I haven’t brought the Countess Gemini back into my sequel to “The Portrait of a Lady” yet except for a look back on the day Osmond found out of his sister’s betrayal and banished her from the Palazzo Roccanera forever. They had words and then she was gone. I’ve been waiting to reintroduce her as she is the one capricious female character in the novel. She is the story’s lightweight; lives for society, fashion, gossip and love affairs. Isabel, a high-minded American with an intellectual bent, pays little attention to her and Madame Merle would love to write her off but the countess knows too much of that lady’s history with her brother to be cavalier regarding her.
In TPOAL, the Countess Gemini is married to an Italian count who is “odious.” We don’t know much about him other than that he is a "very bad husband" and controls his wife by withholding money. She is not exactly a puritan herself and lives the exact sort of life Henrietta Stackpole warned Isabel against; shady characters in a corrupt society leading fraudulent lives with low morals and no earthly purpose. It seems our heroine landed herself smack dab in the midst of this milieu in the Old World and everyone is worried about her throughout James’s tale.
Although Isabel gives the countess short shrift, it is the countess who finally fills her in on the details of her husband’s past with Madame Merle and Pansy’s maternity. The countess said she was bored with her not knowing. She was sick of Osmond walking all over this innocent American who had too much integrity, too much desire to please. The countess didn’t exactly do any one any favors but since Osmond’s use of the higher ground was in her opinion, a sham, she’d finally had enough of her brother. She didn’t admire naiveté in a grown woman (Isabel) and wanted to see Osmond taken down a bit. She likes Isabel even though, as she says, Isabel doesn’t much care for her. She doesn’t owe any loyalty to Madame Merle so she spilled the beans. For one of the TPOAL's minor characters, she plays a huge role in the end.
Now I’m going to bring her back in the sequel as a woman who has left her husband, has no money and nowhere to go. Henrietta will take up her cause. Good old Henrietta, one of the book’s more capable characters. I feel the only way I can help all these women is to have them go into business or find useful work. That’s the American spirit, the modern way.
But she’ll have to carry her weight in this story. I’ve too many characters floating around not really contributing much to the plot. Actually, there isn’t a plot. I’m building chapter by chapter and to be truthful, not much is happening so far. I’m just resurrecting HJ's characters while not exactly doing much with them. I’d introduce new characters but I’m afraid I’ll go to far afield and not be able to find my way back. I knew writing a sequel to this long, nuanced novel would not be a cakewalk. I have thoughts of putting it aside as James himself did. He left it to incubate for about four or five years. But I’m into it for fifteen chapters so onward and upward and all that.
No comments:
Post a Comment