Thesis Statement: Catherine Sloper chooses to love her father and her lover who both misjudge her loyalty of love, out of their own vanity. .
I. Plot Summary of Washington Square.
A. Austin Sloper, the domineering father.
B. Catherine Sloper, a simple minded daughter.
II. The Character's Goals.
A. The Positive Feel of Satisfaction.
B. The Future Hopes and Dreams.
III. Catherine's Loyalty of Love.
A. The Nature of Catherine.
1. Father's Avoidance.
2. Lack of Acceptance.
3. Into the hands of Townsend.
IV. Manipulation.
A. Morris Townsend, the immortal villain.
B. Aunt Penniman.
V. Resolve to Change.
Turner ii.
A. Victim and Victimizer.
The Loyalty of Love.
Washington Square by Henry James tackles love and loyalty on his very complex character, Catherine Sloper. The novel is set in Washington Square, New York in the mid 1800s. In the house, Catherine lives with her domineering father, Doctor Austin Sloper and his sister Lavinia Penniman. Doctor Sloper is a rich and popular physician while his sister is a widow starving for romance who is financially dependent upon her brother. Mrs. Penniman was left without a fortune and is prone to romantic fantasies unlike their pragmatic sister Mrs. Almond. She however is Doctor Sloper's favorite sister and confidante. .
Austin Sloper, himself is a widower. His wife Mrs. Catherine Sloper first gave birth to a baby boy of extraordinary promise who died at three years of age. Two years later Mrs. Sloper gave birth to a second baby. This baby was not a little boy of extraordinary promise like the first, which the Doctor promised himself he would make an admirable man. .
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Instead the sex would render the poor child in the Doctor's sense. The little girl was a disappointment and that was not the worst. The young mother would die just a week after giving birth (James).
She was named Catherine after her mother but did not take her mother's beauty, she was not ugly; she had a plain dull face lacking in charm but possessing a good heart.