Social and Psychological Interplay: Henry James's Use of Psychological Realism

Abstract

Interplay of social and psychological factors emphasize the reciprocal relationship between social setting and people environed. Psychological realism is employed to present a fragment of human reality, explores the influential nature of socio-psychological factors. Henry James best explores the governess's inability to fit into her social environment and to deal with her psychological impulses, which result in her madness, inThe Turn of the Screw. In "The Beast in the Jungle", James presents a paradoxical picture of Marcher's life, a life devoid of passion, because of his inability to experience consciously. James perceives the constant inter play between socio-psychological factors in the Strether's vision of reality inThe Ambassadors. Thus, 'Jamesian Perception' is immediate and physically connected to the individual and his milieu that builds up into psychological realism.