The Wings of the Dove by Henry James | Characters, Themes, Summary and Analysis

00:00 - The Wings of the Dove Information; 01:25 - -Characters of Wings of the Dove; 02:18 - Themes; 03:15 - Summary of The Wings of the Dove; 10:00 - Analysis, Comparison of Kate Croy and Madam Merle;
The Wings of the Dove was published in 1902 and it is considered one of the best novels by Henry James. In 1998, Modern Library ranked The Wings of the Dove 26th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. This novel is an effective transition between the Romantic literature of the nineteenth century and the psychologically oriented literature of the twentieth century. There are some similarities between the story of The Wings of the Dove and Henry James’ previous novel The Portrait of a Lady. Both of these novels depict a rich young woman being deceived by one of her friend and a man with whom she falls in love. The character of Milly Theale in this novel was inspired and based on Minny Temple, a real cousin of Henry James who died of Tuberculosis at the age of 25. Henry mentioned in an interview that he always had the intention of writing a story about Minny Temple to wrap and preserve her memories in the “beauty and dignity of art.”
Henry James continued on his theme of depicting differences between American life which is morally strong, and loud, and European life, which appears more cultured but is ruined and debauched. Henry depicts Milly Theale as a rich American heiress with a truthful heart and love for life. Kate Croy and Merton Densher are British. While Kate is depicted as a greedy conniving and conspiring woman, Densher still has got a sense of morality, honesty, faithfulness and guilt. The major themes of the novel are love, betrayal, faithfulness and guilt. The major conflict is of moral character rather than of cultural background. The novel continues to describe the psychological dynamics of its characters and the nuances of various relationships of characters with one another.
Summary of The Wings of the Dove
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