Dove Symbolism

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Recommended: Henry James Introduction To Wings Of The Dove

ENG 300
Essay 3
Ahmad Enany
Due: 12/06/2013

How does the The Wings of the Dove depict the society of the age? (#5)

Through the behaviors and thoughts of the characters in The Wings of the Dove, Henry James portrays the dog-eat-dog attitude of society in 19th century England. Henry James emphasizes the negative traits of most of the characters to create a contrast with the traits of Milly Theale, a well intentioned, altruistic and affluent individual. James has an ambiguous writing style, he often detaches the common meanings we associate with familiar words in order to re-use such words to describe everyday phenomena in unusual ways. James is aware of the ambiguity in his style, and capitalizes on this in order to depict the rather precarious society of his time, as well as the moral ambiguity of his characters, particularly in The Wings of the Dove. James focuses on the materialistic, manipulative, and selfish aspects of the characters in his stories. The concepts of love and trust fundamentally become meaningless in the relationships between some of the characters. Thus the nature of this society is that it is unpredictable and exploitative. James questions how his society is justified in the instances where the characters face mortality in the novel as well: Everyone knows they are going to die, but they act as if they aren't going to – with the exception of Milly, and possibly Densher. Perhaps James is remarking on the period of Western history that is now referred to as the Gilded Age; a time of materialism, gluttony, and hedonism. The Wings of the Dove is a story that would have made the likes of William Randolph Hearst, John D. Rockefeller, and other Gilded Age entrepreneurs think twice about what they were doing.
The...

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...f Densher denied his relationship with Kate in front of Milly, then he would feel a moral obligation to break his ties with Kate to keep his denial truthful. He's trying to be both truthful and moral. However, he did not know that Milly was dying – and now feels resentful towards Kate for lying to him. But, earlier on, Densher blackmails Kate into having sex with him. Densher is in fact now harming both Kate and Milly. As mentioned previously, Densher continues to enjoy being a manipulator – an unwitting cog in the gear known as English society. He is a prisoner much like Milly is described as a prisoner. A prisoner of his own mortality, in unwilling submissiveness to the exploitative society he lives in – he is comparable to Lord Mark, in that neither of them are either heroes or villains, they are simply both intent on inheriting Milly's money after her death.

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