The Wings of the Dove

(To make this a blog exclusively about the Wings of the Dove click here.)

Chapters 31 and 32
This is the chapter in which everything falls apart for Merton. That is not surprising. But the first thing we learn is that things are falling apart for Milly. Susan comes to see Merton.

They came to it almost immediately; he was to wonder afterwards at the fewness of their steps. "She has turned her face to the wall."

"You mean she's worse?"

Well yes, but there is more to it than that Mr. Densher. For the sake of dramatic irony, James has to pretend that he can reasonably expect all of his readers to spot the Biblical allusion here while Merton Densher himself misses it. And he will continue to miss it even though the phrase "turned her face to the wall" gets repeated several times over the next few chapters.

Just so we're all on the same page, here is the way chapter 38 of the book of the prophet Isaiah opens:

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover." Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall ...

And the significance of that is pretty obvious. The thing not to do is what Merton and a number of web sites and critics I have read do and assume the challenge here is to figure out what the fact that she has turned her face to the wall tells us about what Milly is thinking. The important thing is to remind ourselves what happens to Hezekiah after he turns his face to the wall to pray and weep bitterly.

Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: "Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of your ancestor David: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and defend this city.

That sounds good but there is a problem. Our buddy Hezekiah invites the Babylonians round and shows them all the treasure of the kingdom. He does this on the (faulty) logic that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And Isaiah tells him, prophesying correctly, that all this treasure will be carried away to Babylonia. And then, well let's just say all sorts of stuff happens.

Now Milly is not going to get 15 more years but she is in a  fix not unlike that of Hezekiah. She has no real friends (even Susan is in this for mixed motives). And she has Lord Mark who hates Merton and Merton who returns the favour. So which is the best to expose her treasure to? There is no right answer.

By the way, can we talk about names? For we have two people who come to visit Milly in Venice:

Lord Mark in chapter 31 and
Sir Luke Strett in chapter 32

Is it just a coincidence that these two have the same names as the authors of two of the Gospels? And Sir Luke is a physician!

Saint Mark is traditionally associated with death. As is Venice. Certainly, within the logic of the novel so far it seems like what Lord Mark tells Milly must kill her.  Except that Sir Luke brings something that feels  like hope again. Will be only to have Milly expose her treasure to Babylonia?

With Sir Luke's arrival, the weather gets better and Milly asks to see Merton.