Character of Rosemary Fell - “A Cup of Tea” – Katherine Mansfield

“A Cup of Tea” – Katherine Mansfield

Character of Rosemary Fell:

          In the story ‘A Cup of Tea’, Rosemary Fell is portrayed as a very complex character. She is the protagonist of the story, one who seems happy and good hearted on surface but deep within her she is just like any other woman suffering from envy and pain. The story starts with the statement,

“Rosemary Fell was not exactly beautiful.”

And another statement is,

“She was young, brilliant, extremely modem, exquisitely well dressed, amazingly well read”

         By this expression of writer, we can say that, she is brilliant but not beautiful.

The story portrays Rosemary as a rich lady one who is not just rich rather comfortably rich. The one who is indulged in the richness of this world, when the normal population went to ‘Bond Street’, Rosemary went to London for a normal shopping. Her parties represent her richness. Like all rich women of the world Rosemary is also portrayed as a woman who is greatly interested in kindness and charity.

        When she comes out from the antique shop she saw a girl begging for some money. That girl wanted to have a cup of tea. Rosemary thought she should grab this opportunity to help the poor girl. She decided to take that girl at her home and treat her like her sister and does not mind the class that she herself belonged. She told to the poor girl,

"Come home to tea with me."

 She took that girl at her home and served her well.

        Everything changed when Mr. Philip called Miss Smith a pretty girl. He said,

"She's so astonishingly pretty."

         When Philip has said this to Rosemary, she felt insecurity and it was like an acid attack for Rosemary to brought Miss Smith at her home. Suddenly she changed her mind from charity to jealousy. She started thinking that to allow Miss Smith to stay in the house can be dangerous for her marriage life. She also started thinking about herself that “isn’t she a beautiful woman?” She thought she should not allow Miss Smith to stay with her. Finally she gave some money to Miss Smith and told her to leave the house. At the end of the story, she asked Philip,

"Am I pretty?"

        When Rosemary met Miss Smith, as a reader we can observe that, Miss Smith asked for money, it was ‘extraordinary’ for Rosemary to know that Miss Smith has not money. This suggests that Rosemary is different from other rich people. She can’t imagine that somebody would have no money.

       When Rosemary took Miss Smith in her bedroom for having tea, she leaves Miss Smith’s hat and coat on the floor. By doing this the writer is suggesting that in Rosemary’s eyes, Miss Smith is not her equal, that act also suggests class difference between Miss Smith and Rosemary. Rosemary changes her attitude towards Miss Smith after Philip tells her that he thinks that Miss Smith is pretty and after hearing this Rosemary was not only jealous but she also appears to insecure about her own physical appearance.

       In the character of Rosemary, we can observe jealousy, insecurity, materialism and class difference. We can say that the character of Rosemary is not only different from other woman but also from other rich people. 

Background of the story : Click here

Character of Miss Smith : Click here

Character of Philip          : Click here