Many have written about the guilt or innocence of Henry James' heroine, Daisy Miller. In his story, James tells of a young American girl in Europe who ignores Old World conventions and goes around, unaccompanied, with two gentlemen: one, an American ex-patriot she loves and the other, a foreign fortune hunter which she uses to get revenge on the man she loves. Some speculate that Daisy Miller is a reckless flirt, totally aware, but careless, of what her actions mean for her reputation. Others find his carelessness innocent and straightforward. But Daisy doesn't operate in a vacuum. As critic Samuels notes, Daisy “is less guilty than those who persecute her. His story is really about them" (174). Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The character who straddles the chasm between persecution and understanding of Daisy's essence is the ex-patriot, Frederick Winterbourne, who has the awareness, unlike the other characters, of his own influence on Daisy, as well as his determination to follow Winterbourne's words and actions which bring Daisy, first a series of assumptions about social behavior in Europe, then some about the state of her feelings, and then a reckless defiance of convention when those assumptions prove false, Winterbourne sets up the chain of events that will lead Daisy misbehaves and then rebels by giving her a distorted view of European society's mores regarding social presentations. At first he just stares at her, although he dwells on her appearance for so long that it is possible that he is staring at her. rude. He speaks to her when only little Randolph introduced them to him very roughly. It is Winterbourne who first discards convention, then presses his advantage when he does not reproach him: "he decided that he must advance further, rather than retreat" (James 602). He continues to talk to her, and when he observes that she appears nonchalant and seems to take little interest in him, he assumes, because of her wit, that she might be an “owl” (James 602). Given that he improperly initiated a conversation with an unmarried, unaccompanied woman, it is hypocritical of him to judge Daisy based on how she received his address. But it does. The result of her indiscreet behavior is Daisy's natural assumption that things are done this way in Europe, that countrymen can speak openly to each other as they do in her part of America - an assumption that couldn't be further from the truth . the truth. In a later conversation with his aunt, Winterbourne lets the blame shift to Daisy. He compares his behavior to that of his aunt's daughters and what is considered appropriate for them. Since he has never met Daisy in American society and since she is a newcomer to European society, this is extremely unfair. Fresh from America, Daisy is more handicapped than them in her social skills. Winterbourne himself is rusty about the customs of a culture of which he was a part; Daisy, on the other hand, has never been to Europe and cannot be expected to know anything, firsthand, about the customs. What she knows about Europe came to her through her friends. Winterbourne fails to see that his signals have led Daisy to think that European society is more lax in convention than she is accustomed to. These cues lead Daisy to talk to him (after obvious hesitations), to make plans with him, and to behave towards him, and towards Giovanelli, the way she does. Once this wrong behavior begins, knowledgecontinues. disastrous lines. Through Winterbourne's further words and actions, Daisy is led to believe that he cares for her. This growing attraction could be another explanation for her abandoning conventional ways in his company. He is obviously attracted to her when they are introduced and we later learn that the attraction is mutual. It may be the recklessness of young love, of Daisy's trust in her heart, that makes her forgive Winterbourne's early frankness, and perhaps makes her adopt his relaxed attitude to social mores. Throughout his entire stay in Vevay, Winterbourne gives Daisy reason to believe that he is genuinely interested in her, out of concern for her well-being. When they travel to Chillon Castle together, he tells her how happy he is. She in turn asks him "about himself - his family, his previous history, his tastes, his habits, his intentions (italics mine) - and to provide him with information on the corresponding points of his personality" ( James 614). When she finds out that Winterbourne will return to Geneva the next day, she calls it "horrible" and seems very upset. This is the behavior of a young woman who feels committed, not one who believes she is the victim of a light flirtation. Winterbourne's feelings are evident in the fact that he does not change his plans to return to his mistress in Geneva. His departure pushes Daisy to reunite with the stranger Giovanelli. When Winterbourne joins Daisy back in Rome, he tries to pick up where they left off months earlier. She doesn't make things easy for him and makes him understand that she is about to meet another man. His resentment is, given the circumstances, extraordinary. Again Winterbourne acts as if he cares about Daisy. He accepts her request to accompany her to the Pincio to see his gentleman friend, and, when he sees the stranger, refuses to leave her alone with him. The fact that he uses the pretext to protect her