Ms. Personality

While reading A Passage to India, the most shocking jaw dropping moment for me happened during Aziz’s trial. It wasn’t Miss Quested’s climatic testimony, but when a citizen in the crowd called her ugly (219)! The scene was hurtful, and it was shocking that someone publically declared such a thought. Miss Quested’s “aesthetically challengedness” hangs around in the background of the novel. Her appearance is mentioned by characters, mainly Aziz and Fielding. Aziz finds himself wondering “how God could have been so unkind to any female form” (68). Miss Quested also acknowledges her lack of beauty expressing that “she regretted that neither she nor Ronny had physical charm” (53). These comments, among others make me question why Miss Quested’s appearance is so important.

I think Miss Quested’s looks are a device used to clear Aziz in the minds of readers. The text refers to Aziz as a sexual snob who was “enraged that he had been accused by a woman who had no personal beauty” (241). It seems as if the narrator is implying that Miss Quested is not “rapeable,” at least by Aziz, because she is physically unattractive. Perhaps, I think, it would harder to believe Aziz’s innocence if the woman were physically attractive. It would be easier to assume a physically attractive woman could inspire such sexual desire. Forester is clearly in tune with human nature and uses his knowledge to construct a wonderful storyline. Still, it is unsettling that a heavy subject such as rape, becomes contingent upon female sexuality. Although she may be “so uglier than the gentlemen [Aziz],” Miss Quested doesn’t deserve such treatment (219).