The Wings of the Dove

The Wings of the Dove is written using free indirect discourse—a narrative form that describes the actions of a character from the third person while also providing insight into their thoughts and emotions. This psychological insight provides the novel with its emotional core. The characters do and say very little on the page. Instead, the narrative focuses on their thoughts and feelings. For instance, before Susan and Milly are even introduced by name, the narrator remarks:

They were making it, in fact happily enough as we meet them, and were only wishing that, for the wondrous beauty of the early high-climbing spring, it might have been longer and the places to pause and rest more numerous (97).

James’s narrative point of view frames the novel as a story being recounted by an unnamed narrator who has insight into the emotional states of the characters. The narrator uses the first-person pronoun “we,” establishing a common bond between the narrator and the reader about what is being “seen,” evoking the language of stage directions in a script for a play. The narrator’s use of first-person language in rare instances throughout the novel emphasizes the fictiveness of the story as a means of subverting its “realism.” The narrator goes on to describe the characters’ emotional states, noting that they wish there were more “places to pause and rest,” a subtle foreshadowing of Milly’s advancing illness, which causes her to tire easily.

This narrative perspective is rotated between the four point-of-view characters throughout the novel. Book First is recounted from Kate’s perspective. Book Second is Densher’s perspective, Book Third is from Susan’s perspective, and finally Book Fourth is from Milly’s perspective. Milly, the putative heroine of the work, embodies all of the noble characteristics one would expect from a romantic heroine: She is brave, kind, and generous. In a traditional work of the period, her perspective would be privileged over the others. Instead, in keeping with James’s desire to subvert expectations, her perspective is minimized. She’s first introduced not through her own lens but through the perspective of Susan, who actively attempts to “darken her knowledge [of Milly]” (98), underscoring the silence and mystery that surrounds the largely inscrutable Milly as an idealized hero throughout the narrative.

The choice not to include Maud and Lord Mark among the point-of-view characters creates an ongoing suspense about the motivations for their actions, which must be interpreted from a distance both by the reader and the characters themselves. This dynamic emphasizes James’s thematic interest in Indirect Communication Through Implication, Insinuation, and Silence throughout the work. The shifting personal perspectives result in varying understandings of situations. For instance, Susan’s interpretation of Kate and Milly’s relationship as a positive one based on mutual affection is colored by her desire for that to be so; it is only when Kate’s perspective is brought into focus that the more calculating aspects of her relationship to Milly become clear.

James’s thematic exploration of The Instrumentalization of Relationships defines Milly and Susan’s interactions in London. In one of his first conversations with Milly, Lord Mark makes the opportunistic relationship dynamics explicit: He says, “Look round the table, and you’ll make out, I think, that you’re being, from top to bottom, jumped at” (134). In London’s elite social scene, Milly’s vast fortune marks her as a resource to be exploited by everyone, including Lord Mark himself. The tone with which he delivers these truths frames this cutthroat self-interest as an accepted social norm. Maud has plans for Lord Mark and Kate; Kate has plans for herself, and so on. In keeping with the novel’s lack of sentimentality, Milly does not recoil in fear or despair from the grasping hands of her peers. Instead, she resolves to enjoy their company regardless of their machinations.

Milly’s decision not to judge those around her for their attempts to use her for her fortune reinforces The Heroism of Kindness and Courage as a central theme in the novel. Milly’s capacity for mercy and understanding is the dove-like quality that makes her so heroic and “tremendous.” Her atypical and nuanced approach to being commodified comes full circle at the end of the novel when Milly leaves a fortune to Densher even though she’s fully aware that he and Kate are secretly engaged.