Sloughing off the burdens: Ada's and Isabel's parallel/antithetical quests for self-actualization in Jane Campion's film The Piano and Henry James's novel The Portrait of a Lady

In sexual encounters, women had more than an even chance to lose, whether by censure under the double standard, unwanted pregnancy and health problems, or ill-fated marriage. In this perspective, women might hail passionlessness as a way to assert control in the sexual arena-even if that "control" consisted in denial. (Cott 233)

She adds that women "downplay altogether their sexual characterization which was the cause of their exclusion from significant 'human' (i.e., male) pursuits" (Cott 233). In light of this, it is easy to see why Isabel, who is so profoundly interested in maintaining control of her self and her situation, would repress her sexuality. She is venturing into a world which had normally been experienced only by men-a world where she alone controls and owns her voice, her choices, and her fate.

How, then, can Isabel become free? The answer lies in the artistry of James as he creates in Isabel a work of art who functions realistically. James's "portrait" of Isabel is highly sensitive to real problems which faced any woman seeking to self-actualize in the nineteenth century. In order to be realistic, he makes Isabel deal with any and all elements that threaten her freedom to choose. It turns out that the most significant of these is her suppressed sexual self. Its undeniable existence makes things difficult for her, but the achievement of James's work is that he creates a female who realistically finds a way to self-assert, by overcoming distractions caused by her sexual desire, and despite the absolute impossibility of living up to the ideals placed before her by society. "Isabel's strength of character allows her to exercise her own freedom within this web of complexity and intrigue" (King 347). "Being a lady means achieving total unity of self" (Vopat 47). "James's novel seeks to accrete the values of femaleness qua subjectivity to an increasingly 'vulgar' commercial culture in an attempt to transcend it" (Sangari 723). He is in favor of "the civilizing power of the cultivated female consciousness," and for women he "asserts the power of impotence," which in turn gives rise to a "birth pang of mature awareness" (Sangari 734).

II

I will now direct the attention of this analysis back to the heart of this essay, a comparison of Piano and Portrait. The two works are interesting for the way they each portray female protagonists, who embark on quests for self-actualization and freedom3 within parameters set by Victorian standards, and who succeed in this because of their ability to discard the most significant burdens in their lives, those which have been preventing them from becoming liberated. Their choices transcend the competing forces of their natural selves and the expectations of civilization. Particularly fascinating is the way that both works present their heroines in such a way that-at corresponding moments of truth near the end of both the film and the novel-the audience is manipulated into "rooting" for the opposite choice than the one each heroine ultimately makes. However, there is almost simultaneously a sense of the overwhelming "rightness" of each heroine's choice when examined as the result ensured by events which have led up to it. Sensationally, each choice at first seems to represent an agonizing loss of freedom and happiness, but the revelation is that each choice really represents each heroine sloughing off the most crushing burdens which have been controlling her life, and actually preventing her from having the potential to gain true control of herself. For Ada, ultimate freedom involves the separation of herself from her piano. Because the piano is her, in effect, her revelation is paradoxical, because she must lose herself to find herself. In Portrait, the idea of freedom is elusive, best expressed by Sangari who says that Isabel's freedom has to do with the revelation that "maintenance of freedom is the suspension of its operation" (Sangari 731 ). As with Ada, Isabel's revelation is paradoxical.