Cousin Kate: Character

Some of the stuff about characters overlaps from the "voices and pov" entry but I haven't repeated it here.

The narrator
She is portrayed as being an innocent young virgin girl as she is described as a "cottage maiden" which shows that she isn't from the city and that she isn't married. She didn't know her own beauty - " I wasn't mindful I was fair" - which could be interpreted as her being virtuous because she isn't vain or self-centred because of her looks, however I think it makes her seem naive especially because she later admits to being "fooled" by the lord and seems to have been blinded by love whilst she was in a relationship with him as she sees their relationship as being "shameless" despite the cultural stigma of it and the rest of society seeing it as "shameful".

The narrator knows she has been used as she is described as "his plaything" which he "changed like a glove" meaning that she was easily discarded by him, suggesting that he had little regard for her. She seems to regret what she did as she "moans" and wonders that she "might have been a dove" - here she is dreaming about what she could have made of herself. The image of the dove is significant as doves are white, the colour associated with purity, and doves fly and so have complete freedom.

I think she feels somewhat bitter about Kate because if "he had fooled me and not you...would not have taken his hand" - she would have acted completely differently and would not have betrayed her family like Kate betrayed her. Also, her bitterness could be because she feels that Kate's love is temporary, describling it as being "writ in sand" as if it were soon to be washed away, and so accuses Kate of only wanting the material things: the "gold" and "clothes and wedding ring". However, the narrator overcomes this biterness by showing admirable resilience in making the most of and being grateful for what she does have: a "fair-haired son" who she views as a "gift". Her gratefulness for the child could be interpreted as smugness because she says she "has a gift you have not and seem not like to get" which is almost like she is gloating to her cousin, although arguably considering her cousin's betrayal and immoral behaviour, she may be thought to deserve to.

The lord
The lord victimised the narrator, using her merely as a "plaything" before discarding her seemingly without looking back. As a male, he carries no blame nor social scars for having sex with a woman without being married to her which shows the power of the position that men had at the time. This idea is furthered by the god-like image of the lord "lifting you from mean estate to sit with him on high" (can you quote like that even though the pronouny things are completely wrong?). Also, the fact that the lord would supposedly "give lands for one to weat his coronet" shows the importance of having a son at that point in time.