The Lady Vanishes Characters

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In Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, two very opposite personalities are shown through the role of selfless Iris Henderson and the selfish Eric Todhunter. Iris is very incessant when trying to find out exactly what happened to Miss. Froy and even goes as far as to “stop the train” to find Miss. Froy. Iris is not as naïve as the culprits on the train assume she is, instead Iris does everything in her power to investigate the strange disappearance of Miss. Froy. During a fight with Doppo, Iris forgets about being a proper lady and “bites Signor Doppo’s hand” and is able to save Gilbert from being hurt. Iris is able to transition from being a sophisticated lady to a selfless fighter who using her quick wit is able to save her ally, Gilbert. …show more content…

Todhunter is puts up a façade of being an honorable man because he wants to be a lawyer and makes this obvious to Margaret by telling her that “the law, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion”. Todhunter repeatedly lies about having seen Miss. Froy without any qualms because he only cares about keeping his affair with Margaret under wraps so that it doesn’t interfere with him becoming a judge. Todhunter does not “wish to be mixed up in any enquiry” and wants to stay out of the Miss. Froy drama. Todhunter keeps up a pretense of not knowing who Miss. Froy to ensure that his affair a secret because he does not want to risk getting a divorce from his wife and jeopardize his chances of becoming a judge. Finally, during the shootout scene Todhunter proves that he is truly filled with malice as he tells the others that he would “rather be a rat than die like one”. Todhunter is a pacifist who chooses to put the other passengers at risk in order to save himself from the shooters outside of the train, but he ends up dying in the end so his plans to betray the other passengers backfire on him. Iris is a parallel to Todhunter due to her selfless nature, whereas Todhunter is able to sacrifice those around him in order to save him thus proving that he is truly

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