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Book 5, Chapter 1
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Wings of the Dove, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Class Hierarchy in English Society
Illness and Mortality
Moral Ambiguity and Responsibility
Transactional Relationships
Secrecy, Deception, and Misunderstanding
Summary
Analysis
At a dinner party that night, Lord Mark takes Milly aside to show her a portrait by the 16th-century Italian painter Bronzino. Mark says the portrait resembles Milly. As they’re observing the portrait, Milly says she doesn’t quite see the resemblance, but she thanks Lord Mark for the apparent compliment. She thinks the person in the painting is lacking joy, and she can’t help but think that person has long since died. Milly also thinks the effect of Lord Mark’s friendliness is similar to Maud’s. In essence, Milly thinks, Lord Mark seems to be asking Milly to let him help guide her and look out for her. Milly is grateful and tries to tell Lord Mark that she thinks life might never be as perfect as it is now. Lord Mark says he’s not sure if he knows what Milly means, but he smiles, nonetheless.
This passage shows Milly’s vitality and passion for life and her sense of her own mortality. While she is at a dinner party, she is struck by the lack of joy in the painting and by the fact that the woman is dead. That underlines the idea that Milly is confronting a sense of her own mortality, perhaps because of the illness she has, as she sees someone who purportedly resembles her and immediately thinks of that person’s death. Additionally, though Maud has identified Lord Mark as a potential husband for Kate, it seems possible that Lord Mark may be trying to express his romantic interest in Milly by taking her to see the portrait.
Active
Themes
Kate then walks up to the Bronzino portrait with two other guests at the party. She says that she independently also had the idea to show the guests how much the figure in the portrait resembles Milly. Milly takes Kate aside and then says that she would like Kate to accompany her to see Sir Luke Strett, who is the leading medical professional in London, if not the world. But, Milly says, she doesn’t want Mrs. Stringham to worry unnecessarily, so Kate must not tell anyone about the visit. Kate agrees to go and to keep the visit a secret. She also says that she and everyone else adore Milly. Milly adds that if she is sick, of course it will eventually come out, but she wants to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
Active
Themes
