Appearance vs. reality

In “The Real Thing” by Henry James, the narrator changes significantly throughout the story.  When the narrator (the artist) first met the protagonists, the Monarchs, he initially treated them with respect and in a way worshiped them.  He started off by sketching them because of pity but he realized that they aren’t the real thing and not that good at modeling so he loses his pity until he sees them at the end when they act like who they actually are so he becomes more interested.  He has trouble saying no to them because he’s interested in them.  In a way, the narrator sucks up to the Monarchs but that changes over time.  Throughout the story, the readers start to realize that the artist is the one who isn’t that great because he can’t draw the monarchs how they want him to so therefore he has no imagination.  The narrator has a better view of himself than actual reality and at the end when he says, “If it be true I am content to have paid the price--for the memory," ironically he realizes that he isn’t the real thing. In the end he came to realize that he isn’t as good as he thought he was.  Throughout the whole story he judges everyone about how pathetic they are and how they aren’t the real thing, but it takes him the whole story until the very last line for him to realize he’s the one who isn’t the real thing.