Visual of Roseanna in Harper's Weekly

Roseanna's depiction visually in Harper's Weekly differs slightly from her description within chapter four of the novel, which acts as her sole descriptor within All The Year Round. Betterdge's comments of her being "the plainest woman in the house" (Collins 21) are not emphasized here, and most noticeably, "her one shoulder bigger than the other" (Collins 21), is not illustrated or made visible at all. The image instead, with her standing alone, looking solemn among the sands of the beach, emphasizes what on the surface seems to be a more sympathetic view towards Roseanna, and the emotional nature of feeling separate or 'other', rather than the physicalities that make her different. However, the very decision to hide her differences is far from sympathetic, as it implies a desire to suppress the idea of difference entirely.

Roseanna's lack of difference in this visual is representative of a type of 'mimicry' that Lacom discusses in her essay, which involves "mimicking the work of "normal" English citizens and thus attempting to win at least marginal acceptance" (Lacom 549). In assimilating one's character to one that is more commonplace, the dominant authority is suppressing the threat of deviance and subversion. While Roseanna's differences in All The Year Round are made clear and commented on by Betteredge and the servants of the house, the suppression of these differences in Harper's Weekly indicates an attempt to present Roseanna as acceptable only through the neglect of them. This decision to ignore Roseanna's differences, while appearing to present a good-natured position, instead engages in a prejudice of its own. While All The Year Round presents a more progressive position towards otherness, Harper's Weekly characterizes a fear of this other by the ultimate removal of it.

Works Cited:

Collins, Wilkie. "The Moonstone." Harper's Weekly 11 January 1868.

Lacom, Cindy. “‘The Time Is Sick and out of Joint’: Physical Disability in Victorian England.” PMLA, vol. 120, no. 2, 2005, pp. 547–552.