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By Root 3543 0

of a collapse” (p. 5). Quite the contrary, James intended that his victim be seen as “contesting every inch of the road, as catching at every object the grasp of which might make for delay” (p. 5). She expresses in her fight the nobility of the human spirit. The novel therefore consists in working out an elaboration of the nuances and the twists and turns along the path, and the memorable human encounters that occur in a noble, but untimely, doomed struggle against her fate. The struggles of James’s heroine are nothing but the “soul of drama—which is the portrayal, as we know, of a catastrophe determined in spite of oppositions” (p. 5).

James’s heroine is Milly Theale, a twenty-four-year-old New Yorker who embodies all the finest virtues of the American woman: freshness, spontaneity, innocence, a thirst for life. Milly is fabulously wealthy and is the sole survivor of a large upper-class New York family. The rest of family died off in the period since her tenth birthday. We learn that they died from “different causes,” lest we infer that Milly is the victim of some strange hereditary illness. Milly’s illness is never specified, except that we learn in book sixth that it is “not lungs,” when Kate Croy and Merton Densher, the other two protagonists of the novel, are discussing Milly’s health (p. 260).

James’s beloved cousin, Mary (“Minny”) Temple, who did die of tuberculosis some twenty years before, was the model for Milly, as she was for Isabel Archer of The Portrait of a Lady and Maggie Verver of The Golden Bowl. Milly Theale is a more fully realized creation than Isabel Archer and probably outshines Maggie Verver as well. Milly dominates the events of Wings even when she is not physically present. Milly is “there” when she is not there, whereas Maggie Verver, a more passive figure, does not always seem to be there when she is there. Milly’s disease in Wings, though certainly real since it will ultimately claim her life, has almost a spiritual quality. Milly’s will to live can keep the disease at bay, for a time at least, and the loss of her will to live can cause its progress to accelerate.

Milly’s initial consultation with the famous London physician Sir Luke Strett in book fifth is surely the most unphysical of all medical examinations in literature. It consists mainly of the two of them conversing amiably for a time. Gently interjecting a question now and then, the benignant Sir Luke encourages Milly to talk about herself, her family, and her hopes. Presumably from this he gleans a kind of medical history, but James gives no clear indication of the fact and does not dwell on this kind of realistic detail. Sir Luke is in every respect unlike another famous physician of nineteenth-century English literature, the young Dr. Lydgate of George Eliot’s Middlemarch (1871-1872). While Lydgate is ardent, impetuous, and scientifically inclined, the avuncular Sir Luke is worldly, urbane, and, in modern jargon, laid back. He is so confident of his skills that he scarcely bothers with pills, powders, and the usual armamentaria of medical practice. Sir Luke, through a process of divination or intuition, does, however, diagnose Milly’s condition precisely. He understands what is required. He is enamored (in a fatherly way) with Milly; her kindness, courage, and nobility of spirit make her irresistible to him. He promises to help her, and he gives the message that she wants to hear: She must live to the fullest, and not be bound or limited in any way by her condition.

It is part of the novel’s design that we know more of Milly’s state of mind than of her physical appearance. But we do have clues to her appearance. Milly apparently is not beautiful. Her nose and mouth are too big, and her pale skin makes her appear almost white, which in turn accentuates the redness of her hair. She generally wears black clothes that give her a slightly eccentric appearance. When we last see her at the rented palazzo in Venice, she is wearing a dazzling white gown and white pearls. This contrasts strikingly with her past costume and makes her inner