6.1.3

Mary Morstan - Quotations

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Key Quotations about Mary Morstan

Here are four key quotations about Mary Morstan:

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Vulnerable

  • ‘No friends whom I could appeal to’ (Chapter 2).
    • This immediately presents Mary as a vulnerable character who has no one to turn to.
    • The verb ‘appeal’ suggests a sense of helplessness, which adds to the helplessness of her character. This causes the reader to feel a sense of joy when Watson becomes closer to Mary – we feel that, at last, she has someone who cares about her.
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Delicate woman

  • ‘Miss Morstan sat down, and her face grew white to the lips’ (Chapter 4).
    • Despite finding that her father has died (and being told about it by Thaddeus in a very abrupt way), Mary does not make a scene or become overly emotional.
    • Instead, she is displayed as a delicate, composed woman, whose only visible reaction is that her skin becomes very pale.
    • This could link to the damsel in distress idea, as the paleness of her skin also represents her vulnerability.
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Repetition of 'white'

  • The adjective ‘white’ is used seven times in the novella to describe Mary or the clothing she is wearing.
  • The adjective is used to highlight Mary’s innocence, vulnerability, and goodness, as well as her naivety and lack of understanding of the wider world.
  • She is presented as a woman who needs to be loved and protected – the perfect candidate for a romantic sub-plot.
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Not materialistic

  • ‘"The treasure is lost," said Miss Morstan, calmly’ (Chapter 11).
    • Mary shows that she is unselfish and not materialistic here as she realises that all of her potential fortune has been lost.
    • She reacts ‘calmly’, suggesting that she either does not really want the wealth or feels that it is not rightly hers anyway because it was stolen.
    • This reaction could also be because Mary knows that the huge wealth would have made a relationship between her and Watson more difficult.

Jump to other topics

1Context

2Plot Summary

3Characters

4Key Themes

5Writing Techniques

6Recap: Main Quotes

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