ABSTRACT
The extraordinary pattern of discovery, self-discovery and self-assertion by which Maggie's consciousness develops in the second half of the book is clearly its most powerful and authentic representation. If there are reasons why the Prince is a doubtful artifice, if Verver is shadowy and Charlotte a fragmentary presence, the revelation of Maggie is the heart of it all and gives to The Golden Bowl its character of Bildungsroman and of sentimental education. The shape of a classical novel form emerges through the obliquity. The transfer of consciousness ± or the evolution of its independence ± is drawn with a gradualness that carries its perfect conviction. And the movement from awareness through self-awareness to policy and decision marks the transformation of the self in terms of the growth and use of its powers.
