The Wings of the Dove

Susan is a middle-aged widow without children and Milly’s constant companion throughout The Wings of the Dove. She is one of the four point-of-view characters in the work. Susan is from Burlington, Vermont, which she views as “the real heart of New England” (99). She, like Densher, is a writer of minor literature; she writes short stories for magazines about New England. The female writer of New England “local color” short stories was very much a “type” of writer in the 19th century. Real-world examples include Harriet Beecher Stowe, Rose Terry Cooke, and Alice Brown. Susan is a bit of an ironic figure: she largely conforms to this type just as she writes stories about a type. Just like the female characters in those stories, Susan herself is “made up […] of small neat memories and ingenuities, little industries and ambitions, mixed with something moral, personal, that was still more intensely responsive” (100). She is practical, loyal, and has a romantic streak.

When Susan first meets Milly in Boston, she leaps at the opportunity to experience “the real thing,” (100) which is to say to have a truly romantic adventure. Susan thrills when Milly notes “she had never seen anyone like her” (101). The two seeming opposites, the young, free-spirited Milly and the middle-aged, pragmatic Susan, quickly become close. Susan agrees to travel with Milly to Europe.

Susan’s arc follows her evolution from initially seeing Milly as a source of adventure and an opportunity to gather material for her writing, to instead devoting herself to caring for her friend, proving herself to be the only character without “grasping” intentions on Milly’s fortune. Susan is, crucially, the only character in the novel who openly weeps for Milly and the only one there at her deathbed. She heroically stays steadfast and loyal despite the emotional toll it takes on her. She does all she can to protect Milly, even if she is ultimately unsuccessful in protecting her from heartbreak and, of course, from death.

Kate Croy is the most complex character in The Wings of the Dove and one of the most complex in James’s oeuvre as a whole. Throughout the work, her true feelings remain obscured both to the other characters and to the reader. Kate’s unknowability is explicitly highlighted by the text itself, as in the exchange between Milly and Densher when Densher remarks, “I don’t feel as if I knew her—really to call know,” to which Milly replies, “Well, if you come to that, I don’t either!” (302). Nevertheless, James leaves some clues to Kate’s character, her motivations, and her development over the course of the work.

Kate Croy is an approximately 24-year-old “handsome” woman with dark hair and dark blue eyes. She was born into an aristocratic family that fell into ruin as a result of her father’s unnamed actions (the silence around what her father did parallels the silence around Milly’s illness). Following the death of her mother, Kate goes to live with her wealthy Aunt Maud, who intends to use Kate by marrying her off to a titled lord. However, Kate does not immediately give in to Maud’s demands. The novel opens with Kate at her father’s home. She tells him, in her indirect fashion, that she will give up Aunt Maud’s fortune if he agrees to take her in, even though they will be penniless. Her father, however, is too ruthlessly greedy. He refuses her familial kindness, stating in similarly opaque terms that he wants Kate to cut off relations with him if it means it will secure her a fortune. He then intends to return to Kate to get some of the money once Aunt Maud has died. This harsh choice, between love and money, prefigures the choice Kate herself faces at the novel’s close: whether she will take Milly’s fortune and give up a relationship with Densher or whether she will marry him for love and live without money.

It is unclear when Kate begins to formulate her plan to take advantage of Milly’s terminal illness. She seems to have genuine affection for Milly, but it could be that she realized Milly was unwell from the time of their first dinner together. Certainly, Milly immediately takes to Kate, seeing her as “the wonderous London girl in person,” and the two spend a lot of time together (146). Susan feels that “each thought the other more remarkable than herself” (148), but her view of Kate and Milly is colored by Susan’s relative innocence and her romantic streak. Nevertheless, Kate certainly becomes aware of Milly’s illness following her visit with Milly to Sir Luke, and she soon embarks on her plan to have Densher marry Milly for her fortune.

Kate is above all a survivor who desires her independence in a world where her options are limited. She sees Milly as a way she can have it all: She can marry the man she loves, she can defy her aunt’s expectations for her to meet the clever but cold Lord Mark, and she can have a fortune. She is calculating, subtle, and clever in her pursuit of this goal. However, as a result, she treats those she seems to care for with great cruelty: She is frosty with Densher when he pleads for her affection, and she abandons her good friend on her deathbed. Despite this, James does not caricature Kate as a villain or antagonist. Rather, she is portrayed as a clever, ambitious young woman attempting to make the best of what life has handed her.

Milly Theale is the idealized heroine of The Wings of the Dove. At the opening of the novel, Milly is entirely alone in the world with her vast fortune. She is not particularly attractive, nor is she particularly fashionable: She dresses entirely in black to represent her mourning the loss of her family. Nevertheless, she has an “obvious weird charm” (168) as shown primarily in her American “spontaneity,” or her tendency to break with British norms and customs. Milly is aware that her time on Earth is limited, and she resolves to use what little time she has left to live her life to the fullest. James describes this as a mark of her bravery and courage.

Milly is a romantic, and her greatest dream is to love and be loved in return. Densher is the object of her desires. When she learns that Densher and Kate are secretly engaged, she gives up the will to live and “turn[s] her face to the wall” (436). She dies soon after. As an indication of her mercy, she nevertheless wills a substantial sum to Densher.

Although Milly’s character is central to the plot and her fortune, illness, and impending death hover in the background of every scene, she is markedly absent from the work as a whole. Indeed, her character is largely defined by its absence, such as the lack of details about her diagnosis and death. Instead, the work focuses on how the characters respond to this force. For instance, when Milly does not go to dinner at Lancaster Gate, the guests spend their time discussing Milly, “a topic as familiar to the enthusiastic younger as to the sagacious older man” (267). She colors and drives the feelings, actions, and decisions of others.

Merton Densher is a gossip columnist for a newspaper on Fleet Street, the center of the London press for centuries. He is described as “a tall, fair, slightly unbrushed and rather awkward, but on the whole a not dreary, young man” (61). He comes from an aristocratic, but not wealthy, family. At the opening of the novel, he is a bit indeterminate and lightweight, much like the column inches he churns out for the society pages. Densher’s one near-constant quality throughout the work is his love, affection, and admiration for Kate. He declares himself willing to do “anything” for her, and he is insecure that she will find him wanting. It is in the dynamics of this relationship that Densher’s most unusual qualities come to light.

In a typical heterosexual relationship as depicted in 19th-century literature, the man acts to pursue the woman, while the woman’s main role is to wait for the man to act. (For more, see Becca Rothfeld. “Ladies in Waiting.” Hedgehog Review. Fall 2016.) In Densher and Kate’s relationship, this dynamic is inverted. Densher is constantly waiting; he does not have the force, the courage, or the ability to act to secure his goals. He waits for Kate to explain her plan, he waits for three days for a sign from the Palazzo after he is turned away, and he waits for news of Milly’s death. When he finally resolves to act by going to Sir Luke Strett’s house on Christmas Day, his impotence is made complete: He is too late, Milly is already dead.

Following this revelation, Densher acts with newfound certitude. Throughout the work, he has been willing to follow Kate’s lead. He “well[s] up” with “the sense of his good fortune and her variety, of the future she promised, the interest she supplied” (285). Even when his conscious troubles him at the trick they are playing on Milly, he goes along with the scheme. However, in the end, he realizes that his insecurities and Kate’s calculating nature will doom their relationship when he finally receives his inheritance. If she marries him with the fortune, he will forever wonder whether she married him for love or money. Thus, he puts the “test” before her: He challenges her to give up the money for love.