The Mystery of Edwin Drood

When Edwin is still engaged to Rosa, Grewgious gives Edwin a ring that he has been safeguarding. The ring was given to Rosa’s mother by her father and retrieved after Rosa’s mother died in an accident. Grewgious tells Edwin to give Rosa the ring only if he decides to confirm their engagement; because Edwin and Rosa decide to break off their engagement, Edwin never presents it to her. He reflects that, the ring, “like old letters or old vows, or other records of old aspirations come to nothing […] would be disregarded” (145). The ring symbolizes the connection between past and present. It is a sentimental heirloom connected to the deep love between Rosa’s parents, and the deep pain her father experienced when her mother died suddenly. Since the ring was purposefully set aside to be used to confirm the betrothal between Edwin and Rosa, it symbolizes how this planned marriage is rooted in the past. The engagement between the two children arose primarily because of the grief that Rosa’s father suffered after losing his beloved wife. Edwin is frustrated by the lack of agency he feels around his relationship with Rosa, and the ring also symbolizes this inability for the two young people to make their own choices: The ring that Edwin is expected to give to Rosa is not one he chose, but one that was assigned to him, much like how he was not free to choose her as his fiancée.