does not diminish the significance of his insistence. Daisy is happy; we can assume this is because she has seen evidence that Winterbourne still cares for her, despite all evidence to the contrary. But all these events, especially Winterbourne's affectionate behavior after the long absence, have only lulled Daisy into a false sense of security. The assumptions to which meeting the young man had led her were shattered immediately after her arrival in Rome. First, his "imperious" disapproval of his behavior angers her, probably in part due to his long absence. He declares that he will stay with Giovanelli, although one senses that he may simply be teasing Winterbourne. Then their American "friend", Mrs. Walker, arrives in her carriage to "rescue" Daisy from the company of the two gentlemen. When Winterbourne takes Mrs. Walker's side and suggests that Daisy get into the carriage, Daisy questions his reasoning with a look. After all, he is suggesting that Daisy needs to distance herself from her own company to save her reputation. If he is a gentleman and in love with her, this should seem absurd; He should never have put his reputation on the line in the first place. She laughs defiantly and leaves with Giovanelli, which causes Mrs. Walker to turn on her and Winterbourne to leave her. However, perhaps Winterbourne's rejection has less to do with Daisy's attitude towards her reputation than with her wounded desire to stay with the other man (Hoffman 22). The truth is that Winterbourne is annoyed with Daisy because her flirtation with Giovanelli prevents her from appreciating how much she has done, at least in her mind, to see her before. Ha; after all, he cut short his plans (for Bologna and France) only totravel “hastily” by his side (Samuels 175). Thus, once Mrs. Walker arrives, the "sentimental impatience" he feels in being with Daisy is "weaker than Winterbourne's anxiety for his own reputation" (Samuels 175). Suddenly, “…the freedom of social behavior and flirtatious innocence that he finds so charming in Vevay, he condemns as dangerously flirtatious in Rome” (Hoffman 20). This is what makes Daisy angry enough to refuse Mrs. Walker's carriage: that, and jealousy of Mrs. Walker's influence over Winterbourne. Walker throws a party three days later, to which Winterbourne and the Millers are invited. The party begins a series of revelations for Daisy, through which more fuel is added to her rebellious fire. Winterbourne's rigidity towards her begins to convince Daisy that he doesn't care about her, at least not enough to treat her with interest and respect. Her attitude pushes her to defend Giovanelli. When she does so, Winterbourne assumes aloud that she is in love with the stranger. Daisy is offended and shocked by his words, which show her that Winterbourne has misunderstood her actions and is casting them in a less innocent light. In shock and anger he goes into another room with Giovanelli, which further compromises his reputation. When she leaves, Mrs Walker despises her and Daisy further discovers the extent to which Winterbourne has deceived her. Doubting Winterbourne's feelings for her and despairing over the scandal that his signals have led her to reject, Daisy clings to Giovanelli more than ever. Winterbourne and Daisy meet on Palatine Hill, where she is walking alone with Giovanelli. He lectures her again about her reputation. Encouraged by this, she almost admits that she only cares about her opinion, Winterbourne's, and asks him to help her. He declines this responsibility. Again, Winterbourne's lessons only lead Daisy to a further challenge. She claims she is engaged: 'Since you told me about it,' she said, 'I am engaged'" (James 631). Daisy is saying that she will claim she is engaged because Winterbourne is blind enough to believe it. She then tells him that she is only engaged if he believes she is; she depends on his opinions for her actions, and the final confrontation between the star-crossed lovers clearly shows how dependent Daisy is on Winterbourne's reactions as proof of her love and belief in his innocence moonlit night, as he passes the Colosseum, Winterbourne sees two figures and recognizes their voices as those of Daisy and Giovanelli. He begins to walk, ready to wash his hands of them. She calls out to him, surprised that he sees her and "cuts her" (James 633). . Daisy asks him if he really believed she was engaged when they spoke earlier. In anger and disgust, Winterbourne declares that it doesn't matter whether she is engaged or not the placement of his affections mean nothing to him. In “…a strange tone,” she says that she doesn't care whether she has Roman fever or not (James 634). She abandons herself, with mean words, to the world's conviction of her guilt and to Roman fever, which the critic Kraft calls "evil": "The 'Roman fever' you catch is a worldly evil, whether you know it or not... . She is not only destroyed by this 'evil', but also by Winterbourne's indifference..." (Kraft 91). If Winterbourne no longer believes in her or cares for her, she will no longer care for herself (Samuels 176). Daisy dies within a few weeks. Her death is definitive proof that her actions depended on Winterbourne's trust in her, for if she had taken care of herself, she would not have endangered her health, would not have fallen ill, and would not have died. As he states.,., 1971.