Endnotes
1 (p. 3)
Long had I turned it over ... seeing the theme as
formidable: Henry James is writing the preface in 1909, years
after he first sketched out his ideas for the story in his
notebooks (1894), and after the actual writing of the novel
(1901-1902). In The Ambassadors, he worked from a lengthy
and very detailed outline that he had submitted to his publishers;
this outline survives, and is now in the Widener Library at Harvard
University. James prepared a similar but shorter and less detailed
outline for Wings at some point and submitted it to his
publishers, but it has been lost.
2 (p. 4)
the poet essentially can’t be concerned with the act of
dying.... it is still by the act of living that [the sick] appeal
to him, and appeal the more as the conditions plot against them and
prescribe the battle: This is as clear a statement as one finds
in the novel summing up James’s negative attitude toward the death
scene of the nineteenth-century novelistic tradition. Characters in
James’s novels are not depicted on a death bed, surrounded by
mourning relatives and gasping out final words. Death is more of a
disappearance. Characters die offstage and out of sight, and the
focus is on the impact of the death on the living.
3 (p. 13)
There is no economy of treatment without an adopted, a related
point of view: James’s conception of the well-made novel
stressed the importance of the point of view from which the story
is told or narrated, an idea that has been influential in modern
literary criticism. See R. P. Blackmur, “Introduction,” in James’s
The Art of the Novel: Critical Prefaces, pp. vii-xxxix (see
“For Further Reading”).
4 (p. 33)
He put the question with a charming air of sudden spiritual
heat.... “what’s called in the business world, I believe, an
‘asset’ ”: James seems to have originally projected a larger
role for Lionel Croy in the story, but Croy disappears after book
first. Croy’s comments on the business world, as well as subsequent
references by Lord Mark, display a hostility to all things
commercial that was probably close to what James himself felt.
James never had much direct experience with or knowledge of
industry and commerce, but he was keenly aware of the business
details of publishing. He did not like the tendencies that were
evident even in his own time for publishers to push the popular
“blockbuster” over serious fiction. Some of these issues are
explored in James’s short story “The Figure in the Carpet” (1896);
see Peter Rawlings, ed., Henry james’ Shorter Masterpieces,
vol. 2, pp. 46-88.
5 (p. 53)
the present winter’s end: James does not tell us exactly
when the novel takes place. We infer that it is set at the end of
the Victorian era—around the turn of the century. The 1997 lain
Softley movie version of The Wings of the Dove assigns a
later date (1910), perhaps to bring the setting closer to World War
I and heighten the sense of foreboding that hovers over the
action.
6 (p. 55)
all the high dim things she lumped together as of the mind:
James does not tell us in detail what education Kate Croy has
received. We learn that she has attended schools on the Continent
and has become attracted to all things foreign. In post-Victorian
England, women were not yet “in business” or in “the professions.”
While young Victorian women of any social standing usually received
enough education to become governesses if they were not able to
marry, the general intent was to have one’s daughters exposed to
art, music, and modern languages with a view to finding a desirable
partner in marriage. Kate Croy felt shortchanged in the life of the
mind and was attracted to Densher in part because he filled this
need. His eclectic knowledge, along with his schooling on the
continent, impressed her deeply.
7 (p. 72)
he asked himself what was to be expected of a person who could
treat one like that: This passage and the several long
paragraphs that follow are good examples of how James enters into
the minds of his protagonists and reveals to us what they are
thinking. Nothing much is actually happening here. Densher is
waiting and is pacing the room. But his mind wanders as he ponders
his situation. James summarizes and paraphrases Densher’s thoughts,
a literary device that critics refer to as “the first person
attached” point of view. James does this more with Densher, who is
a reflective and intellectual type, and with Milly Theale, whose
consciousness is more important to us than her frail body, than he
does with Kate Croy. We get to know Kate more by what she says and
does or by a look or gesture, a shake of the head, than by James
telling us what she is thinking. Kate is a less cerebral and a more
forceful person than Densher, so the device of exploring her
thoughts is less necessary.
8 (p.
