The Lady in the Looking Glass

“The Lady in the Looking Glass” uses the conceit of a looking glass to explore what can be seen, known, and imagined about a person or character, as well as the nature of writing—and social interaction—in that it seeks to achieve this. It extends the conventional metaphor of a mirror as a means to see the self into an investigation of writing’s ability to create a “self,” whether narrator or subject. The story opens directly with a surprising warning—ostensibly tongue-in-cheek—against leaving looking glasses hanging in one’s home, comparing it directly to that of leaving open checkbooks or confessions of a crime. The warning highlights the conceit, as it relies on the idea that a looking glass somehow allows the narrator access into the private life of the subject, supporting the theme of Femininity: Propriety and Aging. The narrator begins with what can be “seen” in the looking glass, describing every visible detail of the scene within the drawing room and the garden beyond. Implicitly, the inclusion of vivid imagery and details captured in the image of the looking glass is juxtaposed with the surrounding things that are outside of it, such as Isabella as she ventures down the path and the sealed