Selfless Love V Egotism: Women's Power and Role in Henry James's the Jolly Corner

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Further, in The Jolly Corner women perceive the reality of the male protagonist's past and never compare the male protagonist with his ideal form. Alice perceives the jolly corner mansion as fundamentally reflecting Brydon's past. In the past one third century, whether in Europe pursuing a career in art, or in New York working in the business field, Alice discerns that Brydon's past life is based fully on his comfortable financial status created by the prosperous New York leases. Whether going abroad or staying home, Alice perceives that the past Brydon is a capitalist, represented by the ugly ghost, who has "a million a year" and has no reason in his logic but of dollars (James 340). Knowing Brydon's "selfish frivolous scandalous" life, Alice, nonetheless, accepts this past version of Brydon (James 321). Alice also accepts the present version of Brydon. Not only does she accept both versions of Brydon, she never makes an idealized form of him and compares it with the real and imperfect Brydon. In this way, Alice's view of Brydon signifies realism and acceptance in women when they are in relationships as they accept men no matter what versions.

Men, in The Jolly Corner, however, because they continue to await the arrival of a distant ideal, remain passive and afraid of love. Alice shows Brydon her love by being close to him and trying to kiss him (James 322). Seeing Alice's affection, Brydon appears to be carelessly motionless (James 321). He does not say a word to either accept or reject. He even draws back from Alice when she tries to kiss him (James 322). In reality, there is a subtle but intimate connection between Brydon and Alice during his alter ago discovery, as Brydon constantly relies on Alice for information about the ghost. Alice is Brydon's only confidant, who continuously waits by his side to help. Brydon does not explicitly acknowledge such intimate relations, nor does he show Alice any affection. Instead, Brydon uses his obsession on a potential past as an excuse to not acknowledge the present intimacy between him and Alice. If Brydon embraces Alice's love, he could live a life with happiness. However, it is the passiveness and cowardice, which drive him from this meaningful life with Alice.

Although women in The Jolly Corner are invisible in eyes of passive and unrealistic men, by taking the initiative and inspiring men to reconcile with their potential versions, women subtly become the anchoring power controlling men in the text. For example, Alice is the first person to explicitly bring attention to what Brydon would become had he stayed home. Without Alice, Brydon will not even think of a past version of him living in the jolly corner mansion. In this way, she orchestrates Brydon’s discovery of his own alter ego. She deliberately suggests a path for Brydon to follow as she steers Brydon to think he has a real wit in business and would be involved in inventing the skyscraper (Jame 316). Further, in their first visit to the jolly corner mansion, she says "the old association [seems] to stay", which tends to be out there in the dark (James 317). Alice uses "old association" and "stay" to lead Brydon to think that a past figure might be in the mansion (James 317). A means to get to the alter ego is to search in the dark. Alice also mentions that "you" might live in the jolly corner house (James 319). "You" has a double meaning (James 319). The outward meaning could be simply a suggestion to live in such mansion. Connecting such statement to Alice's claim of seeing the ghost twice in her dreams, and assuring Brydon that there is a "ghost of one" in the mansion, collectively, the inward meaning is that she knows the apparition is Brydon, and the apparition lives at the jolly corner house (James 319). Thus, Alice is the essential agency for Brydon to meet his alter ego and she holds power throughout the plan.

While women in The Jolly Corner take the initiative to successfully gain men's love, women in The Beast in the Jungle, passively wait for men and die without a marriage, suggesting it is essential for women to gain power in a relationship in order to win men's love in the end. In both texts, whether through the recovery of the past, or the contemplation of the future, both females May and Alice are selfless in love. They sacrifice their youth waiting alongside Marcher and Brydon, respectively, embracing both versions of them. In this way, both women deserve men's love at the end. Brydon embraces Alice's love, however, May dies a spinster (Haralson, Johnson 210). The different outcomes result from those women's differences in passiveness as Richard Hocks points out (Hocks 203-5. cited in Albers 391). Alice is not just waiting for Brydon to love her. Alice, rather, takes tangible initiative to show her love to Brydon verbally and physically. Through taking the initiative, she gains power in the relationship. Even though May is the essential agency for Marcher to find his alleged future, May is passively receiving visits from Marcher her whole life and never explicitly shows Marcher her affection, which causes her die without a committed marriage. Both of those texts suggest the importance of women taking actions and gaining power in a relationship.

Ironically, even though women maintain power in The Jolly Corner, they only achieve visibility by performing subservient roles, such as being confidants, to men in their lives. Before Alice brings Brydon's attention to his alter ego, he never views Alice as a visible person, but, as a "flower" and a "reward of his effort"(James 316). Alice achieves her visibility by using her intelligence, fabricating a ghost-hunting story to help Brydon discover what he lacks or have been. However, during the process of discovery, Alice acts submissively when she is with Brydon. She answers "intimately" to Brydon and does not "chatter" (James 319). She just listens, encourages, and agrees to Brydon's utterance and hardly goes further into deep discussion unless Brydon initiates (James 319). In this way, she performs a subservient role rather than being on equal standing with Brydon. Though Alice is subtly in control of the alter ego discovery plan, Brydon is the beneficiary, which indicates her role is of service to Brydon rather than for herself. Despite of the fact that Brydon treats Alice poorly and never shows her any affection before the story's ending, she is never presented with a choice to give up Brydon and choose another life. Therefore, it shows that women can only be visible to men by submissively serving them.

The visibility of women is not limited to the time they are alive; in fact, it can be

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