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Samantha Tolson
Professor
Class
July 18, 2016
Self-Redemption
Nostalgia is very seductive. It calls us back to better times in our lives. It forever
crystallizes people into perfect snapshots – snapshots which never age, die, or leave. But is that
always a good thing? Vertigo’s, Scottie Ferguson, Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton, and Midge
Wood all struggle to either regain or escape the past. However, their efforts fail, because their
obsessions to re-create/destroy the past consume them until they can no longer function.
The movie begins with Scottie losing his partner. He watches him fall off a roof, because
his severe acrophobia prevents him from climbing to the top. It emotionally cripples him,
because he blames himself for his partner’s death. Consequently, he exiles himself from the
police community and becomes a private detective. This career change ensures he will never be
able to repeat the past and kill somebody else. However, upon meeting Maddie, he falls
hopelessly in love – only to watch her “fall” off a roof in the same manner his partner did. This
repeat in events causes him to suffer a nervous breakdown (Vertigo).
After the breakdown, he meets Judy, who is the near likeness of Maddie. Of course, he
does not know both of them are the same person. He quickly makes it his mission to re-model
Judy into the exact image of Maddie – her hair, her dress, her child-like dependence. It is all an
attempt to re-create the woman he lost. If he can re-create her, then he will not have to face the
fact he had to watch another person die because of his acrophobia. However, the Maddie he
knew was never really alive or dead. When he uncovers the truth and takes Judy back to the

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scene of the crime, she falls off the roof for real. He finally overcomes his acrophobia, but he is
always haunted by the death of his partner and the fictional “Maddie” (Vertigo).
The same past which motivates Scottie traps Judy. In reality, their romantic “past” was
an elaborate con designed to discredit Scottie during his trial with the ethics committee.
However, her feelings for Scottie while she played Maddie were not a lie. She fell in love with
him and wanted to return – as Judy. She hopes Scottie can love her – not the role she played.
Scottie, though, has other plans. He turns her back into Maddie – right down to her platinum
blonde hair and gray dress suit. Despite her initial resistance, she lets her love for Scottie justify
his dominion over her (Daley). Consequently, the part of their “past” Judy desperately tries to
reclaim erases Judy. Scottie’s psychological abuse (combined with her already guilt-ridden
conscience) finally causes Judy to hallucinate. After Scottie pushes/chases Judy up the bell tower
– where “Maddie” originally jumped – a nun’s shadow emerges. Judy believes the nun is
Maddie’s ghost and jumps off (Vertigo).
Midge, essentially, wants to reclaim Scottie, too. The film briefly alludes to a past
relationship between Scottie and Midge. She cares for him after the death of his partner. She –
not Judy – stands by him and visits him during his stay at the asylum. She even paints herself
into a caricature of Carlotta (Daley). Midge is a successful, commercial artist – far more self-
confident than “Maddie” ever was (Daley). However, she continually grovels to get Scottie’s
attention. She goes so far as to follow him in her car while he travels around San Francisco
looking for Maddie. On the outside of this relationship, Midge is essentially forced into the
“friend zone” – the person who always love Scottie from afar but never gets to hold him in her
arms. Midge does not see the light until she visits him at the asylum. Scottie ignores Midge
entirely. Even without Maddie, Midge cannot get top billing. The loss is so deep; his self-pity

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takes priority over Midge. Midge is forced to face the reality that Scottie will never look at her as
a lover again. She leaves the asylum and abandons him – like he has abandoned her so many
times before (Vertigo).
By the end of the film, Midge is the only one still psychologically intact. Scottie is
forever scarred by his failure to save his police partner and “Maddie”. Judy commits suicide to
atone for her sins. However, all three characters are archetypes of self-redemption. Midge tries to
redeem herself through Scottie’s affection. Judy tries to make amends, so she can make Scottie
see her for who she really is. Scottie re-creates a romantic fantasy, so he can reverse his failure to
save his “lover”. All three exploit the past to find what they lost and all three fail. They learn the
past cannot be changed, it is merely a looking glass from which to understand ourselves better.
Self-redemption is about change; and change only happens in the present.

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Works Cited
Daley, K. “Emotional Control or Compromise?: On Mulvey and Vertigo.” The Artifice.
The Artifice, 15 March 2015. Web. 3 April 2016.
Hirsch, Alan R. “Nostalgia: A Neuropsychiatric Understanding.” Advances in Consumer
Research vol. 19 (1992): 390-395. Web. 3 April 2016.
Vertigo. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Perf. James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes,
Tom Helmore. Paramount Pictures, 1958. DVD.