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THE PORTRAYAL OF VICTORIAN UPPER CLASS SOCIETY

AS REVEALED THROUGH THE CHARACTERS

  

IN HENRY JAMES’S DAISY MILLER

  AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters

  By

ARINI WULANDARI

  Student Number: 044214108

ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME

  

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS

FACULTY OF LETTERS

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY

YOGYAKARTA

2008

  iv v

  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I would address my greatest and deepest gratitude to my Lord Jesus Christ and Saint Mary for blessing and giving me strength so I am able to finish this thesis. I thank them for giving me sign, sight, and light in my life. I realize that I am nothing without their guidance.

  I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor, Dewi Widyastuti, S.Pd., M.Hum. for her great assistance in finishing this thesis. I thank her very much for spending her time to give suggestions, advice, and corrections to complete my thesis. I also would like to thank my co-advisor J. Harris Hermansyah Setiajid, S.S., M.Hum, who has given valuable corrections, and advice for my thesis. Without their help, this thesis would not have been completed. I also thank for all the lecturers and staff of the Department of English Letters during my study in Sanata Dharma University.

  I dedicated this thesis to my beloved parents, especially my mother who prays for me in heaven. I thank them for their love, prayer, help and support to finish this thesis. I also thank for all my beloved sisters and brothers Anik, Dewi, Sari, Tutut, Andon, Tyo, and my nephew Joshua who have shared their love, happiness, and encouragement to me.

  I also address my gratitude to my lovely Endro who has been so patient in supporting and encouraging during finishing this thesis. His love always makes me strong when I was down. He inspires my life and makes me realize that I have to struggle to achieve what I always dream of. Besides, he always stays beside me whenever I need him and share my sadness and happiness.

  I would like to express my sincere thanks to MIA (Missing in Action), my great friends in the English Letters; Ditha, Eli, Bertha, Yuli, and Eka for the support and nice friendship. I thank them for the discussion and all the moments that we have shared together during my study. I am so glad that we could spend some years together. I will not forget it forever. I also would like to thank Ika, Ditya, Kharisma, Oos, and all friends in English Letters ’04 for being my friends during my study in Sanata Dharma University.

  Finally, I would like to thank those who helped me in finishing this thesis that I cannot mention one by one.

  Arini Wulandari

  

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGE ......................................................................................... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE .................................................................................... iii MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................ iv DEDICATION PAGE ..................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................. viii ABSTRACT..................................................................................................... x ABSTRAK ...................................................................................................... xi

  CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1 A. Background of the Study................................................................ 1 B. Problem Formulation ..................................................................... 6 C. Objectives of the Study .................................................................. 6 D. Definition of Terms........................................................................ 6 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW ................................................ 8 A. Review of Related Studies ............................................................. 8 B. Review of Related Theories ........................................................... 10

  1. Theory of Character ................................................................. 10

  2. Theory of Characterization ...................................................... 11

  3. Theory between Literature and Society ................................... 15

  4. Review of Social Situation in Victorian Era ............................ 16

  C. Theoretical Framework .................................................................. 20

  CHAPTER III: METODHOLOGY ............................................................. 22 A. Object of the Study ........................................................................ 22 B. Approach of the Study .................................................................. 23 C. Method of the Study ...................................................................... 24 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS ......................................................................... 27 A. The Characteristics of the Characters ........................................... 27

  1. Mrs. Costello ........................................................................... 29

  2. Winterbourne ........................................................................... 36

  3. Mrs. Walker ............................................................................. 38

  B. The Portrayal of Victorian Upper Class Society as Revealed in

  Daisy Miller .................................................................................. 40

  CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION .................................................................... 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 58

  

APPENDICES ............................................................................................... 61

  Appendix 1 ...................................................................................... 61 Appendix 2 ...................................................................................... 63

  ABSTRACT

ARINI WULANDARI. The Portrayal of Victorian Upper Class Society as

Revealed through the Characters in Henry James’s Daisy Miller. Yogyakarta:

  Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.

