“Being in favour of a barbaric ritual like the suttee reveals Olivia to be unreasonable, naive and disloyal. Her infatuation with the Indian culture makes her ignore that oppression, barbarism and cruelty are rife in this country.”
I wouldn´t say that Olivia is infatuated withthe Indian culture because she doesn´t really konw it. Althouch she´s living in India, exept for the Nawab everything around her is English: the friends, the language, the food…As Douglas doesn´t talk a lot about his work Olivia has no contact with the real Indian world and I guess she doesn´t think about all the cruel things happening around her. They´re no part of her life as it is the whole Indian culture.
In fact I think Olivia doesn´t really want to judge about the Indian culture when she supports the `suttee-idea`at the dinner party. She only wants to make another stand to get attention and to have a different opinion from the others. By doing so she makes herself interesting and suddenly is the centre of the conversation. She get´s the advertence that Douglas doens´t give her.
In my opinion this is the main reason why she is in favour of the suttee. However, the ritual itself is not important in this situation, but having a different opinion. For Olivia it´s like a challenge and she enjoys it very much.
