Milly Theale in The Wings of the Dove

Abstract

We speculate as to how Isabel Archer feels in her persistent black dresses, since James has only just begun to see the possibilities in his narrative strategy of the ‘reflecting consciousness’. But Milly Theale’s evolving awareness of how she is seen, and how she she sees others, is crucial to the unfolding of the plot of The Wings of the Dove. Half-way through Book 1, Milly, as a New Yorker on a visit to Europe, is launched onto the London social scene. She sits at a dinner table trying to make sense of what she sees and hears, and reflects that ‘the smallest things … were all touches in a picture and denotements in a play’. One of the touches Milly has noted is ‘the special strong beauty’ of her hostess’s niece, Kate Croy, ‘which particularly showed in evening dress’.1 The Wings of the Dove is a novel balanced between these two characters: Milly and Kate. And an important way in which the balance has been built into the narrative is through contrasts between colours, styles and images of dress.KeywordsAmerican LiteratureSmall ThingDinner TableSocial SceneNarrative StrategyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.