Secrets are scattered through The Portrait of a Lady, forming a motif. The American-bred characters—who, on the whole, are franker and more prone to divulging—keep some secrets, but they are mainly harmless. An example of this is Henrietta hiding from Isabel that she told Goodwood where Isabel was staying so that he could come find her and try to convince her to come home to the United States. When Isabel finds out about this, she explicitly states, “I don’t like such surprises,” but she is easily able to tell Goodwood to leave before going on with her regular life.
The more serious and harmful secrets in the novel are kept by the European characters who lie in order to manipulate people and control money. While Ralph’s decision to secretly encourage his father to give Isabel a large inheritance may seem like the opposite of selfish manipulation, it is such for a couple different reasons. First, he wants to witness Isabel navigating her new-found wealth for his own pleasure (making it clear that he views it as a sort of science experiment). Second, the wealth Mr. Touchett leaves Isabel ends up causing her great harm because it makes her the target of further manipulation.
Osmond and Madame Merle’s big secret—that they had an affair for at least six years and that Pansy is actually their shared daughter—leads them to secretly manipulate Isabel to marry Osmond so that Pansy can live off of her wealth. In this way, the effects of their secret are much greater than those of the well-meaning Henrietta.
Unhappy marriages show up throughout The Portrait of a Lady, forming a motif. Isabel and Osmond’s marriage is the central example of this; Osmond treats Isabel as if she is just another one of his beautiful pieces of art (an object that exists for him and him alone) while she becomes depressed and embittered, losing her individualism and spark for life.
Osmond’s first relationship was also clearly unhappy, as he had a six-year-long affair with Madame Merle before his wife died. Osmond’s sister—the Countess Gemini—was also unfaithful to her husband. Further, Mr. and Mrs. Touchett have only been able to stay married as long as they have because they spend most of the year apart from each other (with Mrs. Touchett living in the United States most of the time). When the two are in the same place, they bicker and do not enjoy each other’s company.
With all of these unhappy marriages, James is intentionally challenging Victorian notions of marriage as an institution that guarantees a happily ever after. Inherent to this motif is James’s belief that marriage and female independence cannot coexist—in the process of becoming wives, women (at this point in history) also become property and give up all of their claim to their own wealth or independence.
