The Inward Revolution: Sexual Terrorism in The Princess Casamassima

This article focuses on female criminality and anti-social impulse in Henry James's The Princess Casamassima. It argues that James's portrayal of shop-girl Millicent Henning taps into widespread uneasiness about women's increased access to the urban public sphere in late-Victorian London. By associating Millicent with anarchy, revolution, and terrorism, the novel presents her inroads into urban commercial culture as an assault on her society. Similarly, the novel's depiction of would-be anarchist Princess Casamassima highlights its anticipation of a "women's" revolution with potentially greater impact than the socialist revolution with which the novel's male characters are concerned.