Themes in “A Cup of Tea” - Katherine Mansfield

Themes in “A Cup of Tea”

        In “A Cup of Tea” by Katherine Mansfield, there are three themes like jealousy and insecurity, Materialism and class and Feminism. In the theme of jealousy and insecurity, we can observe that Rosemary is jealous and insecure from Miss Smith. Materialism and class represents the difference between the status of Miss Smith and Rosemary. The theme of Feminism expresses the inner hidden emotion of Rosemary for Miss Smith.

1. Jealousy and Insecurity:

            Rosemary took Miss Smith to her house and promised her to serve her like her sister, but when Philip admired Miss Smith, Rosemary got jealous from Miss Smith. She started feeling insecurity from her. Rosemary thought if Philip will time and again admire Miss Smith then it may possible that Philip will start loving Miss Smith.

           Rosemary was interested in charity; she wanted to do charity with all her heart. She was interested in helping but her nature of getting jealous and feeling of insecurity has not allowed her to do the noble work of kindness. The writer has presented the general and very particular feeling of jealousy and insecurity.

2. Materialism and class:

           Rosemary was very rich, we can say that not only rich rather comfortably rich. The story starts in an antique shop, as a reader we can observe that Rosemary likes to buy things from London and expensive shops. When she came out from the shop she saw a poor girl who demanded a cup of tea from her. Rosemary was very shocked when she comes to know that Miss Smith was not having even a single penny.

          Rosemary was famous for her richness. She thought Miss Smith is good opportunity to get fame for being kind. For Rosemary, Miss Smith was not only a poor girl but she was an “opportunity”. Rosemary can be observed as the materialistic character. She was class conscious and she wanted to prove that she can help and take care of poor people. Her act of kindness was not from her heart but it was for fame.

3. Feminism:

         The story starts with the statement,

“Rosemary Fell was not exactly beautiful”

By this we can observe that when a female is not beautiful but rich, at that time the woman tries to hide her appearance with money. She tries to look beautiful by her mind and her heart. Rosemary also wants to be good and beautiful but when Philip played a game with her, she got disappointed. When Philip admired Miss Smith she really got jealous and told Miss Smith to leave the house.

         In this story we can consider both female characters as victims. Rosemary is the victim of male psyche and Miss Smith is the victim of female psyche.