The Portrait of a Lady is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who, "affronting her destiny,"[1] finds it overwhelming.

Isabel grows fond of Pansy, Osmond's presumed daughter by his first marriage, and wants to support her wish to marry Edward Rosier, a young art collector.

Isabel then learns that Ralph is dying at his estate in England and prepares to go to him for his final hours, but Osmond selfishly opposes this plan, threatening revenge if she proceeds against his disapproval.

"[3] The Portrait of a Lady has received critical acclaim since its first publication in The Atlantic Monthly, and it remains the most popular of James's longer fictions.

[citation needed] Contemporary critics recognise that James had pushed the analysis of human consciousness and motivation to new levels, particularly in such passages as Chapter 42, where Isabel meditates deep into the night about her marriage and the trap she seems to have fallen into.

[citation needed] James gave an in-depth account of Isabel's deepest terrors in his preface to the novel's 1908 New York Edition.

In particular, Isabel's final return to Osmond has fascinated critics, who have debated whether James sufficiently justifies this seemingly paradoxical rejection of freedom.

[5] In another critical article, "Rewriting Misogyny: The Portrait of a Lady and the Popular Fiction Debate", Paul M. Hadella mentions the similarities to Crane.

[8] The story was adapted as a Broadway play by William Archibald, which opened in December 1954, with Barbara O'Neil in the role of Madame Serena Merle.

[9] In 1968 the BBC produced a television miniseries of The Portrait of a Lady, starring Suzanne Neve as Isabel and Richard Chamberlain as Ralph Touchett.

The Portrait of a Lady was adapted in 1996 by New Zealand director Jane Campion, into a film starring Nicole Kidman as Isabel, John Malkovich as Osmond, and Barbara Hershey as Madame Merle.