E. M. Forster says death is congenial to a novelist because it ends a book conveniently. However, death in Henry James's works is more than formal device and has to do with the quintessence of James's thought. This thesis is to study the meaning of de...
E. M. Forster says death is congenial to a novelist because it ends a book conveniently. However, death in Henry James's works is more than formal device and has to do with the quintessence of James's thought. This thesis is to study the meaning of death in James's novels by analyzing his two tales "Daisy Miller" and "The Pupil."
The Roman society criticises Daisy for her innocent but ignorant 'going round' with Giovanelli. Daisy ignores all the public opinion on her of the society. Adventurous, full of life, Daisy Miller captivates and perpelexes Winterbourne, who devotes all his energy to finding the correct formula to describe this young American. Seeing her alone with Giovanelli at the Colosseum, he is with a relief for her being a young lady whom a gentleman no longer be at pains to respect. Then he deliberately visibly her. Winterboune's failure to understand and to offer his esteem destroys Daisy's will to live. Roman fever only does her mind's bidding.
Morgan in "The Pupil" is one of the characters whom it is impossible to regard except in the light of death. The studies of "The Pupil"have been centered upon finding out the responsibility of adults for the death of Morgan. The most responsible is Pemberton who promised Morgan to escape from his parents together but didn't keep it with no reason. Pemberton's wavering and scruple makes sensitive Morgan greatly disappointed. Morgan just can't stand the shock and the violent emotion with his infirmity. By seeing into the chaos of self that is his world, Morgan has gained the ultimate vision and has been destroyed by it.
Thus what Korenman says in the follow well summrizes the meaning of death in James's works. It is through the mind that James's characters reach out for "experience," for "life." But the world continually proves gross and sinister. Observing that life in inadquate to their vision of it, James's characters retreat to that ideal vision. Frequently, However, such retreat is not enough. When the mind is sufficiently sensitive, the only effective retreat is often death. The major Jamesian vehicle of experience--the mind-- becomes the major instrument of escape from experience. Indeed, physical death in James is simply the impulse in extreme form, the renunciation of life.