  In this thesis, the writer discusses one of works written by Henry James entitled Daisy Miller. Daisy Miller is a well known short story of Henry James written in 1878. The novella depicts the life of European society during the Victorian era especially the upper class society. Therefore, the writer tries to analyze some characters of the story as the portrayal of Victorian upper class society, namely Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker.

  There are two problems to be discussed in this study. The first problem is how the characteristics of the characters are described in the novel. The second problem is how the Victorian upper class society are portrayed through the characters.

  In order to answer those problems, the writer applied library research as the method. The writer collects all the related data and other references from the books as well as from internet in order to support this undergraduate thesis. There are some theories applied in order to answer the question on the study. Those theories are theory of character, theory of characterization, theory between literature and society, and review of social situation in Victorian era. The approach that the writer employs in analyzing the problems is the sociocultural- historical approach. This approach is useful to analyze the social condition of European society in the late nineteenth century.

  The result of the study shows that in Daisy Miller, the characters portray the Victorian upper class society. The manner and behavior of Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne and Mrs. Walker are influenced by European culture, especially the upper class people because they have lived for long time in Europe. They follow the habits and customs of the upper class people. The characteristics of Victorian upper class society are reflected through the characteristics of those three characters in the story in several aspects, such as the distinction of social class, education, reputation, the rules on how men and women deal with each others, the rules on how women should behave, and life style.

  

ABSTRAK

ARINI WULANDARI. The Portrayal of Victorian Upper Class Society as

Revealed through the Characters in Henry James’s Daisy Miller. Yogyakarta:

Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.

  Dalam skripsi ini, penulis membahas salah satu karya yang ditulis oleh Henry James yang berjudul Daisy Miller. Daisy Miller adalah sebuah novel terkenal yang ditulis oleh Henry James pada tahun 1878. Novel ini menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat Eropa pada masa Victoria, terutama masyarakat golongan kelas atas. Oleh karena itu, penulis berusaha untuk menganalisis beberapa tokoh dalam cerita ini sebagai gambaran masyarakat golongan kelas atas pada masa Victoria, yaitu Costello, Winterbourne, and Walker.

  Ada dua permasalahan yang akan dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Yang pertama adalah bagaimana tokoh-tokoh di dalam novel ini digambarkan. Yang kedua adalah bagaimana masyarakat golongan kelas atas pada masa Victoria digambarkan melalui tokoh-tokoh tersebut.

  Untuk menjawab masalah-masalah tersebut, penulis menerapkan studi pustaka sebagai metodenya. Penulis mengumpulkan semua data yang relevan dan referensi-referensi lain baik dari perpustakaan maupun internet untuk mendukung skripsi ini. Ada beberapa teori yang diterapkan untuk menjawab beberapa pertanyaan dalam skripsi ini. Teori-teori tersebut antara lain teori karakter, teori karakterisasi, teori hubungan antara sastra dan masyarakat dan tinjauan situasi sosial pada masa Victoria. Pendekatan yang penulis gunakan dalam menganalisis permasalahan-permasalahan tersebut adalah pendekatan sosiokultural historis. Pendekatan ini berguna untuk menganalisis kondisi sosial masyarakat Eropa pada masa akhir abad ke sembilan belas.

  Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa dalam novel Daisy Miller, tokoh-tokoh tersebut memberi gambaran yang sangat jelas tentang masyarakat golongan kelas atas pada masa Victoria. Gaya dan perilaku Costello, Winterbourne, and Walker dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan Eropa terutama masyarakat golongan kelas atas karena mereka sudah tinggal lama di Eropa. Mereka mengikuti kebiasaan dan adat-istiadat masyarakat golongan kelas atas. Karakteristik-karakteristik dari tokoh-tokoh tersebut di dalam cerita merefleksikan masyarakat golongan kelas atas pada waktu itu dalam beberapa aspek, seperti perbedaan kelas sosial, pendidikan, reputasi, peraturan tentang bagaimana laki- laki dan wanita saling berhubungan satu dengan yang lain, peraturan tentang bagaimana seharusnya wanita berperilaku di dalam masyarakat, dan gaya hidup.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study Reading a literary gives many valuable things for its readers. We can

  enrich our knowledge and experiences in our life. As stated by Moody in his book

  Literary Appreciation:

  The greatest pleasure and satisfaction be found in literature occurs where (as it often does) it brings us back to the realities of human situations, problems, feelings, and relationships (1968: 2).

