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Asha is Rani's daughter. When Rani is working as an ayah for the Oakham family, Lord Oakham manipulates her into becoming his mistress. She ends up getting pregnant with his child, and instead of helping Rani, Lord Oakham kicks her out. Distraught and unsure of what to do, Rani is on the brink of abandoning her newborn daughter when Firoza and Sally rush over and convince her to keep and care for the child. Firoza is the one who suggests that Rani name the baby Asha—which means hope in Hindi.
Asha Quotes in The Empress
The The Empress quotes below are all either spoken by Asha or refer to Asha. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes
FIROZA carefully places the baby back in Rani’s arms.
FIROZA: We should give the baby a name.
RANI: If my mother was here, she would have done that…in my village, it is always the grandmothers who name…
FIROZA: I had a best friend when I was growing up called Asha. Do you like that name? It means ‘Hope.’
RANI: I can never go back now. The shame. The dishonor.
FIROZA smiles and coos at the baby.
FIROZA: Hello little Asha. How would you like to come and live with your mother and me? I live in a big house.
The baby stops crying.
There, you see? She likes that idea.
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Act 2, Scene 9 Quotes
RANI: What about you Firoza? You never remarried?
FIROZA: I don’t like men so much. Don’t trust them.
RANI: (Laughs.) And you’re trying to persuade me to find a man! It’s funny to think that when I arrived, I just wanted to meet the Queen.
FIROZA: What for? To thank her for having ruined India for two or three generations to come? There is talk about another famine in India. It is pitiful.
RANI: The British are doing nothing to prevent it.
Do you think Hari is still alive?
FIROZA looks at RANI.
FIROZA: Rani, I don’t know. Sally has heard nothing. No one has heard from Hari in a long time.
RANI looks upset. She takes FIROZA’s hand.
RANI: I have Asha, I have you, my dear Firoza and I have Dadhabai.
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