Mrs. Knight Character Analysis

Mrs. Knight is the wife of Mr. Norman Knight and one of Bertha Young’s guests at her dinner party. She presents herself as a bold, unconventional woman, making an entrance to the dinner party by complaining that “the middle-class is so stodgy” and “utterly without a sense of humor.” She tells Bertha that she caused a scene on the train on the way to the party by wearing an orange coat decorated with monkeys. Instead of becoming embarrassed by the fact that people were staring at her, Mrs. Knight tells Bertha that she asked one woman if she’d “never seen a monkey before,” drawing more attention to herself and her outfit. That she tells this story as a humorous anecdote implies that Mrs. Knight takes pride in her role as an unconventional, slightly shocking person and sees herself as more enlightened or original than others of her station. Mrs. Knight’s behavior reflects Bertha’s choice of “modern, thrilling friends,” as well as Mansfield’s own personal experience with bohemian socialites in London. However, although Bertha claims that her friends are interested in “social questions,” Mrs. Knight gives little evidence of this throughout the evening and, instead, is associated with aesthetics and external decoration: she is interested in “interior design” and her unconventionality is a facet of her outfit rather than her behavior.