  In other words, reading a work of literature does not only give us pleasure, but also educates and teaches us as human beings. Through literature, we may understand the reality of life.

  Literary work as part of literature can be said as the reflection or representation of the world and human life in a society because literary work exposes problem and situation of a society. In Theory of Literature, Rene Wellek and Austin Warren states that “Literature represents life because life reflects a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner and subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary imitation” (1956: 94). Thus, literature can be said as the reflection of human life because a literary work contains the reality of human situation, problem, feeling, and relationship.

  One of the literature genres is novel. As a work of literature, a novel shows the realities of human life. Van De Laar and Schonderwoerd in An Approach to

  

English Literature point out that a novel is a work of art which introduces us into

  2 a living world; in some respects resembling the world we live in, but with an individuality of its own (1963: 163). It means that a story of life will be found in a novel because it tells about someone, his or her life, the conflict he or she has to face. Therefore, by reading a novel, we may learn many things such as what happened in the past, what kind of human behavior, the conflict and problem the characters has to face in a society.

  There are many factors that influence the author to produce a literary work. People’s experience and the conflict that happened where the characters live may become the inspirations for the author in writing a literary work. Sometimes, an author wants to write a literary work because he or she wants to show and express his feelings and ideas, which concern with his or her surrounding.

  In this undergraduate thesis, the writer will analyze a novel as its subject. The novel that is going to be discussed is one of literary works of Henry James, entitled Daisy Miller. The writer is interested to analyze the portrayal of Victorian upper class society as seen in that novel. The writer is sure that the characters of the story are the picture of Victorian upper class society because from the way Henry James presents the character the writer in the novel, the writer finds out some characteristics of the upper class people during the Victorian era. Henry James tries to portrait the characters and creates the conflict based on what he had observed in his surrounding. James presents the readers the description of the surrounding of the behavior and manner which are a part of social customs. He tries to show how the characters face problem and conflict in their life in a

  3 society. At this point, James portraits custom conflict between American and European society through the characters of the story.

  Henry James is an American author who lived during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. He wrote lots of literary works during his life, such as novels, plays and short stories. The writer is interested in Henry James’s novel because most of his works are widely known and read. Besides, he was known as a great and popular author. The Encyclopedia Americana Vol.15 states that Henry James is an American novelist and critic, who remains one of the greatest and the most influential figures in American literature (1977: 679). That statement is also supported by others, such as Robert E. Spiller. He said that Henry James is a great American novelist of ideas. In The Cycle of American Literature, he gives his opinion:

  James succeeded in treating the dilemma realistically. The protagonist of his fiction was always a projection of at least a substantial part of the authors self, writer or painter in many of the shorter tales, or a woman or man whose art the was the conscious reshaping of the self to its own best potentialities, as in the longest and best his novels (1957: 133).

  

Daisy Miller is chosen because it was the first work of James and it was the most

  successful work of James that he ever wrote. As stated in Critical Essay: Meaning

  

through Social in Cliffsnotes Website, Henry James was the first novelist to write

on the theme of the American versus the European with any degree of success.

  Almost all of his major novels may be approached as a study of the social theme of the American in Europe, in which James contrasts the active life of the American with the mannered life of the European aristocracy or he contrasts the

  4 free open nature of the American with the more formalized and stiff rules found in Europe. Daisy Miller is one of James’ earliest works involving this theme

  Another interesting aspect to see in this novel is about the characteristics of the novel written by James. His novel has some characteristics of the novel of manners, a genre, which represents the behavior, customs and values of a particular social class in a certain time and place. The setting of the story took place in Europe. Henry James’s Daisy Miller was written in 1878. That year was considered as a part of the Victorian Age. The term Victorian Age refers to the time when Queen Victoria ruled England from 1837 until 1901. When Queen Victoria governed England in the Nineteenth Century, the Victorian Age reminds for us a synonym for old-fashioned when referring to attitude related to the morality and social code (Arnstein, 1966: 76).

