Costa Dorada

Costa Dorada is an African destination associated with departure, renewed work, and the possibility of life beyond the restrictions of Calcutta. The narrative gives it little geographical detail; its significance emerges through the people who plan to go there and the hotel they hope to build or join.

Setting and Character

Byron describes Costa Dorada as far from both Europe and Asia, and as the setting for a modest hotel in a poor, unimportant city. The description makes the destination seem remote and unglamorous rather than prosperous or prestigious. Its importance lies instead in the room it offers for a different future.

Marco Polo and Lisa

Marco Polo accepts work at the hotel in Costa Dorada after the law prevents him from marrying Lisa in India and he refuses to live with her unmarried. There, the two can spend the rest of their lives together as husband and wife. Lisa has recently improved after treatment, though Marco Polo does not agree to her wish to visit the Shahjahan Hotel; he remains wary of Jimmy and the damage a manager’s reputation can do to a hotel’s standing.

A Hotel and a New Beginning

Costa Dorada is also the proposed setting for a new hotel venture. Marco Polo invites Sata Bose to join him there and start a hotel together, comparing their project in Africa with the work Simpson had done in India. Marco Polo has signed Sata Bose’s papers and is preparing to hand over his position to Jimmy. The employees’ farewell for Sata Bose at the Little Shahjahan makes the prospect of leaving tangible: their affection and gratitude contrast with the distant opportunity taking shape abroad.

The narrator, grieving Sujata Mitra’s death and unable to imagine remaining alone, later decides to work at Marco Polo’s hotel in Costa Dorada. The destination thus gathers several departures into one possible future: Marco Polo and Lisa’s escape from an impossible marriage, Sata Bose’s invitation to build anew, and the narrator’s effort to find work and companionship after loss.