53 pages • 1-hour read
The Lioness of Boston
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Isabella Stewart Gardner
Content Warning: The novel and the guide reference infertility, miscarriage, suicide, and infant death.
Isabella is the narrator and protagonist of the novel. The plot follows her growth and development over most of her life, from the time when she is a young bride up until her death in 1924. Isabella is a well-educated and privileged woman who grows up in an affluent family, marries a rich man and eventually inherits significant wealth from her father. She is very cosmopolitan and is often happiest when traveling, especially to Italy. In general, Isabella is stimulated by growth, learning, and new experiences.
As a young woman, Isabella often feels adrift and lonely; she has a keen longing for a purpose to animate her life and also craves community. Isabella’s primary conflict as a character revolves around her search for purpose and belonging. Initially, she believes that becoming a mother will resolve this conflict, but pregnancy and birth do not fully satisfy her.
Isabella returns to feeling adrift after she suffers a series of tragic losses and learns that she will not be able to have biological children. As she develops as a character, Isabella repeatedly confronts losses and abrupt transitions: She becomes the guardian to her young nephews; her romantic relationship with Crawford ends suddenly; her eldest nephew dies by suicide; and Jack eventually dies, leaving her to live the final decades of her life as a widow. All of these life transitions impact Isabella, but she consistently displays resilience. Isabella’s strength is largely driven by her desire for stimulation and new experiences. As she reflects, “wanting resuscitates us” (189).
Isabella’s stubborn, rebellious, and idiosyncratic nature is arguably her defining trait. This aspect of her character remains consistent throughout the narrative. As Isabella grows and matures, she becomes more able to accept this aspect of her identity. As a young, newly married woman, Isabella strives to fit in and feels frustrated by being different; her feelings are hurt when she observes “it is one thing to imagine being shunned but quite another to have it proven” (17). As she grows older, Isabella becomes more comfortable expressing her opinions even if this leads to friction with those close to her. She engages in flamboyant behavior but because she accepts herself, other people also accept her. While Isabella is initially subject to social ostracism and shaming, comments on her behavior gradually become more bemused and tolerant. This suggests the power of confidence and how public perceptions shift as women grow older. By the time she is in her forties and older, Isabella can live unapologetically on her own terms and merely be treated as eccentric.
Isabella is eventually rewarded for persistently living life on her own terms. She is also buoyed by her wealth, which gives her both freedom and social status. Isabella can afford to be eccentric because she is too rich to ever be completely banished from elite society and people will always value her influence and status as a benefactor.
The novel presents Isabella as a complex character who possesses both positive and negative traits. She often advocates for the interests of marginalized individuals, including artists, liberal thinkers (including early advocates for women’s rights), individuals from working-class backgrounds, gay men, and Jewish people. Because of her assertive and independent tendencies, Isabella is presented as someone who suffers due to being ahead of her time.
At the same time, Isabella is relentless and acquisitive. She purchases artworks and cultural items from many countries, including countries impacted by colonialism, and removes them to America. Isabella is primarily interested in cultivating beauty as a way to help people and does not pay much attention to more practical or immediate needs (such as food, shelter, education, and more). Isabella’s relentless pursuit of her desires, regardless of the consequences, appears most starkly in her extramarital affair with Crawford. She rationalizes the relationship but it is never clear whether or not Jack would have tolerated it.
Isabella is intensely interested in control as well as acquisition: She stipulates that, after her death, nothing be moved or changed in her museum. Isabella’s confidence, ego, and uncompromising sense of self help her to navigate a turbulent life, but they also limit her character.
Jack Gardner
Jack is Isabella’s husband and an important secondary character. He is mild-mannered, patient, and loving toward Isabella. However, he is more conventional in his outlook and philosophy and sometimes struggles to understand Isabella’s beliefs and priorities. Jack shares some of Isabella’s interests, as he also enjoys travel and art. He demonstrates how well he knows his wife when he takes her on their first significant trip abroad in 1867: Jack correctly intuits that travel will help Isabella recover emotionally from a series of tragic losses.
