Mrs. Penniman's Role in Henry James's Washington Square

Introduction

From the beginning of written fiction, authors have built their stories around the protagonist, often accompanied by one closely involved supporting character. This dynamic draws the reader into the story and helps define the boundaries and structure of the plot. Every so often, the world is treated to an author who can provide an important non-protagonist character who contributes as much to the story as the protagonist does. This is the case in the classic tale of Washington Square by Henry James. In this story, James works to present a narrative of love, defiance, obedience, greed, and heartache. While these themes are being developed, James provides the reader with the character of Mrs. Penniman, who plays a crucial part throughout. Mrs. Penniman impacts the life of Catherine in an almost constant manner, in both positive and negative ways. She is the one who causes Catherine to make many of the choices she makes regarding her love for Morris and her handling of the hatred her father feels toward him. Mrs. Penniman is a central figure to the entire plot of the story, though she is not by most definitions a protagonist.

To fully understand the impact and influence that Mrs. Penniman — Catherine's aunt — has in the story, it is important to have a grasp of the novel itself. Washington Square is the story of a plain girl named Catherine who falls in love with a pauper named Morris Townsend. Her father is furious because he believes Townsend is really only interested in the fortune Catherine's mother left her when she died. Catherine has been raised not to defy her father, and in that upbringing she has not developed the self-confidence that would initially allow her to do so. Mrs. Penniman is the sister of Catherine's father and therefore Catherine's aunt. She plays a most crucial part in the entire story because, without her direction, meddling, and interference, the story would come to a halt at the first objection by Catherine's father to keep the lovers apart (James).

Overview of Washington Square

Mrs. Penniman has a streak of imagination that, in the era in which the story is set, would be considered wild by any standard. She is a widow, she is lonely, and she carries something of a grudge against the bossy and controlling attitude of her brother, Catherine's father. Because she is a bored older woman, she decides to turn the relationship of Morris and Catherine into an amusing hobby, spending the entire novel moving between the two of them and pulling strings like a puppeteer.

Mrs. Penniman's Character and Motivations

In addition to her meddlesome attitude, she becomes completely taken with Townsend. Perhaps this is because she is lonely herself, or because she believes that if she were a bit younger she might catch the eye of someone like him. Whatever the reason, she spends the novel manipulating Catherine to please Morris (James). If Morris wants Catherine to love him, Mrs. Penniman works on her niece to ensure she does. If Morris feels the time has come to let Catherine go — which happens several times — the aunt works to keep him in their lives through her own private contact with him. She gives him whatever he wants and maintains his presence in Catherine's life, partly so that she can continue to enjoy his company herself.

Conclusion

This reading is supported by the conventions of the psychological novel, a form in which external characters often embody the internal conflicts of the protagonist. James, widely regarded as a master of psychological realism, uses Mrs. Penniman not merely as a plot device but as a mirror of Catherine's suppressed desires, ambivalence, and growing assertiveness. As Catherine gains strength throughout the novel, her relationship with her aunt deteriorates — a symbolic shedding of the divided inner self that the aunt represents.

Anyone who reads the novel will recognize the importance of the aunt's character with regard to Catherine. She alternately presents the devil's advocate point of view alongside a sisterly attitude as she maneuvers the situation surrounding Catherine and Morris.

The aunt and the niece share an adversarial relationship at best. The aunt wants to keep Morris in the niece's life so that she does not have to give him up herself. Furthermore, if the reader views the aunt as a projection of the niece's inner self, the strength Catherine continually gains throughout the story helps her free herself from the aunt's influence, and by the novel's end Mrs. Penniman no longer holds importance in Catherine's life. In this way, James crafts a story in which the most psychologically significant character is not the heroine herself, but the woman who shadows her throughout — meddling, manipulating, and ultimately illuminating the path Catherine must take to become her own person.

James, Henry. Washington Square. 1990.