100) we shall really ourselves scarce otherwise come closer to
her than by feeling their impression and sharing, if need be, their
confusion : James’s use of this expression and his reference a
few sentences later to “our young woman” illustrate the way in
which he departs occasionally from the use of the unseen omniscient
author and appears to inject himself into the narrative. He
“shares” the confusion of the characters and “feels” their
impressions.
9 (p.
105) I hasten to add: Although James’s narrator uses the
personal pronoun “I” here, he never becomes an actual character in
the story. Joseph Conrad in his short story The Nigger of the
“Narcissus” (1897) employs a similar device. The omniscient
narrator knows all; he is, in fact, on board the Narcissus
when it capsizes. But the narrator never actually appears in the
story. His apparently invisible presence on-board becomes known to
us only when he tells us at the end of the story that he was so
frightened he will never again go to sea.
10 (p.
138) of Thackerayan character: Kate presumably reminds Mrs.
Stringham a little of Becky Sharp, the captivating but unscrupulous
heroine of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair
(1848).
11 (p.
150) but it was clear Mrs. Condrip was ... in quite another
geography: This is a good illustration of Milly’s increasing
sophistication and awareness of the complexities she is
encountering in London. Book fourth in its entirety is an example
of the growth of Milly’s consciousness. She understands that she is
in a “labyrinth,” that she teeters on the edge of an “abyss.” She
revels in it, however, even though she is frightened, because this
is what she understands as being more fully aware and more truly
alive. She is not interested in tourism but in people and in the
complexity of social circumstance.
12 (p.
169) “but mine’s several shades greener”: This scene is one
of a number of memorable passages in the very rich and complex
fifth book. Milly is here trying to make light of the emotional
experience she has just undergone in viewing the Bronzino portrait
that resembles her. She has had intimations of mortality; she feels
that she will be, like the lady in the portrait, “dead, dead,
dead.” Critics and literary scholars have seen Milly’s reaction as
a critical turning point, a sign that she can no longer keep up a
brave front.
13 (p.
177) “I shan’t trouble you again”: Milly makes a critical
decision here. She adores Kate, values her friendship, and enjoys
her company. But she is bothered by the fact that Kate has avoided
mentioning Densher, which, to Milly, seems to suggest a degree of
dissembling on Kate’s part. So Milly decides to set some limits on
her friendship with Kate, not to trust her fully. This small choice
propels Milly toward the isolation she will ultimately face in her
struggle with her illness. Only Susan Stringham and hired servants
will be with her in the end.
14 (p.
185) “you ought of course ... to get out of London”: Why
does Sir Luke advise Milly to get out of London? Is it merely
because London is hot and uncomfortable in August? Sir Luke is
perhaps too subtle for that. Presumably he feels Milly’s privacy
might be jeopardized if word got around London that she was seeing
him. She could feel freer somewhere else. Besides, he might have
felt she had already “done” London and might want to experience
something new.
15 (p.
192) Gibbon and Froude and Saint-Simon: Edward Gibbon
(1737-1794) wrote The History of the Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire ; James Froude (1818-1894) was a historian and
disciple of Carlyle; Claude Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) was a
French social reformer and founder of “positivist”
philosophy.
16 (p.
210) “Oh you may very well loathe me yet!”: It is impossible
to tell, in this extraordinary passage, whether Kate has already
conceived her scheme to link Densher and Milly. Kate does not know
for sure that Milly is ill, though she surely suspects it. Milly is
acute enough to be frightened by this creature who paces “like a
panther,” but the die is cast. Milly, despite her unease, is sure
that along this route lies life, and she will not shrink from it.
In the lines that follow, Kate, perhaps misreading Milly’s mild
reply, uses the dove image for the first time in the book.
17 (p.
242) “I’ll tell you another time”: Here, presumably, is a
clear sign that Kate suspects the seriousness of Milly’s illness,
and is laying the groundwork for her plan. Densher is not quite
ready to be brought in on the scheme.
18 (p.
289) “You don’t need to see”: This dialogue strikingly
illustrates how James’s narrative technique of letting us know
Densher’s thoughts contrasts with the way he portrays Kate by her
gestures and her spoken words. The technique reinforces the
portrayal of Kate as decisive, utterly sure of herself, a brilliant
psychologist, and ruthless, and of Densher as full of doubts,
sensitive but weak, and so in love with Kate that she can “lead him
by the nose.” She has been so completely caught up in the social
“game” as to have become morally obtuse. But she does not kid
herself; she knows what she is doing. Densher’s vacillations and
moral evasions are perhaps even less attractive than Kate’s
cynicism.
