The Aspern Papers

The narrator is fascinated by Juliana due to his worship of Aspern. Tita Bordereau’s aunt, Juliana Bordereau had a relationship with Jeffrey Aspern many years earlier, and several of the poet’s most famous lyrics are about her. The narrator speculates about their relationship throughout the novella, but because Tita destroys the papers, its nature is never detailed. Juliana is characterized through the narrator’s perspective, which is defined by the tension between how Aspern represented her and how she appears in person many years later. Despite his fascination with Juliana as a representative of Aspern, he is also upset at the disconnect between his image of her and the reality of her as a “terrible relic” (64). Similarly, while Aspern represented her eyes as incredibly beautiful, they are hidden during the novella by a “horrible green shade” (64), which Tita says she wears to protect them. The narrator is also appalled at her focus on money, which is at odds with his idealized impression of her from Aspern’s poetry.

Juliana is represented as cunning. Throughout the novella, the narrator becomes suspicious that she knows he is after the Aspern papers, suggesting that she is perceptive. She is more intelligent than her niece, and the narrator is confident that much of what Tita says and does is on her aunt’s instructions. Juliana is unkind to her niece, but evidently cares about her. She is very derisive of Tita, but clearly eager to ensure that she will be taken care of after Juliana’s death, whether with money from the narrator’s extortionate rent or, ideally, with him as a husband. Juliana is a complex character, and her role in the novel is not defined as either protagonist or antagonist. While her actions appear generally well-intentioned, at least in relation to supporting her niece, she functions as an antagonist in the narrator’s opinion because she is the most significant obstacle to what he wants most: The Aspern papers.

Tita suggests that Juliana used to talk about Aspern but no longer does, suggesting that something has changed as she has aged. Tita notes that her aunt cares deeply about the papers. However, she is very private, and appears willing to sacrifice something she loves rather than letting it become public knowledge, at least without a significant reward (arranging a marriage for her niece).

Tita Bordereau, the niece of Juliana Bordereau, and is an unmarried, middle-aged woman who lives with her aunt in the dilapidated castle. Tita is described as a “long, lean, pale person,” who speaks with “a kind of mild literalness,” and is generally represented as shy (59). The narrator and other characters view her as plain and unassuming. The narrator characterizes her in terms of what she is not: “her face was not young, but it was simple; it was not fresh, but it was mild. She had large eyes which were not bright, and a great deal of hair which was not ‘dressed’, and long fine hands which were – possibly – not clean” (60). By describing Tita based on what she is not, James emphasizes the plainness of her identity and circumstances. As a spinster, her role in society is largely determined by what she lacks: A husband. The description of Tita as a nonentity is also significant because much of her identity is based on what her aunt tells her to say or how her aunt expects her to behave.

James characterizes Tita as suggestible. The narrator observes that he can tell which of her speeches are from her own thoughts, and which her aunt has instructed her to make, which seem rehearsed. These rehearsed speeches foreshadow Tita’s proposition to the narrator at the climax of the novel: That he marry her in exchange for the letters. This proposition has clearly been orchestrated by Juliana, but Tita carries it out after her aunt’s death. While the proposal is self-interested, in that marrying the narrator would provide security and end her “spinsterhood,” James also portrays Tita as loyal and dutiful.

Note. The 1908 New York edition renamed Tita as Tina, so both variations are present in different editions of the text.