However, Jack sometimes becomes frustrated by Isabella’s unconventional behavior. When she complains about being excluded from a party, he dismissively tells her to “reuse the anger in a more productive manner” (91). Later, he also hints at his desire for a more traditional wife, saying “[W]hy can’t you just be normal?” (94). The difference in Isabella and Jack’s personalities sometimes makes Jack insecure to the point that he asks: “I cannot discern whether you are happy or merely tolerating me” (215). Over the arc of their marriage, Jack is generally a loving and supportive partner, but he cannot always fully understand or relate to his wife. His character remains relatively consistent and static without experiencing significant development, which is depicted as partially a flaw but also why he is able to be a stable and supportive presence in Isabella’s life.
Joe Gardner
Joe is the eldest of Isabella and Jack’s three nephews: He is the son of Joseph Gardner (Jack’s brother) and Harriet. Isabella and Jack become Joe’s guardians when he is orphaned. Joe is sensitive and melancholy; he often feels a sense of isolation and a lack of belonging. There is a strong implication that Joe is sexually attracted to other men. Isabella imagines “Joe and a charming man on Joe’s new farm on the North Shore” (296). Joe’s orientation leaves him fearful. At this time in history, it is often illegal and unsafe to engage in same-sex relationships.
Joe impacts Isabella’s character development by providing her with the opportunity to nurture and guide someone. Isabella strives to help Joe feel happier and encourages him to believe that he will find community. She imagines how “it was intrinsic to our survival to figure out a thicker skin” (285). However, Joe is not able to believe in a hopeful future for himself and eventually dies by suicide. Joe is a foil for Isabella—a character who illuminates another character through contrasting qualities. Unlike Isabella, he shows that not all individuals are able to adapt and live life on their own terms. For Joe, the stakes are much higher than they are for Isabella. Through him, the novel demonstrates the risks that a socially repressive society can impose on individuals who fall outside of expected norms.
Julia Gardner
Julia Gardner is Jack’s sister and Isabella’s sister-in-law. Initially, she is Isabella’s close friend and confidante. Julia and Isabella became friends when they attended the same boarding school as adolescent girls; as a result of this friendship, Isabella first meets Jack.
Julia loves Isabella but is sometimes rendered uncomfortable by Isabella’s tempestuous nature. Julia is much calmer, more passive, and more willing to accept the norms and expectations of her social role as an upper-class woman in 19th-century America. Julia differs from Isabella in that she becomes a mother early in her marriage and then devotes most of her life to nurturing her children and fulfilling social obligations. Julia does not develop or grow as a character, which leads to a rift between her and Isabella. As she explains, “[Y]ou question where I want peace […] you know more, ask more and … hurt more. It’s not for me” (210).
The narrative eventually adds complexity to Julia’s character when she reveals that she lost a newborn but has chosen to repress that grief. Julia is also a foil for Isabella. She shows what the life of a woman could look like in that era if one is not driven by Isabella’s strong sense of self.
Frank Marion Crawford
Crawford is an American writer and Isabella’s lover. He is portrayed as a very striking, handsome, and charismatic man. When Isabella first glimpses him, she marvels at “the kind of beauty people had likely pointed out his entire life” (234). Crawford shares Isabella’s attraction and boldly pursues her, even though he knows that she is married. Crawford is sensual and affectionate toward Isabella and she becomes infatuated with him during their affair.
However, Crawford also proves to be cowardly and selfish when he abandons Isabella on the day they are supposed to meet. Years later, Crawford further reveals his character by inviting Isabella to meet him in New York City without any apologies or explanation. Crawford primarily sees Isabella as a muse, an object of inspiration and desire, but he cannot reconcile how much pain and grief he causes her. Crawford is a static character who doesn’t change throughout the novel; his lack of development is revealed by his attempt to reignite the affair at his convenience.
Crawford provides an opportunity for Isabella to demonstrate her own growth. She demonstrates her agency by breaking off the affair, even though she knows that a part of her will always desire him. She tells him that he is no longer the thing she yearns for, suggesting that she now seeks meaning in art and in experiencing the world.
Unlock analysis of every major character
Get a detailed breakdown of each character’s role, motivations, and development.
- Explore in-depth profiles for every important character
- Trace character arcs, turning points, and relationships
- Connect characters to key themes and plot points