Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller is a young American woman of around 17 years old, who is traveling to Europe with her mother and younger brother. She is beautiful and vivacious and loves “society”—that is, going to parties, dances, and dinners where she often fraternizes with young men. Daisy represents the youthful energy of America versus the old and traditional ways of Europe. Since her conflict with social expectations eventually ends in her demise, she is a victim of a society that cares more about her taking walks with men than her physical or emotional well-being.

When Daisy and her family arrive in Switzerland, the Americans staying at their hotel believe she has an inappropriate familiarity with their courier, Eugenio, and, in general, believe the Miller family to be unpolished and tasteless. When Winterbourne tells his aunt about making plans to see the castle just 30 minutes after meeting Daisy, she immediately writes her off as improper and vulgar while placing no judgment on her own nephew.

In Part 1, Randolph tells Winterbourne that Daisy’s real name is “Annie P. Miller,” but she goes by “Daisy.” He does not say why, or even what the “P” stands for, but the name Daisy does suggest a lighthearted and youthful personality, especially in contrast to the dull and cold connotations of “Winterbourne.” The fact that Daisy is not her real name also suggests a layer of artifice that connects with Winterbourne’s inability to make sense of her true character.

Since the narrator is not omniscient and most closely follows Winterbourne’s point of view, we do not get any sense of Daisy’s interiority and her true thoughts and feelings. There are moments, such as when she stands up to Ms. Walker and says, “If this is improper [...] then I am all improper and you must give me up!” (40), when readers get a glimpse of her fierce independence and her different, but no less deeply-held, values. While Daisy remains something of a mystery even at the novella’s end, her struggles throughout the story embody the theme of Individualism Versus Conformity, exposing the difficulties in defying social expectations and the costs associated with such defiance.

Though the narrator of Daisy Miller has no name and does not participate in any of the events of the story, they are nonetheless an important device in Henry James’s storytelling. The narrator tells the story most closely from Mr. Winterbourne’s perspective, but they also offer information about Winterbourne that he doesn’t share himself, such as alluding to the ladies in Geneva with whom he spends time. The narrator is able to supply the reader with a little bit of information on Winterbourne’s past, while the only background information readers get about the Millers is supplied in their own dialogue.

Throughout the novella, Winterbourne postures as a “gentleman,” who condescendingly tries to give Daisy the benefit of the doubt. He ostensibly disagrees with her behavior on principle, but occasionally the narrator suggests that he is more put out by her actions because they hurt his feelings and damage his pride. Had the novella been told strictly from Winterbourne’s point of view, he might have portrayed himself more favorably than the narrator does, making this framing device much more complicated.

The fact that none of the primary characters narrate the story themselves leaves them more ambiguous; told from the eyes of this anonymous observer, we never truly know the extent of Daisy’s relationship with Giovanelli or her awareness of her transgressions, not to mention the true nature of Winterbourne’s dalliances with women in Geneva. This narrator’s perspective on the characters might be the closest to Henry James’s own point of view, given his life experiences of traveling abroad and analyzing social constructs across cultures.

Mrs. Costello is Mr. Winterbourne’s aunt. She is also American but has several residences in Europe, which indicates a significant degree of wealth that probably surpasses that of the Millers. Mrs. Costello is shocked by Daisy’s over-familiarity with her family’s courier as well as how quickly she agrees to go on an excursion with Winterbourne just after meeting him. She represents the “old world” social structure that is focused on preserving generational wealth and respects tradition and rules of propriety.

She is also indulgent of her nephew and does not seem to mind if his own choices and actions would lead to ruining a woman’s reputation; her treatment of Winterbourne compared with Daisy is the clearest example of The Double Standards for Men and Women in the novella. Her point of view does not change over the course of the story; she refuses to acknowledge the Millers as a part of her social circle and at the end, after Daisy dies, she questions why Winterbourne would feel any kind of regret for the way he treated her.

Mrs. Walker is another member of the “old guard” who is disgusted by Daisy’s behavior. She is also wealthy in a more elegant and understated way than the Millers and owns a home in Rome where visiting Americans come to socialize with other wealthy Americans. When she first meets Daisy, she is gracious and says that she may bring Mr. Giovanelli to the party she will be hosting, but within hours, when Daisy says she is going to take a walk with Mr. Giovanelli, she turns on Daisy completely.

Mrs. Walker is the most aggressive in expressing her disdain for Daisy; she even chases her in her carriage and tries to force her to get in instead of walking with Mr. Giovanelli. When the pair arrive at her party later on, she completely snubs them. Mrs. Walker embodies the hypocrisy that Daisy points out when she wants her to get in her carriage: the behavior that is considered “proper” by people in an exclusive society is not always kind or fair.