Mr. Blake's Reaction in the Original Letterpress

            All the Year Round, conversely, has a far less sympathetic construction of Rosanna. Franklin’s narratorial empathy extends only so far as his own tepid self-admonishments—the “aspersion which [he] had thoughtlessly cast on her memory,” (Collins, 314) which Franklin only briefly regrets. Upon further review, Rosanna becomes a “miserable woman”, and Franklin grows “bitterer and bitterer” towards her memory, to the point where he refuses to acknowledge her deathbed confession, and delegates the task of reading to Betteredge. Where Rosanna’s activity and machinations are sympathetic to American audiences, and highlighted at the expense of her disabled identity, the textual reaction it derives is one of derision and contempt.

Works Cited:

Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. Edited by John Sutherland. Oxford University Press, 2008. pp. 314. Print. 2 Dec. 2019