"The Wings of the Dove" - originally a novel by - Henry James addresses many themes and issues especially regarding the status of women. There are many conflicts wound into this film including; love, loyalty and betrayal. The movie also focuses on the status of women and how they were portrayed in that time. .
"The Wings of the Dove" has a very complicated series of relationships among the characters. But the difficult relationships are created by Kate. She is a manipulative and some what deceitful character who seems unsure of her decisions. Although she loves Merton, she places her value on money before a marriage with him. She decides to continue living with her Aunt because she supports her and her father, Merton could not do either. Throughout the story line, Merton is a victim to Kate. He loves her but she places him in difficult positions especially regarding Millie. At this point in the story Kate pushes Merton and Millie together. Unknowingly Millie is being deceived by her best friend and Kate places her self in a position looking on from the outside of what is occurring. Kate brings Millie and Merton together, she knows perfectly well that Millie is in love with Merton but justifies her actions claiming she wants her to be happy. This situation also places strain on Merton, he has to make a decision of whether he should stay loyal to Kate. And obviously Merton ends up falling in love with Millie, and to Kate's surprise he betrayed her through her own doings. .
There are many different values motivating the characters" actions. Kate seems to be purely driven by the value of money. In the beginning she chooses her aunt over Merton because of money problems. By befriending Millie "the American heiress" who is generous with her riches she also has easy access to money. She then sacrifices the possibility of losing Merton by pushing him to love Millie in order to get her money, when she dies of her sickness.