19 (p.
314) and what most expressed it: The action now shifts to
Venice, where Milly has rented an expensive palazzo. It is now
October. Eugenio, an Italian with a sharp eye for making money off
tourists, has been hired to manage Milly’s household. Though he
spends Milly’s money freely, he is an efficient manager and
organizer and has a very good relationship with Milly and Mrs.
Stringham. Milly sees him as taking charge of all practical matters
and assisting Susan when Millv’s health worsens. That it costs a
great deal of money to keep the somewhat dilapidated old villa in
good repair and to staff it with an array of servants is, of
course, of no concern to Milly.
20 (p.
315) Palazzo Leporelli : The fictional palazzo is modeled on
the actual Palazzo Barbaro, built in the fifteenth century and
owned by friends of Henry James. In 1887 Henry James stayed there
with his friends the Daniel Curtises and wrote the short story “A
London Life.”
21 (p.
347) dusky labyrinthine alleys and empty campi, overhung with
mouldering palaces: This image conveys James’s sense of the
decadence that affects European civilization. The physical
decay—empty public squares, crumbling palaces, deserted banquet
halls—parallels the moral corruption of a London society dominated
by money grubbing, of the grasping servants led by Eugenio at the
Palazzo Leporelli, and of the trio of Kate, Mrs. Lowder, and
Densher maneuvering to fleece Milly.
22 (p.
348) complications might sometimes have their tedium beguiled by
a study of the question of how a gentleman would behave:
Densher’s self-exculpatory reasoning puts him in an unfavorable
light here. He is justifying himself on the ground that he didn’t
start the whole scheme and that he will always be a “gentleman.” He
realizes that being a gentleman is not always easy to define and
that being as passive as he has been is not a great thing. He wants
to assert himself, but he is not sure how. He can’t run; he is in
too deep. When he does assert himself, it is in a most unfortunate
way. He compels Kate to come to his apartment to consummate their
relationship, a crude trade of sex for his full cooperation that
cheapens his relationship with her.
23 (p.
362) “It’s a Veronese picture”: Scholars have concluded that
James is here referring to the Venetian painter Paolo Veronese’s
Marriage at Cana (1562-1563), which depicts a banquet scene
of great richness and prodigality.
24 (p.
364) he shouldn’t have liked a man to see him : This
exchange with Mrs. Stringham is one of Densher’s least appealing
moments. He suddenly feels ashamed of being a sensitive man, and,
under the guise of honesty, displays a degree of male chauvinism
that is even worse than Lord Mark’s. His perfidy seems to be
gender-neutral. For a discussion of Densher’s dilemma from the
perspective of gender relations and the complexities of gender
issues in The Wings of The Dove, see Julie Olin-Ammentorp, “
‘A Circle of Petticoats’: The Feminization of Merton Densher,”
Henry James Review 14 (1993).
25 (p.
420) “Oh!” he simply moaned into the gloom: This agonizing
tête- à-tête between Densher and Mrs. Stringham shows James at his
masterly best in posing the central moral questions of the novel:
From what depths of hatred does Lord Mark act? Is he beyond mere
cynical exploitation of the situation? Does Densher perceive, to
his horror, that he was doing essentially what Lord Mark was
trying to do? Should Densher lie to Milly—as Mrs. Stringham, in
essence, urges—to give her some happiness as death approaches? Did
Kate, in fact, reveal to Lord Mark her relationship with Densher as
a way to stave him (Lord Mark) off and/or to confound her aunt?
That Densher can only moan into the gloom at least shows him more
favorably than than he has appeared to this point. He begins to
appreciate more fully what he has done; his “conversion” has
begun.
26 (p.
440) “She never wanted the truth.... She wanted you.... For that
was your strength, my dear man—that she loves you with
passion”: Kate poses a key question: Is she correct in thinking
Milly would have been comforted by Densher’s lying to her even
though she knew it was a lie? And is Densher more concerned with
his own honor than with Milly’s feelings?