Story summary

ワシントン・スクエアのあらすじ

著者：ヘンリー・ジェイムズ

読了8分
11 parts
音声は近日公開

A shy heiress in Washington Square falls for a charming man her doctor father believes wants only her money.

無料で始めます Read the opening free, no sign-in

3 months free · unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost

Nothing to pay today · お支払いの前にメールでお知らせします · オンラインで二回クリックするだけで解約できます

ワシントン・スクエアの概要

要約：読むのに8 minかかります

読書時間: 約4 h 10 min3 h 15 min fast, 4 h 55 min slow
所要時間: 59,100語
ライブラリ内の難易度: 標準 longer sentences, everyday words
初版刊行年: 1880by ヘンリー・ジェイムズ

Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). 古典を読むのにかかる時間 · 更新日 22 October 2026

3か月間無料でご利用いただけます

ワシントン・スクエアの要約を最後まで無料で読めます

200,000+の古典を電子書籍、オーディオブック、15分で読める要約で楽しめます。紙の本と大活字本は印刷費のみで購入できます。
ひとつのプランで、ご家庭の最大5人までご利用いただけます

無料で始めます本日のお支払いはありません。初年度は一日あたりUSD 0.14、その後は一日あたりUSD 0.27です。

ワシントン・スクエア in short

Washington Square follows one household over many years. A brilliant doctor wants a brilliant daughter and gets a loving, plain, stubborn one. A handsome man with no money arrives, and the doctor decides he is after the fortune.

What ワシントン・スクエア is about

Would you want your father to be right about the person you love, if being right meant losing him? That question hangs over Catherine Sloper, a shy young woman in a handsome new house on Washington Square in New York. Her father is a celebrated doctor, witty and sure of himself, and he has never quite forgiven her for being plain.

Washington Square is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1880. He returns to the New York of his childhood and tells a small, sharp story of a father, a daughter, a meddling aunt and a handsome suitor with no money. You get an easy plot and a quiet argument about love, money and power.

対象読者. You will love this if you enjoy family dramas with sharp dialogue, quiet suspense about money and motive, and the old New York of brownstones and carriages.

The story in 11 parts

Key idea 1 · free to read
Dr. Sloper wanted a brilliant child
Dr. Austin Sloper is a celebrated physician in New York. He is clever, witty and rich. He married for love, and his wife brought him a large dowry as well.
Then life turns hard. His first child, a boy he adored, dies at three. Two years later his wife dies soon after giving birth to a daughter. The doctor blames himself more harshly than anyone else does.
The daughter is named Catherine, after her mother, and she disappoints him. She is healthy, kind and obedient, but she is not pretty and not quick. Catherine adores him, with a little fear mixed in, and she saves every scrap of praise he lets fall. He decides to expect nothing, so that any surprise will be a gain.
A parent's quiet disappointment can shape a child's whole life.
2
A foolish aunt moves into the house
When Catherine is about ten, the doctor invites his widowed sister, Mrs. Lavinia Penniman, to live with them.
無料で読書を始めます
3
A handsome stranger asks Catherine to dance
At twenty, Catherine puts on a red satin gown and goes to a party at her Aunt Almond's house.
無料で読書を始めます
4
The doctor studies the suitor and dislikes him
Dr. Sloper does not lose his temper.
無料で読書を始めます
5
Catherine announces her engagement and her father refuses
Morris soon declares his love in the front parlor and proposes.
無料で読書を始めます
6
Aunt Penniman schemes while Catherine stays quiet
Catherine writes to Morris and tells him not to come to the house while she makes up her mind.
無料で読書を始めます
7
Catherine chooses Morris and is sent to Europe
Morris comes to the parlor and asks Catherine to marry him within a month.
無料で読書を始めます
8
In a lonely valley the doctor shows his anger
One late-August afternoon, father and daughter walk away from their carriage in an Alpine pass and lose the path.
無料で読書を始めます
9
Love and money are tangled from the start
The central question of the book is whether Morris loves Catherine or her fortune.
無料で読書を始めます
10
A father's love can become a kind of control
Dr. Sloper is not a villain.
無料で読書を始めます
11
The narrator tells the story with a smile
James tells the story in an easy, ironic voice.
無料で読書を始めます

Read all 11 key ideas now

3 months free, then USD 0.14 a day: unlimited eBooks, audiobooks and summaries, and print and large print at cost.

Nothing to pay today
お支払いの前にメールでお知らせします
オンラインで二回クリックするだけで解約できます

無料で始めます

Characters, plot and themes

Main characters

Catherine Sloper A shy, plain, loyal heiress who lives with her father on Washington Square and wants above all to please him and to be loved.
Dr. Austin Sloper A famous, witty New York physician and widower who trusts his own judgment and wants his daughter safe from fortune hunters.
Morris Townsend A handsome, charming young man with no job and no money who courts Catherine and wants a comfortable life.
Mrs. Lavinia Penniman The doctor's widowed sister, who lives in his house, loves secrets and romance, and cheers on the courtship.
Mrs. Elizabeth Almond The doctor's sensible younger sister, who watches the family trouble with kindness and quiet humor.
Mrs. Montgomery Morris's widowed sister, a neat and honest woman with five children who knows her brother better than anyone.

How it ends (spoiler)

Dr. Sloper dies, leaving most of his fortune to hospitals because he doubts Catherine will ever give up Morris. Years later Morris returns, older, fat and bald, and asks her to be friends again. Catherine refuses him calmly, saying the past cannot be undone. He leaves angry, and she sits down again with her needlework as if for life.

The whole book is coming to your plan

The full text of ワシントン・スクエア opens soon. Keep this summary as a file today.

Tell me when the book opens

Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way. Email me when it is printed

『ワシントン・スクエア』についての質問

What is Washington Square about?

It tells of Catherine Sloper, a shy heiress in nineteenth-century New York, her witty father Dr. Sloper, and the handsome Morris Townsend, who courts her. The doctor thinks Morris wants only her money, and the story follows the resulting family conflict.

Is Washington Square a true story?

It is fiction. Henry James published it in 1880, and set it in the New York of his youth. He said the plot came from a story a friend told him, but the characters and scenes are his own.

Who is Morris Townsend in Washington Square?

Morris is a charming, good-looking man in his thirties who has travelled widely and spent his small inheritance. He courts Catherine, and the novel keeps asking whether he loves her or her fortune.

Is Washington Square easy to read?

Yes, it has a clear plot with a small cast and short chapters, and the story moves through lively conversations. James writes with a light, ironic voice that makes the family drama easy to follow.

What is the main message of Washington Square?

The book shows how love, money and parental control can tangle in a family. It suggests that being sure you are right is different from being kind, and that quiet people can have strong wills.

この版を引用します

James, Henry. Washington Square. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square.

James, H. (2026). Washington Square. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square (Original work published 1880)

James, Henry. Washington Square. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square.

@book{james2026washington,
  author = {James, Henry},
  title = {Washington Square},
  publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/washington-square},
  note = {First published 1880}
}