An Alternative Scenario in Daisy Miller

           While I do understand the point of view of Winterbourne being a homosexual character in Henry James’ Daisy Miller, the story becomes increasingly tragic if Winterbourne is considered heterosexual. While I will not argue against Winterbourne’s seemingly homosexual identity, I would like to point out that Winterbourne does go on a date of sorts with Daisy to Chillon Castle. Winterbourne does seem to be infatuated with Daisy, as he repeatedly compliments her beauty, though he does not understand her actions that are perceived as inappropriate.

            All that said, if a reader views Winterbourne as a heterosexual, the ending to this short story s extraordinarily tragic. This is because, up until Daisy’s death, the reader is led to believe that she is engaged to Giovanelli. Daisy appears to be happy with Giovanelli and our protagonist seems to bump into the engaged couple when he is out in public. When Winterbourne sees Daisy and Giovanelli at the Coliseum one night, he warns them to vacate the premises as the area is a hotspot for malaria. What is bizarre is that Daisy seems to be interested in Winterbourne throughout the piece as more than a friend. She does ask Winterbourne before he leaves the Coliseum if he believes she is actually engaged. Perhaps it is just my instinct, but I perceived this moment to be Daisy looking for Winterbourne to become bothered by her future martial arrangements. Clearly, Daisy cares about Winterbourne’s opinion of her (seen through the note she left him before she passes), but also through Giovanelli’s remark at Daisy’s funeral. Perhaps if Winterbourne was heterosexual, or if the two had expressed their feelings to one another more openly, Daisy’s death would never have occurred.

Daisy as a Tragic Character

I agree with Leslie that Daisy Miller’s ending lack a clear, just moral message, but her sudden death presents her as a tragic character underserving of her sudden illness and the social ridicule and ostracism she experiences. In the beginning of the novel, Winterbourne defends that Daisy is not a coquette; his description of her as “very unsophisticated” and “only a pretty American flirt” suggest her harmlessness and innocence (11).  While Winterbourne is later taken off-guard by her bold demands and challenge to his authority, Daisy explains, “That’s all I want—a little fuss” (21). By challenging European social expectations of women through her interactions with men, Daisy finally gains the attention her mother and absent father fail to provide her. Many of Daisy’s actions, including visiting the Château de Chillon with Winterbourne and inviting Giovanelli to Mrs. Walker’s party, are an attempt to rouse her mother’s concern and challenge her mother’s complacency. Even after Mrs. Miller discovers that Daisy’s illness is a result of her outdoor excursions with Giovanelli, she quickly dismisses Giovanelli’s responsibility for her daughter’s health and safety. Mrs. Miller comments to Winterbourne, “A lady told me that [Giovanelli] was afraid I was angry for taking Daisy around at night. Well, so I am; but I suppose he knows I am a lady. I would never scorn to scold” (50). This statement further reveals Mrs. Miller’s weakness and dismissiveness of her duties as a mother. She claims that she is powerless to challenge men, even in her superior social position. Daisy risks her reputation and health in an effort to gain Winterbourne and her mother’s approval and attention, but tragically, neither character saves her in time. 

"Studying" Daisy Miller

The more I think about Daisy Miller, the more I come to appreciate the truth of Ali's point in class today that Winterbourne is interested in and appreciates women seemingly without a sexual agenda. I read the novel the first time through seeing this lack of sexual talk as simply the discretion of the time or a method of conspicuous concealment to draw the reader along. It seemed implicit to me that Winterbourne is sexually interested in Daisy, but Ali's point made me wonder whether this is supported by the novel or if I had imposed this view upon him. The full title of the novel, Daisy Miller: A Study, seems to support the lack of sexuality in the story. You almost expect the story to be scientific, a classification of a certain type of woman. This idea of "studying" is emphasized cyclically by the narrator at both the beginning and end of the story. In the beginning, we are told Winterbourne "was at Geneva, 'studying"' (4). "Studying" with quotation marks around it is then defined by the narrator as Winterbourne devoting himself to a lady. Winterbourne is quick to switch "studies" though and the woman in Geneva doesn't reappear once Winterbourne has arrived at Vevey and begins studying Daisy.

At the end of the novella, after Daisy's death, the story comes full circle. Winterbourne returns to Geneva and "is 'studying' hard--an intimation that he is much interested in a very clever foreign lady" (51). He has quickly moved on from his study of Daisy, as he did from his study of the original Geneva woman (is it possible he has in fact returned to this woman?). This seeming lack of a deep emotional connection, as well as the repetition of "studying," lead me to believe that Winterbourne's relationship with women is more clinical, or at least more based on analysis and intrigue, that I had originally imagined. Admitting the intentional fallacy into the discussion, I wonder if this portrayal of Winterbourne was a conscious decision by James to make him either homosexual or asexual, or if James' own sexuality and relationships with women are creeping into a text that is meant to be heteronormative.

