"MERCIFULL INDIRECTION" IN THE WINGS OF THE DOVE

Abstract

Henry James's presentation of the central character in The Wings of the Dove has attracted much unfavourable criticism. Indeed, it is true that Milly seems largely a 'mere presence' throughout the book. The method, however, may be justified in view of the novel's theme: transcendence of 'being' over 'seeing.' Milly is 'being' in the sense that her virtue has become so fine that it ceases to be seen in its operation and only its presence is felt. Hence, she sits in the altitudes of the Alps beyond the reach of 'seeing' and shuts herself in the Venetian palace. The fact that Milly is 'being' made clearer by a parallel example of Sir Luke. He, too, is 'being' in exactly the same sense that Milly is. His virtue has attained a stage of perfection where his effortless ease in the performance of good deeds appears to 'seeing' as a complete inactivity. When translated into the technique of novel, this virtue is embodied in the person of Sir Luke who, with his 'fine closed face' turned to us, is seen only in his inactivity. The quality of Milly's 'being' becomes far more clearly defined, however, when it is contrasted against 'seeing' of a cluster of characters who surround her and function as viewpoints by watching her. In Susan, her contemplation of Milly's being moves her to such an intensity of admiration that she feels it sacrilegious even to mention it. She conceals her knowledge of Milly's moral beauty and thus makes Milly's 'being' impenetrable to 'seeing.' In this impenetrability 'being' transcends 'seeing.' In Kate, 'seeing' is of exclusive importance. When the criterion of value is placed in 'seeing,' all things become objects of this 'seeing' and as such they stand on the same plane of significance. Thus, in her 'seeing' the dove's two aspects, a meek prey to be devoured and a noble being to be adored, are equal in significance. In the course of the story, however, her 'seeing' deepens and it comes to realize that 'being' and 'seeing' are on entirely different planes. Furthermore, when at the end of the novel Kate perceives in Densher an emergence of a new man aware of Milly's 'being,' she is convinced that 'being' has 'covered,' that is, transcended 'seeing.' Thus, in Kate, 'seeing' comes to a deepened sense of its own limitation. Densher is a character who hovers between the two poles of 'being' and 'seeing.' What attracts him to Kate at the beginning is the lucidity of her 'seeing.' At the end of the story, however, when he becomes conscious of the wondrous beauty of 'being,' 'seeing' loses its hold upon him. The influence which caused this change in him is of such a fine nature that its working is not seen while its effects are felt. In the texture of the novel such an influence is expressed by means of the image of water. While Densher floats effortlessly in the easy flow of warm waves, he is brought to his conversion without his knowledge of it. True, the image obstructs the reader from looking into Milly's psychological operations in working this change, but the obstruction is another form of homage which 'seeing' pays to 'being.'