The Ambassadors, Henry James

"Miss Gostrey had dined with him at his hotel, face to face over a small table on which the lighted candles had rose-coloured shades; and the rose-coloured shades and the small table and the soft fragrance of the lady--had anything to his mere sense ever been so soft?--were so many touches in he scarce knew what positive high picture. He had been to the theatre, even to the opera, in Boston, with Mrs. Newsome, more than once acting as her only escort; but there had been no little confronted dinner, no pink lights, no whiff of vague sweetness, as a preliminary: one of the results of which was that at present, mildly rueful, though with a sharpish accent, he actually asked himself WHY there hadn't. There was much the same difference in his impression of the noticed state of his companion, whose dress was "cut down," as he believed the term to be, in respect to shoulders and bosom, in a manner quite other than Mrs. Newsome's, and who wore round her throat a broad red velvet band with an antique jewel--he was rather complacently sure it was antique--attached to it in front" (89-90).

Strether's first impressions of Europe are decidedly visual, with a focus on appearance and its effect on perception. In this moment at the beginning of the novel, Strether is struck by Maria Gostrey's neckline and the "broad red velvet band" she wears around her neck, and is even more taken aback by his observation of something that would have previously gone unnoticed. He feels that this cognizance serves to "complicate [...] his vision," and he finds himself "given over to uncontrolled perceptions" (90). Themes of vision and perception are highlighted through the novel, and Strether's burgeoning awareness of the implications of these themes becomes central. What are we to make of the significance that James' ascribes to vision and perception, distorted or otherwise? 

The novel illuminates the complex process of judgement and evaluation through Strether's own shifts in awareness, and does so in such a way that our perceptions are similarly unbalanced by the end of the novel. Strether learns to appreciate the subtleties of observation and the significance of evaluating every person and situation carefully and without bias, but the very nature of the characters within the novel and of Paris itself makes his journey a difficult one. He wishes for a pleasingly comfortable and aesthetic understanding of the world around him, and ultimately finds that the truths he discovers are unreconcilable to that desire. Strether initially finds it difficult to see past the "surface" of things, principally his perception of Chad and his relationship with Marie, and the limitations of his perspective can be seen. He is situated in the novel as a observer, further emphasizing the significance of "seeing," yet his observations often lack perception. Just as in Paris, where "what seemed all surface one moment seemed all depth the next," Strether finds that his interactions with the people he meets in Europe are unpredictable, and his own judgement must shift throughout the novel as a consequence (68).

How does James' preoccupation with visual perception frame the narrative and Strether's experiences? What does the interplay between false or mere surface perceptions and true insight of "depth" mean for our own evaluation of the novel and its characters?