Character of Rosemary Fell in 'A Cup of Tea'

Rosemary Fell is the main character in the story ‘A Cup of Tea’, written by Katherine Mansfield. She explored the inner recesses of the human psyche. Her short stories dramatize human emotions creating situations, which are at once tender and brittle. ‘A Cup of Tea’ is one of her most popular short stories. In this story Mansfield focuses on the working of a woman’s mind when her romantic dreams come into conflict with reality. In this way she dramatizes small the effect that small human failings like jealousy can have.
Rosemary Fell, the main character, is an extremely rich lady and not just comfortably rich. The author brings out this point by writing that Rosemary went shopping to Paris from London. She bought loads of flowers from one of the most fashionable streets in London. At the shop too she would throw her weight around by telling them her likes and dislikes. She was a snobbish kind of a person. She had the antique shop, from which she shopped, to herself and thus always preferred to go there. And the shopkeeper too kept flattering her by which she was carried away.
‘Rosemary ‘, according to the author, ‘was not exactly beautiful’, but she could be called ‘pretty’ if one examined her closely. She was young, brilliant extremely modern and a well-dressed lady. In addition to these qualities, Rosemary was a vain person. She couldn’t help noticing the charm of her hands against the blue velvet, while she was shopping in the antique shop.
Rosemary loved reading books and novels. She would read all the latest books. But the negative aspect of this habit of hers is that she was always lost in the world of dreams, fantasy and romanticism. She did not know about the realities of the world. When a beggar girl came to Rosemary for alms for a cup of tea, she was surprised at the poverty of the girl that she couldn’t even afford a cup of tea. She felt as if this event was a part of some novel and lost in her romantic world, she took the girl that wonderful things do happen and fairy godmothers were real. Also that, rich people too have hearts and all women were sisters.
Rosemary was an impulsive woman. She didn’t think before she acted. She did prove this when she took the beggar-girl home without thinking of the reaction of her husband and other servants at her house. The author points out certain superficial attitudes and lack of serious-mindedness in Rosemary. She present the picture of an extrovert at peace with herself and the world.
In the last part of the story the romantic world in which Rosemary lived, came into conflict with the realistic world. A word of praise for the girl from Rosemary’s husband, Philip, makes Rosemary jealous. She felt insecure although her husband adored her. She became restless. She forgot all the dreams she had for that beggar-girl and sent her away with a present of money. Thus jealousy, the universal human failing, turns her into a hard realist. Infact it is here that she succeeds in giving a humanistic touch to her character.
To conclude one can say that the character of Rosemary is well portrayed. One can find traces of realism in Rosemary as we do find shallow women around us. Yet her transformation into humanism in the end makes one feel sorry for her, though we may not like her. The main themes of class consciousness and feminism have been developed through the character of Rosemary Fell.