An Analysis of Emily's character

An Analysis of Emily’s Character

In A Rose for Emily, Emily is portrayed as a lonely, naive, and elegant and terrible girl.

A lonely “rose”

Emily is a lonely girl when her father is alive. But after her father died, she is still single with no friends, and, no family. After her death, “the women mostly out of curiosity to see the inside of her house, which no one save an old man-servant--a combined gardener and cook--had seen in at least ten years.” we can se e she always single and seldom go out and have any communication with the town’s people .She lives in her house, isolated.

A naive “rose”

When her father is alive, Emily is a slender in white girl. At the age of puppy love, she deeply desires her love, and her marriage, but “all the young men her father had driven away“. She is quite na?ve and knows almost nothing about love. Therefore she falls in love quickly when she meets Homer Barron. She dates with Homer regardless of opposition of the town. There is no doubt that Emily knows what it means to love a daily labor, a northern. However, for a woman, especially for Emily, who has been under her father’s control for years, love is particularly precious. So, her love for Homer defeats the tradition. So in this part, we only see a naive girl who just wants to protect her love.

A prideful “rose”

Emily born in a noble family, even after her father died, and the family declines, she still keeps her pride, the pride of aristocratic blood still ran through their veins. “She carried her head high enough--even when we believed that she was fallen. It was as if she demanded more than ever the recognition of her dignity as the last Grierson”, she carries her head high enough all the time. These fully show her pride.

A terrible “rose”

When people in the town find that Emily kills Homer and sleeps with the dead body, they are all shocked. Emily loves Homer. So, when she finds that Homer doesn’t love her and tries to get rid of her, she chooses an extreme way to obtain her

lover---killing Homer with arsenic.

Miss Emily is a woman victimized and betrayed by violating the old conventional system of the South and by the patriarchy. No one would hate her, instead, only have deep sympathy and compassion for her.