Charles Oakley, or Uncle Charlie, visits his sister and her family in the small village of Santa Rosa, California. His niece Charlotte, or better known as Little Charlie, nicknamed after her uncle, is very happy about her uncle’s attendance because she expects his appearance will add new excitement to her dull, predictable life, what he then does but not in the way in which she has wished.
This essay argues that, in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a doubt, as Little Charlie’s suspicions about her uncle increase, Uncle Charlie becomes more and more aggressive towards her in order to hide his male insecurity, which ends in a kind of suicide.
Charles Oakley, or Uncle Charlie, visits his sister and her family in the small village of Santa Rosa, California. His niece Charlotte, or better known as Little Charlie, nicknamed after her uncle, is very happy about her uncle’s attendance because she expects his appearance will add new excitement to her dull, predictable life, what he then does but not in the way in which she has wished.
This essay argues that, in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a doubt, a s Little Charlie’s suspicions about her uncle increase, Uncle Charlie becomes more and more aggressive towards her in order to hide his male insecurity, which ends in a kind of suicide.
Having looked at Little Charlie it becomes obvious that her idealism about her uncle starts to crumble which leads to new behaviors of both Charlies.
That can be proven by the way she acts in front of him; she refuses to talk to him; tries to get away from him; and does not believe in her perfectly charming uncle any longer. Everytime she behaves in this accordingly rude way, Uncle Charlie seems to be uncertain about how to behave and what to say. He does not seem to like it if a woman, regardless who this woman is, gives him this kind of feelings. That said, by his behavior can be observed that he loses his self-confidence and male dominance in the presence of Little Charlie.
Charles Oakley’s very specific ideology about women and the family life, and his defence of the old order are the basis of his self-confidence and masculinity. Contradicting his ideology is like attacking his masculinity, which ‘The Merry Widow Murderer’ wants to be secured.
In the movie he starts to lose his male dominance in the scene of the family having dinner. Sitting at the “head of the table presents visually his dominance of the household” (Bordwell 318). Charles Oakley perceives widows as useless and unnecessarily extravagant and whilst he is talking about widows in a dehumanizing way, Little Charlie begins to suspect that there is something wrong with her uncle and contradicts him in a rude way. By his insecure look it can be observed that he realizes that she does not agree with his unusual ideology unlike the others, who do not object to the charming uncle. This might be the first time for Uncle Charlie that a woman contradicts his ideology in the way that Little Charlie does.
Uncle Charlie’s masculinity is seriously threatened by his niece, who knows his secret and wants him to leave and in order to keep his secret and his masculinity the threat has to disappear as silent as possible. Uncle Charlie’s idea about killing Little Charlie has already manifested in his mind. The will to kill her is equally strong as Little Charlie’s suspicion about her uncle which makes it even harder for the ruthless uncle. He loosens a step of the staircase and even though she falls, she does not die. After that he fills the garage with smoke from the car engine and tries to lure her into it. Notwithstanding this, Little Charlie refuses to drive with him alone at first, the plan works but she does not die again. It is the first time that the viewer of the film can be completely sure that the uncle tries to kill his niece. He turns up the music so the family cannot hear the car engine which underlines his attempt to hide his devious effort of killing Little Charlie and to cover up his insecurity.
From the moment Little Charlie’s suspicion seems to hit a critical point, Uncle Charlie becomes so anxious and insecure. From this on he seems to be trying to push through his dominance by physical violence over that young woman.
When Uncle Charlie assumes that Little Charlie knows much more than she should, he often grabs her with both hands and his touches are more firm than before. He often pulls her or touches her face much stronger than an amiable uncle would do it with a niece. Uncle Charlie’s aggressive reaction to Little Charlie’s re-collection of the newspaper from the trash can be considered as the first example for this and from this point on he constantly behaves in this strict way. Therefore, it can be said that his penchant for aggression towards women awakens again, regardless of the target.
Uncle Charlie has to hide his secret better in order to hide his male insecurity but the more he seems to lose control over the situation and his future, the more he becomes suspicious.
In the movie, Uncle Charlie seems to get an uncomfortable feeling when Little Charlie reveals her information in a secret way, so that others might not understand what she means. When his niece seems to find out about his secret, the way Uncle Charlie is presented, it can be assumed that he starts to think about how he has to deal with this new situation. In these moments, it can be observed that Uncle Charlie gets quiet and he also seems to be confused and disoriented. He starts to realize that he has to do something in order to keep his secret and to save his male dominance. Considering him as ‘The Merry Widow Murderer’ it becomes obvious that he is already having thoughts about killing the young woman.
Whilst his insecurity culminates in one loathsome and hateful murder attempt, Little Charlie’s self-confidence reached its new peak. Uncle Charlie feels seriously threatened by his niece so that he tries to throw her from a moving train. His aggressive feelings towards the young woman have deteriorated so much that he does not care any longer about what she thinks about him and he would finally even kill her in a face-to-face situation. Due to her new well-trained innocence and high suspicion, Little Charlie is able to defend herself in the melee and Uncle Charlie commits a kind-of suicide.
Little Charlie’s suspicions about her uncle are right and she is able to face a man of the world. Her suspicions increase steadily throughout the film whilst Uncle Charlie’s male security crumbles accordingly. Since she is a family member and not just a widow, he “had to allow to be [sic] on top because of his own insecurities about who he is” (Hayward 151). After her Uncle appeared, Little Charlie’s life was no longer dull and predictable and she was able to rise above herself and to fight her criminal uncle.
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- Quote paper
- Anonymous,, 2020, Patriarchy in the own family. Hitchcock’s "Shadow Of A Doubt". Film Analysis, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1187840
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