  Winterbourne, one of the main characters in the novel, is an American young man who is visiting his aunt in a hotel in Vevay, Switzerland. He has lived in Europe for a long time. In the hotel, he meets an American young girl, named Daisy Miller, who is traveling to Europe with her mother and brother. In Winterbourne’s interaction with Daisy Miller, Winterbourne and the society find that Daisy’s behavior is inappropriate at that time. Therefore, they consider Daisy as a girl who has uncultivated behavior because they think that Daisy’s behavior totally ignores the manner, social custom and tradition of European at that time.

  In the novella Daisy Miller, the writer finds that there are some characters in the novel that really represent Victorian upper class society at that time; they are Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker. The writer chooses those three

  5 characters because the picture of Victorian upper class society is clearly seen through those three characters. Actually, they are sort of Europeanized expatriate.

  It means that they are American people but they have traveled and lived so long in Europe and have adopted the customs and manners of the European around them.

  Even though they are American people, they show the readers what European cultures are, for example manner, custom, and gap among social status etc.

  Daisy likes to react to any situation according to her own desires. Even though people tell her that certain things are improper, Daisy always ignores them. She refuses to obey the rules of European society. On the contrary, Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker who are the upper class society would never act in any manner which breaks the rule existing in the society. The Europeans have certain norm which guides their behavior in the society.

  In this thesis, the writer is interested in revealing the manner, customs, and behavior of European upper class society during the Victorian era. The next reason is the presentation of the characters as the model of the society in the novel is very interesting to be discussed though the description of their attitudes and behavior. The characters’ behavior later reflects and functions to reveal the portrait of the society. Thus, the writer is interested to discover what kind of society where Daisy lives that is really portrait the Victorian society.

B. Problem Formulation

  Related to the title chosen, there are two problems needed to be answer as the guidance to the analysis.

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  1. How are the characteristics of the characters described in the novel Daisy

  Miller?

  2. How do the characters in the story portray the Victorian upper class society?

  C. Objectives of the Study

  Related to the problem above, there are two objectives of study that are going to be discovered. The first is to know how the characteristics of the characters are described in the novel. The last is the writer wants to know the portrayal of Victorian upper class society through the characters as seen in the novel Daisy Miller written by Henry James.

  D. Definition of Terms

  To get the clearer understanding of the content of the study, there are some definitions of terms that are needed to be clarified.

  1. Portrayal In The New Oxford American Dictionary, Erin Mckean says that portrayal can be defined as the act of describing something or someone in a particular way

  (2005: 1322). This term is used to see the characters in the story as the representation of Victorian upper class society.

  2. Society Landis, in his book Sociology Concepts and Characteristics, defines society as a number of people who have lived together long enough to become

  7 organized to some degree and who share a common culture (1974: 53). This term is used to see European society in their way of living, custom, etc.

  3. Victorian Era According to Hornby’s Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current

  

English, Victorian Era means (1) period in history starting from a particular event

  or time, and (2) period in history marked by an important event or development (1989: 406). Victorian Era here refers to the reign of Queen Victoria of England (1837-1901).

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review on Related Studies In this thesis, the writer will analyze one of Henry James’s novels, Daisy Miller. This part consists of the related studies that deal with Henry James's Daisy Miller. There are many studies that will be presented in order to enrich the writer's knowledge in understanding the novel. As it is noted down in Enotes Website, Daisy Miller, which first appeared

  in England in Cornhill Magazine in 1878, has always remained one of Henry James's most popular works. However, when the novella made its appearance in The Cornhill Magazine in 1879, it created a huge uproar among the American public. William Dean Howells observed that the country was split between Daisy Millerites and anti-Daisy Millerites. The latter were scandalized by Daisy's behavior, which was thought to flout Victorian standards of womanly conduct.

  Daisy Miller's originality, stylistic distinction, and psychologically complex characters, have led many modern critics to regard James as a subtle craftsman who skillfully reflected the late nineteenth-century concern with morality and social behavior.

