Conference Presentation
Daisy Miller
A story by:
Henry James
English 170W
Presented by:
Arlene Pan
Summary - Switzerland






The story begins with Daisy Miller and Winterbourne being introduced by Daisy's
younger brother, Randolph, in Switzerland.
Randolph thinks that New York is much better than Europe but Daisy thinks that
Europe is absolutely wonderful.
Winterbourne thinks Daisy is beautiful, but he finds her demeanor confusing; he
believes that she is a flirtatious young lady.
Winterbourne is infatuated with Daisy even though his aunt, Mrs. Costello, and the
society, disapproves; Daisy's family has a close relationship to their courier, which is
scandalous.
Mrs. Costello believes Daisy to be shameless for going off with Winterbourne, who
was a stranger to her only a half hour before.
Winterbourne then tells Daisy that he has to go to Geneva the next day. Daisy is
disappointed and berates him, but asks him to visit her in Rome later that year.
Summary – Rome






Winterbourne and Daisy meet in Mrs. Walker's parlor; she is an American expatriate
who's moral values have become adapted to those of Italian society.
Rumors about Daisy meeting with young Italian gentlemen make her a social pariah.
Winterbourne learns of Daisy's intimacy with a young Italian, Giovanelli.
Daisy doesn't care about the open disapproval of the other Americans, and her
mother doesn't seem to notice the underlying tensions. Winterbourne and Mrs.
Walker attempt to persuade Daisy to separate from Giovanelli, but she refuses.
Winterbourne takes a walk through the Colosseum and sees Giovanelli and Daisy.
Winterbourne is upset with Giovanelli and asks him how he could dare to take Daisy
to a place where she runs the risk of "Roman Fever."
Daisy says she does not care and Winterbourne leaves them. Daisy falls ill, and dies
a few days later.
Winterbourne receives Daisy's last letter before her death telling him she cared about
his perceptions of her. Winterbourne then thinks he's spent too long in European
society and goes back to Geneva.
The Quote
“Though he was impatient to see her, he hardly knew what he should say
to her about his aunt’s refusal to become acquainted with her; but he
discovered, promptly enough, that with Miss Daisy Miller there was
no great need of walking on tiptoe.
He found her that evening in the garden, wandering about in the warm
starlight like an indolent sylph, and swinging to and fro the largest fan
he had ever beheld.
It was ten o’clock.
He had dined with his aunt, had been sitting with her since dinner, and
had just taken leave of her till the morrow.
Miss Daisy Miller seemed very glad to see him; she declared it was the
longest evening she had ever passed.”
The Interpretation



Preparing to see Daisy, Winterbourne's excitement is obvious, but his excitement is
muddled, also, by his aunt's disagreement of his associating with her; Winterbourne
was unable to decide how to tackle this predicament. This tells us that Winterbourne
likes Daisy, or is infatuated with her beauty, but doesn't know what to think of her,
due to outside influence. Reading further, we are given more insight on Daisy
Miller’s character by the insinuation that there was no need to for subtlety when it
came to Daisy.
We are presented with Daisy in the garden almost surrounded by a halo of light and
then compares her to an “indolent sylph;” a lazy, slothful, but graceful girl. This
presents a differing view with negative connotations. The contrasting oxymoron
shows Winterbourne's indecision. The last line shows us that Daisy is interested in
Winterbourne giving way to belief that this is not just what Winterbourne feels, but
Daisy's interest as well.
In a New Critics view, Winterbourne is indecisive and relies heavily on other
opinions, while Daisy can be innocent in her gestures while having ulterior motives.
Questionable?

One of the many questions of Henry James's story of
“Daisy Miller” is that while Daisy is represented as
an innocent young girl who was too ignorant of her
surroundings:

Was Daisy as innocent as she was portrayed?

Was Daisy a deviant?


Or... were those ploys perhaps to validate her
actions?
Was the objective to portray a society that had
distinct ideas of gender roles?
Gender Roles?


In Louise Barnett's “Jamesian Feminism: Women in 'Daisy Miller',”
she states “While those women who accept their circumscribed
existence pay varying prices of neurotic illness, ineffectuality, and
hypocrisy, the women who ignore social prescription is punished by
ostracism and death,” which is exactly what occurs in the book with
both Daisy and her mother. Daisy's mother is ostracized for her
daughter's behavior and Daisy eventually dies.
Society expected not only women, but everyone to abide to a certain
code of conduct. Morality was a bigger issue for women, so this
became a more gender-specific concern or condemnation. Women
could not be in a specific circumstance, or they became a social
pariah, subject to sanction by the masses.
Validation?



In Joanne Vicker's, “Woolson's Response To James: The Vindication
Of The American Heroine,” she states that “James allows Daisy to die
from the Roman fever in order to play on the ambiguity of her
morality and her interest in Giovanelli and Winterbourne” (291).
Vicker points out that Henry James wrote the book with the intention
of allowing Daisy to die so we would never find out if the portrayal of
Daisy was ignorance, innocence, or deviant. In this way, the readers
would never discover the intentions and the story would still continue
in mystique.
I believe that Henry James did portray Daisy as a character who's fault
was both ignorance and deviance. She was a mixture of both, but did
not understand the consequences of the actions. She was a child who
only understood happiness.
Ignorant or Deviant?


In Carol Ohmann's “DAISY MILLER: A Study Of Changing
Intentions,” she questions if Daisy was ignorant or deviant. Daisy
strayed from the social path and then led a life of being the social
pariah. Ohmann also speaks about how “Henry James faces his
writing as poetic and then changes the metaphysical figure of Daisy to
be less critical of her character and creates her to be more in tune with
nature” (10). Many of these aspects portray Daisy as a child with no ill
intentions who was unfortunate to be unable to adapt to the changes
surrounding her.
I believe that Daisy Miller was a child who did what she wanted with
no thought to the consequences. She was ignorant and her only blame
lies in her carefree nature and the restricting society that she became
infatuated with.