically, more clever.
- Due to studio mandated changes in Morris's character, instead of what he does in the book, the night they are supposed to marry, he tells her he will come for her in a carriage. She eagerly waits all night for him, but he never comes. Less openly malicious than what he does in the part, but arguably even more traumatizing for Catherine.
- The issue of the will which drove a lot of the plot is handled differently, too. Dr. Sloper does not have it in his heart to change his will, and Catherine gets everything when he dies.
- The answer to Catherine and Morris's Will They or Won't They? is the same, but it is played differently: When Morris comes to see her, she actually does act as if she wants to rekindle their romance. She tells him she wants to marry that night, and tells him to leave and get a carriage while she gets her things ready. Morris comes back with the carriage and knocks on Catherin's door... but no one ever answers.