Quote 1
Your home! Do you imagine that I bestow a thought on it, or suppose you could do any harm to that low place, which money would not pay for, and handsomely? Your home! You were a part of the trade of your home, and were bought and sold like any other vendible thing your people dealt in. (50.47)
This speech is delivered by Miss Rosa Dartle to Emily just before Emily is rescued by Mr. Peggotty. Here, she lies to Emily's face by telling Emily that she is, basically, a prostitute, that when Emily lived with Mr. Peggotty, she was for sale in the same way that Mr. Peggotty's fish were for sale. However, we have seen that Mr. Peggotty refuses Mrs. Steerforth's offer of money to buy him off once Emily runs away with Steerforth. Miss Dartle falls into the nasty trap of assuming that all poor people must consider everything available to be "bought and sold," including their own children. But as Mrs. Steerforth learns, even poverty cannot interrupt the bonds of love for good men like Mr. Peggotty.