Loading Likes...
The ending of Daisy Miller: A Study seemed to me as if it were a punishment for defying societal norms. Over the course of the story, Daisy presents herself as careless, capricious, and forward, traits that many other high-class people in the story considered unbecoming of a young lady. She constantly flirts with other men, stays out late at night, and encourages men to fight for her affection. In these regards, she’s the epitome of “live fast, die young,” and the ending solidifies that. Ironically, she dies relatively slowly, having time to reflect on some of her past actions and even letting Winterbourne that she wasn’t engaged after all. It was as if the world rejected her very existence and gave her time to think about how she could have been more proper, how she could have lived longer only if she had followed the rules of society.
Additionally, during the funeral Giovanelli remarks that Daisy was “the most innocent young lady he ever saw.” With the way she died, I realized that calling her innocent, both here and the previous times Winterbourne makes that remark, might have less to do with her virtue and more to do with her naivety and ignorance of how the world works. The ending really showed that when you play the game of life, you always play for the highest stakes regardless of if you know it or not.
2 thoughts on “The Ending of Daisy Miller: A Study”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You make a compelling point, and it makes me wonder how innocence is construed within the novella. In that vein, James appears to be using Daisy’s innocence not just to depict her lack of guile but also to critique the societal norms that label such innocence as ignorance.
Daisy’s innocence is indeed a double-edged sword. On one hand, it represents her freedom from the restrictive social codes that govern behavior, particularly for women, in Europe at the time. Her spontaneous demeanor starkly contrasts with the calculated and often hypocritical interactions among the European elite, and in that sense, there are ways you can interpret her spontaneity as honest and indirectly virtuous. Yet, on the other hand, this same innocence—her unawareness or perhaps disregard for the rigid social etiquettes— ultimately contributes to her tragic end.
The irony of Giovanelli’s comment at her funeral further enhances this theme. By calling Daisy the “most innocent young lady he ever saw,” Giovanelli could be seen as critiquing the very societal expectations that doomed her. Instead of recognizing her behavior as a liberation from oppressive norms, society views it as a fatal flaw—an innocence that is synonymous with ignorance. This suggests a profound disconnect between true virtue and the performative virtue demanded by society. Daisy’s story, thus, becomes a somber reflection on the dangers of a rigid social system that punishes those who do not conform, regardless of their personal integrity or intentions.
Hi Alex,
This is a really interesting point! I really enjoyed your evaluation of Daisy’s innocence, as I feel as though it is a central theme to the end of the story. It’s interesting that Giovanelli calls her an “innocent young lady,” because people have harked on her for the entire story for being anything but innocent. Daisy rejected societal expectations, and that brought up a lot of conflict throughout the story. By the end, it’s important to consider: is Daisy’s sudden death supposed to be a punishment for her own actions, or is it a punishment for Winterbourne for judging her and trying to control her?
– Siena Rose