Question: Give a pen-picture of the character of Adela Quested in A Passage to India.
Answer: Adela Quested accompanies Mrs. Moore to India to see her fiancé, Ronny Heaslop, at work before deciding whether she should marry him. She is a strange, cautious, and intellectually minded young woman. She resents Ronny’s self-satisfied and authoritative manner and refuses to let him impose his opinions on her. Although their relationship is friendly, it lacks passion and emotional warmth.
Adela’s doubts about her forthcoming marriage, combined with the frightening emptiness and mysterious echo of the Marabar Caves, lead her to make a hasty and mistaken accusation against Aziz. It is suggested that her own repressed emotions and confused feelings, rather than any action on Aziz’s part, cause her mental disturbance. However, when she realizes that she has probably suffered from a hallucination, she bravely withdraws her charge in open court, despite the shock and disapproval of the entire British community.
Adela feels deeply remorseful for what has happened. She wishes she could make amends to Ronny and, indeed, to all of India for the trouble she has caused. She attempts to write a letter of apology to Aziz but realizes that she has no real affection for him, nor for Indians in general. Her courage in admitting her mistake in the face of tremendous pressure from the British colony is appreciated only by Fielding. Nevertheless, her sense of guilt remains, and she continues to search for ways to compensate for the harm she has done.
Thus, Adela Quested appears as a complex character—intelligent and honest, yet emotionally confused—whose moral courage ultimately redeems her mistake.

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