Definition of Mood
As a coming-of-age novel, the mood of The Portrait of a Lady shifts drastically as Isabel moves from a naïve and innocent young woman to a jaded and beleaguered adult. The mood at the start of the novel is an energetic and excited one, as shown in the following passage:
She carried within herself a great fund of life, and her deepest enjoyment was to feel the continuity between the movements of her own soul and the agitations of the world. For this reason she was fond of seeing great crowds and large stretches of country, of reading about revolutions and wars, of looking at historical pictures.
As a coming-of-age novel, the mood of The Portrait of a Lady shifts drastically as Isabel moves from a naïve and innocent young woman to a jaded and beleaguered adult. The mood at the start of the novel is an energetic and excited one, as shown in the following passage:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She carried within herself a great fund of life, and her deepest enjoyment was to feel the continuity between the movements of her own soul and the agitations of the world. For this reason she was fond of seeing great crowds and large stretches of country, of reading about revolutions and wars, of looking at historical pictures.