{"id":1234,"date":"2024-09-16T23:56:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T03:56:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=1234"},"modified":"2024-09-16T23:56:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T03:56:50","slug":"marriage-and-romance-in-rear-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2024\/09\/16\/marriage-and-romance-in-rear-window\/","title":{"rendered":"Marriage and Romance in “Rear Window”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though the primary conflict of Hitchcock\u2019s film \u201cRear Window\u201d is the murder of a neighborhood woman, the primary source of personal conflict the protagonist Jeffries faces is marriage. Throughout the film, serving as a backdrop to the murder plot, Jeffries struggles with his relationship with his girlfriend Lisa, who is eager to get married. Jeffries believes Lisa is \u201ctoo perfect\u201d to marry; more significantly, he is convinced he will become trapped by marrying her and will no longer be able to work his dangerous job as a photojournalist. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeffries\u2019s anxieties about marriage are reflected in the lives of the neighbors he observes. There is the young newlywed couple that moves into an apartment at the beginning of the film. Though their initial happiness is clear, Jeffries begins to see the husband wearily smoke out their window, and notices his annoyed expression when his wife beseechingly calls him inside. The tension of this relationship grows, culminating in a spat between the couple at the end of the film, and shattering the illusion of marital bliss. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Representing the alternative to this couple is a lonely single woman, who hosts pantomime dinners with imaginary dates. Jeffries is surprised to see her have an actual date one night, then watches as the man storms out following an uncomfortable exchange. He later notices the unhappy woman appearing to contemplate suicide. Similarly, an outwardly content young woman is revealed to only be truly happy once her husband, a soldier, returns to her at the end of the film. These two women, in contrast to the newlywed couple, seemingly represent the importance of companionship and the fear of being alone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the most central figures are the Thorwalds, around which the murder mystery revolves. Mrs. Thorwald is exactly the sort of nagging, controlling wife Jeffries fears. When Jeffries explains to his editor over a phone call his reluctance to marry Lisa, he is shown looking out at the Thorwald\u2019s apartment. Through this framing decision, the film reveals how the Thorwald\u2019s dynamic reflects Jeffries\u2019s own relationship concerns. The extreme animosity of the Thorwald\u2019s relationship seems to represent the potential outcome of the newlyweds\u2019 marriage, as well as Jeffries\u2019s fears for his own union with Lisa. However, the single woman and the wife of the soldier also reveal the importance of companionship, which complicates the issue. By observing his neighbors\u2019 lives, Jeffries is able to consider his own relationship <\/span>concerns while also having the uncomplicated notion of a traditional marriage tested.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though the primary conflict of Hitchcock\u2019s film \u201cRear Window\u201d is the murder of a neighborhood woman, the primary source of personal conflict the protagonist Jeffries faces is marriage. Throughout the film, serving as a backdrop to the murder plot, Jeffries struggles with his relationship with his girlfriend Lisa, who is eager to get married. Jeffries … Continue reading Marriage and Romance in “Rear Window”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4998,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145914],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4998"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}