Question- Unravel the various aspects of Rosie's character in the light of the novel.

Answer - 

Rosie is one of the main character of the novel. "The Guide' by R.K. Narayan. R.K. Narayan portrays the character of Rosie as a typical Indian woman who loves her husband despite his entire fault and always feels proud of her husband. Though she belongs to a dancer family, she is highly educated and is influenced by her husband and his background. She is presented in the novel as a beautiful dancer, of the Devadasi variety of temple dancers.

Let's examine her different roles -

As a Wife - Rosie is an attractive young wife of Marco. Her marriage has been like a curse in disguise to her as Marco is totally engaged in his career and is apathetic and unemotional to her. She is very passionate about dancing but her husband doesn't allow her to dance.

She is like a traditional Indian wife. She considers her husband as God who calls her dance some sort of street-acrobatics and compares it to monkey dance. She sincerely apologises to her husband when he comes to know of her illicit affair with Raju. She tries to persuade him and bear all insults. This incident shows her tremendous tolerance power and her optimistic attitude. The fact that she is emotionally attached to him is evident from the episode when she cuts his picture from the illustrated weekly and pastes it on her mirror.

As a Dancer - When she was left by Marco in Malgudi and was living with Raju, she devoted herself completely to dance. She woke up early in the morning and practised hard for three hours regularly. In the novel, we see how she is always willing to talk about dance and even tries to teach Raju some tips of it. In the end, though she loves her husband and her lover, she continues to dance. Dance is her life whatever else comes her way.

As a Religious Woman - Rosie is religious in nature as she believes in Goddess Saraswati and has the bronze image of Nataraja in her office.

As a Passionate Human - Her success doesn't get to her head as she remains a down to earth person even after becoming very successful in her dancing career. When Raju teases her that different artists come to her only to spend some time and that they were inferior to her, she replied saying that she didn't believe in superiority or inferiority. She tells she doesn't discriminate people on the basis of their financial status. Where Raju liked spending time with people who were rich and influential, Rosie didn't mind them at all. She only loved being in the company of artists and other music lovers.

As a True Lover - Rosie is also true to her lover. Inspite of the forgery, Rosie doesn't desert Raju. Though Rosie comes to know of every treacherous and fraud activity of Raju, she compromises with the situation. Instead of punishing Raju for his deceit, she is determined. Like a true beloved, she tries her best and spends every penny to arrange a capable defense for Raju although she has earlier decided to give up dancing as a profession. She signs fresh dancing contracts to raise, more money for this purpose. Infact, she embodies the feminine principle' of ideal womanhood.

Thus, Rosie who is also known as 'Nalini' on the snake woman', is one of the most favourite characters in the character gallery of R.K. Narayan. She is the central female character of the novel The Guide'. Who is portrayed in a complex manner. She leaves her husband to keep relations with another person. Raju only to fulfil her desire but on the other hand she keeps a place in her heart for the love of her husband.

...Prev | Next...