Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : The Quest
The Call
Usually in a "Quest" story, the main character starts off by feeling like there's something terrible going on that she or he has to fix. The issue with Strether, though, is that the guy is so used to getting pushed around and feeling dissatisfied that he doesn't even know he needs fixing. It's not until he arrives in Europe alone (to fix someone else's problem, no less) that he realizes just how dissatisfied he is.
Finally, the poor dude starts feeling that he's wasted his youth by trying to make other people happy and by always being overly cautious. On top of all that, he is engaged to a woman named Mrs. Newsome who has total financial and emotional control over his life. It's only when he meets Mrs. Newsome's black sheep of a son, Chad, that Strether realizes how wonderful life can be outside Mrs. Newsome's shadow.
The Journey
While he's in Paris, Strether meets all of Chad Newsome's Paris friends and realizes that they're all admirable people who are totally living life to the fullest. The problem is that he's still trying to hedge his bets with Mrs. Newsome. After all, the dude doesn't' have much money, and he'll have even less if he breaks things off with Mrs. Newsome.
During this stage of the plot, Strether also takes a journey into the world of European conversation, where everybody speaks in very pretty ways. But all of the prettiness can sometimes lead to misunderstandings, as Strether can never seem to get a straight answer to the question of whether Chad is having sex with a Paris woman named Madame de Vionnet.
Eventually, though, Strether feels like he has to tell Mrs. Newsome the truth about how much he's enjoying Paris and Chad's circle of friends. He knows the consequences of saying this: Mrs. Newsome will now send a fresh ambassador, her daughter Sarah, to Paris to drag both Strether and Chad back home.
Arrival and Frustration
When Sarah arrives in Paris, Strether is frustrated to find that she's just too prejudiced to see Paris for the ooh-la-la-lovely place it is. Worse yet, she refuses to acknowledge Chad's positive transformation and the good influence of his friend, Madame de Vionnet. Sarah claims that she's disgusted by these people and orders Strether to leave Paris immediately.
But Strether, starting to grow a bit of a backbone, tells her that he can do what he wants (!) and decides to stay in Paris. This denial basically ends Strether's engagement to Mrs. Newsome, which means that Strether is going to have to get used to having a lot less money, which isn't a great thing in an expensive city like Paris.
The Final Ordeals
Once Sarah is gone and his engagement to Mrs. Newsome is broken, everything seems pretty good for Strether. To celebrate, he takes a relaxing walk in the French countryside. But while he's out there, he spots Chad and Madame de Vionnet heading into a discreet hotel and realizes that they've been getting it on this whole time and lying to him about it. This makes Strether feel betrayed and he realizes that there's no way he can stay in Paris anymore.
It's at this point that Henry James breaks from the standard Quest story. In the usual Quest story, Strether would overcome the demons of Sarah Pocock and Mrs. Newsome and lived happily in his newfound independence. But that all gets messed up when Strether learns the truth about Chad and Madame and his whole world comes crashing down. So the original quest is over, but maybe there's another, secret quest we didn't even think about…
The Goal
At the end of the plot, Strether visits his close friend Maria Gostrey and tells her he's heading back to America. It's not like his trip is a total failure, though, because he's not going to run back to Mrs. Newsome. But still, Strether turns down Maria's request to stay in Paris and be with her.
A successful quest would usually show Strether at this point smooching Maria and telling her they'll get married. But James wanted to throw us a curveball in the final 50 pages of The Ambassadors, and that's exactly what he did. So is the quest a failure? Or did it end up a quest for Strether to become more independent and stand up for himself, which is what he felt was lacking all along?