The Girl in His Shadow

Croft is a brilliant though absent-minded doctor who is often unintentionally insensitive. His insatiable desire to learn and his capacity for retaining information are unparalleled, for he studies the intricacies of biology in addition to medicine and human anatomy. At the same time, Croft forgets to tell Mrs. Phipps and Nora that a young doctor named Daniel is coming to live with them; this oversight inconveniences his housekeeper, offends his ward, and makes Daniel terribly uncomfortable. Croft is not unfeeling and does care about his patients, as demonstrated by the “fatherly smile” he offers a new mother, but he is also eminently practical, such as when he gives a new widower laudanum before requesting permission to dissect the man’s wife. While his approach is designed to mitigate the man’s strong emotions and achieve his desired end, the plan’s very “awfulness” compels Daniel to protest. This scene demonstrates that Croft is unaware of how insensitive he can be and is focused only on finding answers and furthering his studies of medicine.

Croft is a static character. When he learns how smart and helpful Nora is in the clinic and surgery, he begins to include her in the work without concern for convention or legality, and this disregard for what is socially accepted characterizes all of his choices. He is innovative, and his inherent talent puts him at odds with Silas Vickery, who is much more traditional. Croft never wavers in his commitment to medical advances—such as his experimentation with the use of ether—and he ignores the condemnations of others. However, although Croft never changes, he does prove himself to be complex and contradictory. Though he admits that considering the feelings of others is not a particular talent of his, he also confesses how much he depends on Nora and admits that “there’s no one who could replace [her]” (191). He even tells her how glad he is that Harry is too destitute to propose to her anytime soon, for this means that her time with Croft himself will be extended. Thus, although Croft took Nora in because she had no one else and was immune to cholera, but he clearly loves her and possesses the capacity for deep feeling.

Daniel is a dynamic character whose views and attitudes change considerably over the course of the novel. He begins as a devotee of Victorian social conventions but gradually becomes less concerned with these standards as he becomes more familiar with Nora and Croft. Although he disappoints his fiancée and family by insisting on becoming a surgeon, he is otherwise loyal to their values, espousing the ideals of modesty, tradition, and the notion that men and women should inhabit separate spheres. He thinks of Croft as a “prize surgeon” and recognizes his luck in being taken on by the doctor, but, at the same time, he is scandalized by how Croft’s household is ordered and shudders at the “thought of bumping into the housekeeper in her dressing gown” (18). Daniel is likewise shocked to learn that the family does follow the aristocratic practice of changing into formal clothes for dinner. The “shabbiness” of the house is appalling to him, as is Nora’s indifference when they find themselves—an unmarried woman and a young man—alone. He even considers revealing Nora’s secret for ethical reasons before deciding against it, a nod to his “honor” as a gentleman.

However, once Daniel recognizes Nora’s courage and skill and is released from his engagement to Mae, he begins to embrace his own departures from convention. Upon comparing Mae and Nora, he realizes that Nora has damaged her own reputation to protect his while Mae would never risk herself in this way. He also compares Nora’s compassion for patients with Mae’s gossipy tittering about servants and realizes that being “conventional” doesn’t make someone a good person and certainly doesn’t lead to the kind of relationship he wants. His emotional nature flourishes along with his attraction to Nora, and he allows himself to be alone with her more often, even though he knows that his choices would scandalize society. It is Daniel who initiates their intimacy, “closing the space between them” (228) and running his fingers through her hair.

Perhaps Daniel’s most significant change comes when he recognizes the freedom of choice that he has compared to Nora’s lack of opportunities. He reflects on his anger that he has “no say” in her decision to go to Bologna and realizes how sad it would be to confine Nora to the limited role of a wife when she can be so much more. Thus, he ultimately assures Nora that he expects no promises from her, and his passionate kiss seems to guarantee his fidelity. This moment indicates a massive internal change on his part; he was formerly quite willing to make decisions for Nora, but he is ultimately the one who convinces Croft to let her go to Italy.

Croft’s stalwart housekeeper exudes a tough demeanor, but she is tender and loving at heart. She is responsible for Croft’s decision to raise Nora because she insists on keeping the child. Croft values his housekeeper because she is the only one who will tolerate his idiosyncrasies and the sometimes morbid evidence of his medical practice: specimens lining the shelves and the occasional amputated finger lying around. When Daniel first arrives, Mrs. Phipps’s intense scrutiny discomfits him despite her short stature. Unlike Nora, Mrs. Phipps quickly accustoms herself to Daniel’s presence, but when he rejects her attempt to put the loss of a patient into perspective, she tells him, “Pouting is for children. Get yourself downstairs” (133). She sympathizes with him, but she ultimately offers Daniel tough love so that he can be successful as a surgeon. A straightforward woman who says exactly what she thinks, she acts as a steady, anchoring influence for the people around her, despite her conventional views of what is or is not proper.

Harry is Daniel’s best friend, who now also works at St. Bartholomew’s after two years in the navy. Like Daniel, he prefers Croft’s innovative ideas over Vickery’s traditional methods, but unlike Daniel, Harry does not come from an affluent, upper-class family, and he is not a big believer in convention. Harry’s lack of convention worries Daniel when Harry shows a romantic interest in Nora. Nora realizes this difference between Daniel and Harry, and, for her, Harry’s rejection of convention explains “why he fits in so well” (145) at Croft’s house. Harry is surprised and delighted by Nora, and he accepts her work in the clinic and surgery far more readily than Daniel does. Harry and Nora are so well-suited that Croft assumes that Harry will propose when he has enough money. Harry discusses experiments and surgeries with Nora, asking her opinion and offering his own when she asks.

Harry also reveals himself to be a compassionate person when he helps an old navy friend’s daughter. He aborts the pregnancy because he knows that the girl is likely to attempt self-harm again if he does not, and he chooses to protect her—a desperate victim of sexual violence—even though it means potentially discrediting Daniel’s account of Prescott’s surgery. Harry’s concern for Daniel and Croft after the public meeting demonstrates his regret; Vickery’s blackmail puts him in a terrible position, and Nora recognizes this. It is also clear that his intentions toward Nora are honorable and that they would have made a good couple. For this reason, Harry is presented as a character worthy of sympathy despite his apparent betrayal of Daniel and Nora.

If Horace Croft represents innovation and advancement, Silas Vickery represents convention and tradition. He is the avatar of a society that limits Nora’s freedom of choice, highlighting Women’s Lack of Agency in the Victorian Era. He, rather than Croft, has attained a leadership role at St. Bartholomew’s hospital, and more of the crowd at the public meeting supports his views over those of Croft and Daniel, demonstrating how strong people’s resistance to change can be. Vickery is flat and static, and he always stands in opposition to the advances proposed by others, fiercely clinging to familiar treatments even when they aren’t particularly effective. For this reason, he hates Croft. Likewise, Croft sees Vickery as his intellectual inferior, and the popularity of Croft’s lectures with the younger doctors enrages Vickery, inspiring his dislike of Daniel. Vickery blackmails Harry, threatening to reveal a young woman’s illegal abortion and suicide attempt in order to force Harry into betraying his friends. In short, Vickery is unethical and unlikeable, and he stands as the rigid avatar of unreasonable social conventions: the clear antagonist and primary obstacle to Nora’s opportunities and to Daniel and Croft’s views.