Daisy Miller

Henry James’s Daisy Miller depicts a set of characters, Winterbourne and the Miller family, in two distinct European settings: Vevey, Switzerland and Rome, Italy. The behavior of this cast of characters does not dramatically differ from location to location, but the opportunity to demonstrate character is vastly different between Vevey and Rome. The society that surrounds remains the same, especially in that it focuses its disapprobation on Daisy’s liberality, specifically in regard to gentlemen friends. Winterbourne refers to Daisy as “an American flirt,” connoting that this is her behavior at home as well as abroad, but I wonder if the Rome of this text figures as a space of opportunity for indiscretion and the transgression of social boundaries. The novella shows that regardless of the oceans or national borders that the Miller family crosses, “society” remains fixed, though, especially in Rome, this society seems to find it far more difficult to maintain its usual punishments for unacceptable behavior. This society is structured as a panopticon whose surveillance never fails. Rome, however, is a space where Daisy’s misadventures can become tragic and therefore forgivable. I wonder if Daisy dies of the “Roman fever” because Rome resists this type of tourism. I see Daisy as viewing her adventures as delightfully scandalous, but in the context of Rome, her behavior is hardly impressive. Daisy Miller’s ending honestly stunned me, and I still haven’t really been able to formulate my thoughts on the text in light of it. I know there’s also this idea of artifice and authenticity at the crux of the novella. I can see some Daisy Miller in some of the moments here on our trip.