"A Question for the Metaphysicians"

In Daisy Miller, Henry James considers ideas of culture, particularly the space that forms between high and low, European and American. There is, naturally, the question of whether there is any validity to these distinctions, of where these ideas of superiority or inferiority arise from and how they are propagated. What also appears is the specter of morality as it relates to these notions of culture. James seems to wish for his reader to ask after the consequences of engaging with either of these strains, the characters in Daisy Miller serving as examples of these effects and, in certain cases, as instigators on these topics. Winterbourne's aunt, Mrs. Costello, does just this near the beginning of the novella's second part, telling Winterbourne that the Millers "are hopelessly vulgar" before stating that the morality of this vulgarity is "a question for the metaphysicians. [The Millers] are bad enough to dislike at any rate; and for this short life that is quite enough" (428 [my pagination is off due to my usage of an e-book]). Where Winterbourne posits that this vulgarity is but a show of innocence, his aunt immediately views it as a sure sign of the family's consummate 'badness,' a brief semantic tiff that stands as an emblem for much of the novel's central conflict. Winterbourne seems hopelessly attracted to this innocence for as long as it is aimed at him, but as soon as he is no longer the sole object of Daisy's affections (however erratic they may be), he turns to a sort of tacit acceptance of the immorality (or bad taste) present in her behavior. The novella's conclusion, with its rapid disposal of Daisy and its illustrations of the words shared between Winterbourne and Giovanelli, almost points to this reckless behavior as the cause of her death. If the tale ended here, one might take it as an almost absurd method of informing the reader to stay within the confines of proper decorum. However, Winterbourne's turn towards "a very clever foreign lady" in Geneva slates his high cultural stance as well, evening out the criticism or perhaps even nullifying it entirely (886).

Culture in Daisy Miller

We briefly discussed in class today the way that culture plays a role in the beginning of the novel, but one part that I found specifically captivating was when Winterbourne first mentions Daisy to Mrs. Costello, his aunt, and she calls her "very common...the sort of Americans that one does one's duty by not--not accepting" (14). This statement describes an exclusivity of culture; that one in a higher culture cannot accept or interact with ones of a lower culture. This interested me, because first off, James is writing from a very high culture, and one needs to be of a certain culture in order to travel to Switzerland and Rome as Daisy does. Therefore, I started thinking it was really just about a difference in society and culture between Americans and Europeans.

This concept is brought up a couple more times throughout the story, and Daisy's "commonality" is directly mentioned again when Winterbourne and she are on their way to The Castle of Chillon, "He had been a little afraid that she would talk loud, laugh over-much, and even, perhaps, desire to move about the boat a good deal. But he quite forgot his fears; he sat smiling, with his eyes upon her face, while, without moving from her place, she delivered herself of a great number of original reflections" (23). This is an interesting passage because it discusses the clashing between her beauty and her culture, in Winterbourne and Mrs. Costello's eyes. Then again it is followed by Winterbourne questioning whether he could have perhaps just become used to her "commonness" (23). This question proves that Winterbourne still values culture above her beauty.

Lastly, another example I found of this concept was once again when Mrs. Costello and Winterbourne are discussing Daisy and Giovanelli (Mrs. Costello continues to dislike both of them), and then Winterbourne agrees with his aunt and says, "It is very true...that Daisy and her mamma have not yet risen to that stage of--what shall I call it?--of culture, at which the idea of catching a cunt or a marchese begins. I believe they are intellectually incapable of that conception" (43). This statement seems to go beyond those of culture that had preceded it. It seems to say that not only does their cultural level define whether they are acceptable to be around, or that their commonness is lower than Winterbourne and his aunt, but it also says that Daisy is unable to attain any higher culture.

In looking at these quotations I wonder why James decided to depict the American culture this way, as he was born and educated in America (and then moved to Europe and travelled). What's interesting about this is that he must have started/have been a part of this American culture that he believes to be so low and unworthy. Thus he is directly contradicting his own story as he certainly had the ability to cultivate his own European high culture eventually.

Plot and Message in "Daisy Miller"

Though I really enjoyed reading "Daisy Miller", I was disappointed not to come out at the end with a moral.  To me, Daisy's death seemed sudden, and not related to a karmic punishment for her behavior — by the end, we barely know what she has been up to, anyway.  The story seemed like a stripped down version of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, but less plot driven, as well as less decisive in its conclusion.
I have been trying to brainstorm what James might have intended for his audience to take away from the story, and have not been incredibly successful. I have considered that he might be discouraging judgement of others. Given Daisy's death at the end, it seems that she must have been wronged to some degree. However, she isn't made to be the most likeable character as the narrator grows tired of her games. Another idea I have considered is the foolishness of social status — the narrator lost his chance with Daisy Miller because he was (at least partially) caught up in his aunt's warnings against being associated with such a woman. Or, even more interestingly so, that stories don't necesserially need a "message" — that they can simply be enjoyable to read without one. I certainly found that true in my own reading.

Ladies and Gentlemen

The character, Winterbourne, while obsessing over Daisy Miller, also shows his focus on how gentlemen and ladies should act.
As he tries to figure out the character of Daisy Miller, he notes on her actions and how it fits into societal expectations. Because of her beauty, he expects her to fit into his fantasy of a perfectly polite girl of the "best society", yet it is the ways in which she shocks both him and all those watching her, that keep him interested.
When Winterbourne arrived in Rome, "he was annoyed at hearing of a state of affairs so little in harmony with an image of a very pretty girl looking out of an old Roman window and asking herself urgently when Mr. Winterbourne would arrive." He wanted her to fall for him easily and be dreaming about his arrival, yet he was greatly interesting her because of the way she had a slight scandal to her by going to the castle alone with him.
Winterbourne kept trying to convince himself and others that Daisy was a "nice girl". It isn't until towards the end of the book that, "he came back to the question whether this was in fact a nice girl. Would a nice girl - even allowing for her being a little American flirt - make a rendezvous with a presumably low-lived foreigner?" (33). And it isn't until after Daisy's death that Winterbourne isn't clouded by her prettiness and decides that she wasn't the dream girl he tried to make her out to be.
Whether Daisy was ignorant of how to act like a lady or not, she caught attention by not acting as one. Daisy embodies the way women are asked to fit a certain image by following the rules of behavior set for them. She tells Winterbourne clearly, "I have never allowed a gentlemen to dictate to me, or to interfere with anything I do." (32). And yet he keeps persisting that she must be the pretty doting sweetheart that he wants her to be.