ABSTRACT
In The Golden Bowl as in The Portrait of a Lady, one’s relation to seeing functions as an index of relative innocence or experience. Marriage ought never to be considered a contract between superior and inferior, but as the reciprocal union of interests, and implied partnership of interests, where all differences are accommodated by conference; and decision admits of no retrospect.” While Henry James Sr. argued for a greater freedom of divorce for those who failed to acknowledge marriage’s spiritual significance, he was sure that those who recognized marriage as a divine discipline would resist the idea of divorce as inimical to its sacred aspect. Indeed, according to Thomas Jefferson’s notes on the subject, “divorce prevents and cures domestic quarrels,” “preserves the liberty of affection,” and, by nullifying their feme covert status, “restores women to their natural right of equality.”