  Karen Bernardo, in his article Henry James' Daisy Miller, gave his comment on this novel. He said that Henry James’s Daisy Miller shows how during the late Victorian era, a newly-affluent moneyed middle class began moving into social territory formerly considered the sole province of aristocracy.

  9 Karen Bernardo in his article Henry James' Daisy Miller also adds that all the characters are expatriated Americans. The situation seems ironic; the Costello-

  Winterbourne-Walker set is in Europe, attending society functions that make them feel like European aristocracy, all the while fiercely resenting the sound of wealthy but common people like the Millers knocking at their gates.

  As have been cited in Sparknotes Website, it is stated that at that time the post–Civil War industrial boom had given rise to a new class of wealthy Americans for whom “the grand tour,” an extended trip through Europe, represented the pinnacle of social and financial success. As a result, Americans were visiting Europe for the first time in record numbers. However, American manners differed greatly from European manners, and the Americans were largely ignorant of the customs of Europeans of comparable social status.

  As it is noted down in Gradesaver Website, the main theme which Henry James explores in his novella, Daisy Miller, concerns the contrast between American and European societies in the second half of the nineteenth century.

  Symbolically these societies represent, respectively, an innocent and natural way of life as compared to a ritualized, experienced, and artificial manner in Europe.

  James had lived comfortably in both the United States and abroad. He was the first author truly capable of exploring the differences between the two societies.

  His writing explored those of a standard of living which allow them to experience the luxuries and pleasures of education, travel, and high society.

  Bradley, in his book The American Tradition in Literature, gives his comment on Henry James’s Daisy Miller. He states that “He wrote from

  10 a perspective that allowed him to contrast American society with that of European by contrasting the people’s idea” (1967: 143). At this point, Henry James tries to shows the contradiction between American and European that have different social background.

  Another essay in Daisy Miller’s Introduction states that the novella contrasts the rigid social laws of Europe and the independent, unconventional spirit of a young American woman, Daisy Miller, who has been regarded by some commentators as an archetypal American woman. To this day, the story continues to be widely anthologized and discussed for its complex and interesting characters and its examination of late nineteenth-century morality and manners.

  The writer will discuss the previous criticisms and commentaries on James’s Daisy Miller that this novel shows cultural differences between America and Europe during the nineteenth century or during the Victorian Era. In this undergraduate thesis, the writer wants to analyze deeper about the portrayal of Victorian upper class society through some characters in Henry James’s Daisy

  

Miller, which have not been analyzed yet. The writer wants to find out the

  characteristics of Victorian society at that time, especially the upper class society that is presented through the characters.

B. Review on Related Theories

1. Theories on Character

  Character is one of the most important elements in the novel. The writer

  11 uses theories on character from some experts in this undergraduate thesis. Those theories are needed in order to get clear understanding about the character.

  Abrams in A Glossary of Literary Terms defines character as “the person presented in the dramatic and narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as being endowed with moral and disposition qualities that are expressed in what they say- dialogue and what they do- the action” (1981: 20).

  The character in the novel can be divided into two types, namely main or major character and minor character. In the book An Introduction to Fiction, Stanton defines major character is the most important character, the central character, the one to whom all the events in the story have relevance (1965: 17).

  Moreover, Roger B. Henkle adds that the major character has a full attention and performs a key structural function in a novel (1977: 92).

  Another character in the novel is minor character or the secondary character. The minor character is generally less complex than the major character.

  The minor character also shows only one side of the experiences in a novel. In addition, the minor character is less sophisticated. Actually, minor characters have a job as elements in the society, as foils to the major characters, and as symbols aspect in the governing states of the human situation (Henkle, 1977: 95-96). In this point, the character that is going to be analyzed will be mainly focused on both major and minor characters in this novella Daisy Miller, namely Mrs.

  Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker.

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2. Theories on Characterization Theory on characterization is applied to find out the characteristics of Mrs.

  Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker. The writer mainly uses Murphy’s theory on characterization. Moreover, there are two other theories that support Murphy’s theory, namely the theory on characterization raised by Rohrberger and Woods about the two principle ways to show the characterization and Barnet’s theory on characterization. Those theories function to strengthen Murphy’s theory.

