Victoria’s Marriage and Escape

Poor Things

This flow traces Victoria Hattersley’s early life as the General’s wife and her escape from coercive domestic arrangements.

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Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Childhood Under Blaydon A Childhood Under Blaydon from "Poor Things". A Childhood Under Blaydon Poverty and violence Victoria Hattersley grows up in crowded Manchester rooms under the authority of Blaydon Hattersley.

A Childhood Under Blaydon from "Poor Things". A Childhood Under Blaydon Poverty and violence Victoria Hattersley grows up in crowded Manchester rooms under the authority of Blaydon Hattersley.

A Childhood Under Blaydon Poverty and violence Victoria Hattersley grows up in crowded Manchester rooms under the authority of Blaydon Hattersley. His control of money and household life leaves her mother and children with little power. A divided education After Blaydon’s fortune improves, Victoria is sent to Lausanne to be shaped into a society wife. The transition changes her manners, but does not erase the memories of dependence and hardship.

Marriage to a National Hero Marriage to a National Hero from "Poor Things". Marriage to a National Hero An apparent escape Victoria marries General Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington, a decorated soldier whose rank and glamour appear to…

Marriage to a National Hero from "Poor Things". Marriage to a National Hero An apparent escape Victoria marries General Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington, a decorated soldier whose rank and glamour appear to…

Marriage to a National Hero An apparent escape Victoria marries General Sir Aubrey de la Pole Blessington, a decorated soldier whose rank and glamour appear to offer safety and independence. She loves him and initially believes in the future they share. The private reality The General treats her desire for closeness as illness and restricts intimacy according to medical advice. Her social position rises while her control over her own body remains limited.

Dolly’s Appeal Dolly’s Appeal from "Poor Things". Dolly’s Appeal A concealed injustice Dolly Perkins, pregnant after a relationship with the General, comes to seek help.

Dolly’s Appeal from "Poor Things". Dolly’s Appeal A concealed injustice Dolly Perkins, pregnant after a relationship with the General, comes to seek help.

Dolly’s Appeal A concealed injustice Dolly Perkins, pregnant after a relationship with the General, comes to seek help. Victoria wants to assist her, but the General has Dolly thrown out and confines his wife. A decisive break Seeing the consequences of the sexual double standard transforms Victoria’s sympathy into action. She gives away possessions and escapes confinement, abandoning a life that others insist she must accept.

A New Name and Shelter A New Name and Shelter from "Poor Things". A New Name and Shelter Refuge at Park Circus Godwin Bysshe Baxter takes Victoria into his home and calls her his sister.

A New Name and Shelter from "Poor Things". A New Name and Shelter Refuge at Park Circus Godwin Bysshe Baxter takes Victoria into his home and calls her his sister.

A New Name and Shelter Refuge at Park Circus Godwin Bysshe Baxter takes Victoria into his home and calls her his sister. He gives her safety without demanding that she return to her husband or submit to an operation. A protective fiction To hide her identity, Baxter invents Bella Baxter’s South American background and amnesia. The concealment protects her, but it also makes her later freedom depend on an account that is not true.

Freedom Claimed Freedom Claimed from "Poor Things". Freedom Claimed The past returns The General and Blaydon Hattersley interrupt Bella Baxter’s wedding to McCandless and claim her as Victoria.

Freedom Claimed from "Poor Things". Freedom Claimed The past returns The General and Blaydon Hattersley interrupt Bella Baxter’s wedding to McCandless and claim her as Victoria.

Freedom Claimed The past returns The General and Blaydon Hattersley interrupt Bella Baxter’s wedding to McCandless and claim her as Victoria. Their version of her identity threatens to restore the marriage she escaped. Refusing the old life After hearing the evidence and her own history, Bella chooses to remain in Glasgow. She recognizes that biological origins and legal claims do not outweigh her right to choose a life.

Childhood in Manchester, before her convent education

After returning from Lausanne, before 1880

February 1880, at 29 Porchester Terrace

February 1880, after Victoria reaches Glasgow

Christmas Day, 1883, at Lansdowne Church