The Wings of the Dove

Analyze the religious aspects and imagery in The Wings of the Dove.

What techniques does James use to present Milly and Kate as foils for each other? How does he use their relationship to explore The Instrumentalization of Relationships?

What significance does James assign to the setting of Venice in relation to the death of Milly? Explore connections to other works that relate Venice to death, such as “Don’t Look Now” by Daphne du Maurier (1979) and Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (1912), to reference in your argument.

How does Milly compare to other female heroines in James’s works, such as Maisie Farange from What Maisie Knew (1897) and Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady (1881)? What sets Milly apart from James’s other characters?

Discuss James’s use of ekphrasis throughout The Wings of the Dove. How does it enhance his depiction of Milly and her environment?

Assess how James uses interior dialogue in The Wings of the Dove to further character development and explore non-verbal forms of communication throughout the novel.

How do characters in The Wings of the Dove conform to “type”? How do they defy it? What does this suggest about how James approaches the notion of typology in literature?

How does The Wings of the Dove satirize 19th-century American tourism in Europe?