  Rohrberger and Woods in Reading and Writing about Literature give a theory of characterization. They say that characterization is the process by which an author creates a character. There are two principle ways that an author can characterize. The first is through a direct way. It describes the physical appearance. The second, he uses a dramatic event. It means that he places in situation where he should react in particular way. His action must be motive in term that a reader can accept (1971: 20). In other words, the way to show about characterization can be direct or indirect. In direct ways the author describes the physical appearance. Secondly, is through indirect ways, where the author describes the character by how the character behaves and speaks. We can see the character implicitly.

  In the book Literature for Composition Essays, Fiction, Poetry, and

  

Drama, Barnet stated that the characters are the significant element in the work of

  literature. According to him, there are some important factors that must be considered when we want to see the character (2005: 229), they are:

  13 a. What the character says

  What the character says in the story is important to give a clue of how the author describes him or her, for example whether he or she is a good or bad person, educated or uneducated person.

  b. What the character does To see what character does is important to know whether he or she is an upper class or lower class, he or she is a good or bad person.

  c. What other characters say about the character.

  What other characters say about the character is needed to get additional information and about clear description about his character in the story.

  d. What others do The action of others may help to indicate what the character could do but he or she does not do. It is important to know his character such as lazy, wicked, careless person, and etc.

  According to Murphy (1972: 161-173), there are nine ways on how the author attempts to make his characters understandable, to and come alive for his readers as follow:

  a. Personal description The author can describe a person’s appearances and clothes.

  b. Character as seen by another Instead of describing a character directly, the author can describe him through the eyes and opinions of another.

  14 c. Speech

  The author can give us an insight into the character of one person in the book through what the person says.

  d. Past life By letting the reader learn something about a person’s past life, the author can give us a clue to events that have helped to shape a person’s character.

  e. Conversation of others The author can also give us clues to a person’s character through the conversations of other people and the things they say about him.

  f. Reactions The author can also give us clues to a person’s character by letting us know how that person reacts to various situations and events.

  g. Direct comment The author can describe or comment on a person’s character directly.

  h. Thought The author can give us direct knowledge of what a person is thinking about. i. Mannerism

  The author can describe a person’s mannerism, habits, or idiosyncrasies which may also tell us something about his character.

  In brief, a character plays an important role in literary works, because character is a person who made action and to whom the incidents happen.

  Therefore, the existence of a character is essentially needed.

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2. The Relation between Literature and Society

  Literature as a work of art whose medium is language has a close relation with society. Usually, literature uses certain society which is used as the setting of the novel. In the book of The Theory of Literature, Wellek and Warren state that “Literature has usually arisen in close connection with particular social institutions and has also a social function, or use, which cannot be purely individual” (1956: 94).

  Moreover, Graham Little in his Approach to Literature: an Introduction to

  

Critical Study of Content and Method in Writing (1963: 1) mentions that literature

  is the principle of a culture. It contains a record of values, thoughts, problem, and conflict that are transmitted either through written or spoken words. With such acknowledgement, literature stands as the instrument to pass the experience from the generation to the next. Literature then functions as a media that recorded the situation of a society in the past then exposes it to the new generation.

  The relations between literature and society are that literature is an expression of the society (Wellek and Waren, 1956: 95). Literary work can play its role as a document that record social realities, happen in society, which is artistically portrayed by the authors (1956: 102). Literature also can be made for the outlines of social history. For example, literature can be as a social picture of American life (1956: 103).

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C. Review of Social Situation in Victorian Era

  Since the thesis will deal with the portrayal of European society during the Victorian Era, it is necessary to know the European society during that period.

  Through understanding of the society, the problems in the thesis can be revealed deeply. In this part of the study, the writer is going to give the information about Europe conditions in the Victorian era.

  The Victorian period in England correspond to the reign of Queen Victoria, beginning in June 1873 and ending with her death in January 1901 (Swisher, 2000: 11). In that period, there were many great changes in the life of English society. Cultural, political, economic, industrial and scientific changes were occurred during her reign. In this thesis, the writer sees the data about conditions of Victorian society, such as Victorian class structure and Victorian sociocultural condition.

