In Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock, we get a glimpse into lives of different characters from a voyeuristic view, similar to how the main character, Jeffries got a voyeuristic view to the lives of his neighbors through his window.
We got to see how different motives drove different characters to different actions; Miss Lonelyhearts nearly killed herself because she could not connect with any man, while Miss Torso would entertain many different men without feeling true affection for any of them because of the lack of companionship she felt. Although in particular to Miss Torso, it is never directly addressed why she would entertain so many men, we, as an audience can hypothesize – as explained by David Bordwell – that she did so because she lacked companionship based on her interactions in the movie. This hypothesis was proved to be correct at the end of the movie when we see her embrace a man in uniform. Once again, not made explicit, but if we were to compare her excitement with this man to the other men, it is clear that she felt something different for this man.
In addition to these women, we were also provided insights into why our main character and his love interest, Lisa, were interested in Lars Thornwald’s life. Although they worked towards the same goal, they had different motives for being interested initially.
As for Jeff, his reason is a bit more straightforward. From the opening scene and dialogue, we understood that Jeff was much different to the rest of his neighborhood. Everyone else seemed to live in a life of routine and mundane activities. It did not seem like anything particularly interesting or ‘active’ happened much in their lives. For Jeff however, based on how he injured his leg and his constant traveling to different countries for his photography job, it all indicated that he lived a life of action. Therefore, the fact that he was now constrained to his wheelchair in his room suggests that he was spying on his neighbors out of boredom. Waking up each day doing the same activities was not enough for him, so instead he people watched. While doing this he noticed that Mr. Thornwald and his wife seemed a bit different than everyone else. Once again, because of how he has structured his life, he felt that what he saw could be more than what it was on the surface. For most people in the neighborhood, if they were spying on the Thornwalds, they would not have thought much of it and would have came up with a boring simple explanation…similar to Tom Doyle. Jeff on the other hand came up with an explanation that connected Mr. Thornwald’s each action to the murder of his wife. Although the inception of his wandering came from boredom, he eventually became so infatuated with the idea of foul play being at hand that he started recruiting more characters into helping him solve what he was witnessing. Although he could not convince Tom Doyle until the absolute end, he did convince Stella, his nurse, and Lisa, his girlfriend.
Now Lisa originally was skeptical of Jeff’s suspicions. She felt that he was imagining things due to his boredom and he needed to focus more attention on her. The audience’s initial thoughts on Lisa was that she was a girl that wanted to be needed. Even Jeff’s nurse, Stella, went to bat for her. She tried to convince Jeff that he was going to lose a perfect girl because of his refusal to marry her. Jeff of course, was adamant on not wanting to marry her because he felt he could not provide her with what she needed; a pampered, materialistic life. Lisa however, was out to prove to Jeff that she too could live like he did. She loved him so much that she said she would travel and go on adventures with him anywhere he wanted even though that is not the type of woman she was. Thus, when she finally becomes convinced of Jeff’s suspicions, it can be reasonably inferred that part of her reason for being convinced was because she truly thought he was not imagining things anymore, but also because she wanted to prove her adventurous side. To show Jeff how much she cared for him she adapted her lifestyle to his. We see this as she volunteered herself to go into Lars Thornwald’s apartment on many different occasions. Her actions after being convinced of Mr. Thornwald being a murderer could have never been imagined by Jeff. To her credit though, it worked. When she came back from Mr. Thornwald’s apartment after sliding the envelope under his door, the camera was panned to a close-up on Jeff’s face which showed a particular look of joy and content from Jeff towards her that we had not seen yet in the movie. Although we never learn whether the two marry or not, this scene showed that Jeff was finally convinced that Lisa could be the girl for him.
Further, through Jeff’s boredom, and Lisa’s desire for love, the two were able to catch Lars Thornwald who would have likely gotten away with murder.
Intermittent Mechanism 