Journal Entry "Daisy Miller: A Study"

Stephen Greene

English 48B

February 15, 2011

Journal #16, Henry James

"... it occurred to him, as a lover of the picturesque, that the interior, in the pale moonshine, would be well worth a glance....  Then he passed in among the cavernous shadows of the great structure, and emerged upon the clear and silent arena....  One-half of the gigantic circus was in deep shade; the other was sleeping in the luminous dusk.  As he stood there he began to murmur Byron's famous lines, out of "Manfred"; but before he had finished his quotation he remembered that if nocturnal meditations in the Colosseum are recommended by the poets, they are deprecated by the doctors....  Winterbourne walked to the middle of the arena, to take a more general glance, intending thereafter to make a hasty retreat"(426).

 "James's works, many of which were first serialized in the magazine The Atlantic Monthly include narrative romances with highly developed characters set amongst illuminating social commentary on politics, class, and status, as well as explorations of the themes of personal freedom, feminism, and morality. In his short stories and novels he employs techniques of interior monologue and point of view to expand the readers' enjoyment of character perception and insight"(The Literature Network, "Henry James", http://www.online-literature.com/). 

In this passage, Winterbourne is walking home from dinner, past the moonlit Colosseum in Rome.  He decides to gaze inside at the beautiful contrasts highlighted by the moonlight.  He steps inside and recites to himself a poem, "...the night / Hath been to me a more familiar face / Than that of man; and in her starry shade / Of dim and solitary loveliness, / I lean'd the language of another world. ..."  His eyes grow accustomed to the darkness and he begins to make out the dim image of people at the foot of a cross hidden in the shade cast from the Colosseum walls.  It is Daisy and Mr. Giovanelli, whom he eventually approaches, warning Daisy to get home quickly to avoid the Roman Fever, caught in just such damp, shadow-filled, ambiguous places as this.  He suddenly sees her as immature, the distinctions between right and wrong, so clear and exits the shadows back to the light.

James uses the imagery of light, shadow, and the border between the two as metaphors for the thin line between youthful innocence and social acceptability, and that of "inconduite"(397) and socially unacceptable behavior.  The arena in the Colosseum is simply the setting for the final meeting of the two sides, both for Winterbourne and for Daisy.  In his case, Winterbourne has been drawn to the edge of socially acceptable behavior, dabbled in improper conduct and meant to hastily retreat.  This edge, this beauty, dimly lit in the moonlight, somewhere between the deep shade and luminous dusk, was Daisy.  He was drawn to her, ventured into the arena to get a better look at the goings on in the shade.  He goes to the castle with Daisy, unattended, tiptoeing dangerously in the shadows of what the hyper-rich society would accept.

The poem he recites speaks of being more familiar with the dark, starry night than with the faces of men, and through the "dim and solitary loveliness" of the shade, the language of another world is learned.  He has seen tastes of this 'immoral' side of society, through Daisy, but now, in a sense, can speak the language of both that world and his, of high society's snobbery. 

He walks to the middle of the arena to get a more general glimpse, an illumination to spending time with and chasing after Daisy, hoping to get a better view of the other side.  He plans to retreat hastily, hurrying back from the darkness to the light of high society.  But he is drawn in by Daisy, following her on and on, deeper into the shadows.  He then realizes the distinction, as if all of a sudden emerging from the shaded side to see him self lit up, between right and wrong, falling back to his old circles and no longer seeing Daisy as important.  She is not worth worry, she sits in the shadows with Mr. Giovanelli as Winterbourne watches from the luminous dusk.