1. Victorian Class Structure

  The Victorian society was divided into a big social class structure. Each class was representative of the changes in economics and social conditions in the early period of Victorian’s reign. The social class is grouped in three classes, upper class, middle class, and lower class or working class.

a. Upper Class

  According to Hill, in A History of Western Society, the upper class was the richest class that composed mainly of the most successful business families from banking, industry, and large-scale commerce (1983: 847). William Benton adds

  17 that the upper class is the owner of large amounts of property and the income. They are able to develop a distinctive style of life based upon expensive cultural pursuits and leisure activities, from which the great majority of the population is excluded, to exert a considerable influence upon economic policy and political decisions and to procure for their children a superior education and economic opportunities that help to perpetuate family wealth (1983: 949). The upper classes hired tutors for young children and sent their older boys to high-cost academies like Eton and Rugby, which prepared them for the university (Swisher, 2000: 23-24).

  The upper class society usually purchased country places or built beach houses for weekend and summer use. More generally, the rich businessman and certainly his son devoted less time to business and more to culture easy living than was the case in less wealthy or well established commercial families (Hill, 1983: 847-848).

  Spending on food was also great because the dinner party was this class’s favored social occasion. A wealthy family might give a lavish party for eight to twelve almost every week, while more modest households would settle for once a month (Hill, 1983: 850)

b. Middle Class

  According to Hill, the members of the middle class were successful industrialists and merchant, professional in law and medicine, independent shopkeepers, small traders, and tiny manufactures (1983: 848). The middle classes

  18 were solid members of what some contemporary observers called the servant- keeping classes. Indeed, the presence of at least one enormously helpful full-time maid to cook and clean was the best single sign that a family had crossed the vague line separating the working class from the middle class (1983: 850).

  Well-fed and well-served, the middle classes were also well-housed by 1900. Many quite prosperous families rented rather than owned their homes.

  Apartment living, complete with tiny rooms servants under the eaves of the top floor, was commonplace, and wealthy investors and speculative builders found good profits in middle-class housing. Education was another growing expense, as middle class parents tried to provide their children with the crucial advanced education (1983: 850).

  By 1900, the middle classes were also quite clothes-conscious. He factor, the factory, the sewing machine, and the department store had all helped to reduce the cost and expand the variety of clothing. Middle-class women were particularly attentive to the fickle dictates of fashion (Hill, 1983: 850).

c. Lower Class or Working Class

  William Benton in The New Encyclopedia Britannica Volume 16 states that the lower class or working class was constituted essentially by manual workers in extractive and manufacturing industry. The characteristics of the working class were lack of property and dependence upon wages. With this condition were associated relatively low levels of living and of education, restricted access to secondary and higher education, limited opportunities for

  19 leisure and cultural activities, and exclusion, to a large extent, from the spheres of important decision making (1970: 949). They were strongly committed to the family and to economic improvement. Families in the working class saved money regularly, worried about their children’s education and valued good housing (Hill, 1983: 852-853).

  Hill adds that the lower classes were divided into highly skilled or the labor aristocracy, semiskilled, and unskilled workers. The most aristocratic of the highly skilled workers were construction bosses and factory foremen, men who had risen from the ranks and were fiercely proud of their achievement.

  Semiskilled worker consisted of workers in the established crafts- carpenter, bricklayers, and pipe fitters. A large number of the semiskilled were factory workers. The unskilled worker was the larger group, made up of day laborers such as longshoremen, wagon-driving teamsters, teenagers, and every kind of helper.

  One of the largest components of the unskilled group was domestic servants (1983: 852-853).

2. Victorian Sociocultural Condition

  According to Smith, in every society, there is a social status. A group of people of certain social class is expected to behave as their social status. The upper class should have a high social status and they have to live in a certain style of life, which shows that they belong to an exclusive class (1955: 267).

  Hill states that sexual experimentation before marriage had been illegitimate. Sexual permissiveness was frowned. It was hard to know the

  20 European couples manage sex, pregnancy, and marriage in the nineteenth century, because such questions were considered improper both in polite conversation and in public opinion. In addition, the young ladies in high society will never talk so freely to men they have just met (1983: 857). It means that the upper class young girls can not reveal and show her feeling to the men freely because if they do such kind of behavior, they are considered improper.

  Clarice Swisher, in Victorian England says that in the relations of the sexes where the upper and middle classes were concerned outlasted the Victorian Age, for it continued to exist to no inconsiderable extent until the outbreak of the First World War. If a woman went in a hansom (a two-wheeled carriage) alone with a man who was neither her father nor her husband, nor old enough to be her grandfather, her reputation was irretrievably lost. The ruling convention was directed against unmarried men and women ever being alone together unless they were engaged (2000: 181). Tregidgo in his book A Background to English adds that in Victorian era, unmarried girls were always closely guarded and rarely allowed to be alone with a young man (1971: 37). In other words, reputation is important for the upper class people, therefore they are supposed to keep their behavior and manner in the society

D. Theoretical Framework

  This study aims to find out the portrayal of Victorian society as seen through the characters in Henry James’s Daisy Miller. In this analysis, the writer provides some theories in order to find the answers of the problems. They are

  21 theory on character and characterization, theory on relation between society and literature, and review of social situation in Victorian Era. These theories will support the analysis and help to answer the problems stated in the problem formulation.

  In answering the first question of the problem formulation, theory on character and characterization will be applied. In analyzing the characters, the writer will apply the theory on character and characterization. As the result, the writer is able to get a clear description and the characteristics of the characters.

  Here, the writer will analyze and write all the characteristics of those characters in the story.

  Understanding the relation between society and literature is also important in this analysis to answer the second problem, since the analysis deals with the actual condition of Victorian society. The writer uses the idea of Wellek and Warren about the relationship between literature and society in order show how the work clearly expresses the Victorian society during that period.

  In addition, the historical reviews that refer to this thesis are the fact about the condition of society in western countries, especially European during the Victorian Era. The writer applies the historical reviews as supporting theory to answer the second problem. The historical reviews contain the characteristics of European society in the late nineteenth century so it can help the writer to prove that the characters of the story are the portrayal of Victorian upper class society.

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study The novel that will be analyzed in this study is one of Henry James’s

  novels entitled Daisy Miller. The novel was written in the 1870s and it was first published in The Cornhill Magazine in two parts, number 37, June, 1878, and number 38, July, 1878. Then, James revised Daisy Miller in 1909 for the collection of his novels and tales known as the New York Edition.

  The writer read the novel that was published in New York by Dover Publications in the year of 1995. It consists of 59 pages and it is divided into two chapters with their own title in each chapter. The background when the novel was written was in the nineteenth century, which can be called as Victorian Age. Daisy

  

Miller was an immediate and widespread popular success for James, transforming

  him into an author of international standing. In 1974, James’s novel became a film. Peter Bogdanovich directed a film version of Daisy Miller successfully, starring Cybill Shepherd as Daisy Miller.

  James in his novel Daisy Miller contrasts American customs and values with European manners and morals in the late nineteenth century. One of the main characters is an American young man, named Winterbourne. When he is visiting his aunt in Vevay, he meets an American lady, named Daisy who is traveling to Europe. During his relationship with Daisy, Winterbourne, Mrs. Costello, and Mrs. Walker find that Daisy is not a well-behaved girl. Daisy’s manners are very

  24 different from European manners at that time. In Europe, Daisy refuses to obey the norms of European society and she behaves just as she did in America.

  Therefore, she is considered improper by the European society because of her lack of understanding of the social mores of the society. In the story, the European society is presented through some characters; that is reflected through Mrs. Costello, Winterbourne, and Mrs. Walker.

B. Approach of the Study

  In order to analyze the novella Daisy Miller, the writer uses the sociocultural-historical approach. The point of socio-cultural and historical approach is seeing a literary work from its relation with social history of certain time and place. In Reading and Writing about Literature, Rohberger and Woods states that: