Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Dressmaker, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Transformation, Illusion, and Truth
Vengeance and Suffering
Secrets, Hypocrisy, and Conformity
Memories, Progress, and the Past
Healing, Medicine, and Power
Summary
Analysis
Sergeant Farrat cheerfully eats his breakfast and daydreams about a new outfit he has made based on one worn by Rita Hayworth. He wonders if he could ask Tilly for an ostrich feather to complete his look. At Tilly’s house, Molly gets up and knocks everything off the shelf in the kitchen with her stick as she passes. Tilly ignores her, and Molly wheels herself outside. Barney is waiting there and he asks if he can see Tilly. Molly says no—she doesn’t know who Barney is—but Tilly brushes past Molly and tells Barney that she won’t go to the races with Teddy.
Sergeant Farrat secretly loves fashion but hides this from the townspeople because he fears he will be shunned if his secret gets out. Fashion was considered effeminate and unmanly in conservative societies in the 1950s, and anyone who stepped outside of traditional gender roles could face severe consequences for their behavior. Tilly rejects Teddy’s advances because she has been hurt in the past, and these experiences have seemingly scarred her and made her want to keep her distance from people.
Themes
Barney says that he has come to ask Tilly to the races himself. Molly wants Tilly to go, but Tilly says no. Molly tells Barney that it is because he is disabled, and Barney starts to cry. Tilly furiously tells Molly that she will deal with her later, and she invites Barney inside to wait while she gets ready to go.
Molly deliberately upsets Barney because she knows that Tilly is kind and does not want to hurt Barney’s feelings. Unlike the townspeople, who dislike Barney because he is disabled, Tilly feels sorry for him and wants to protect him because she empathizes with his position—she is an outcast herself.
Themes
Sergeant Farrat puts on a slimming bodice beneath his police uniform and admires his reflection. His outfit inspired by Rita Hayworth lies spread out on the bed, and Farrat frowns at it as he prepares to leave for work.
Sergeant Farrat loves fashion but hides his secret from the townspeople because he fears that if it gets out, he will be socially shunned and alienated. Sergeant Farrat, disguises his secret under a veneer of respectability—his police uniform—to maintain his status in society.
Themes
The crowd at the Dungatar races stares as Gertrude, William, and Alvin make their way through the stands together. Mona and Elsbeth have already taken their seats, and Mona gasps as the others approach. Elsbeth looks horrified and clutches the jewels around her throat. Gertrude, William, and Alvin sit down beside Elsbeth, who ignores them.
Elsbeth is a snob and feels superior to everyone in Dungatar because her deceased husband was believed to be a wealthy man. His wealth was an illusion, however, and Elsbeth is almost ruined—she hides this from the townspeople by running up large debts. Her jewelry is another attempt to appear wealthy even though she is poor. Elsbeth is also a hypocrite because she does not want William to marry someone who is poor, even though she herself was poor when she married her husband.
Themes
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Alvin asks Elsbeth if she has bet on a winner and says that he has put his money on a horse called “Married Well.” Elsbeth says this is fitting. Alvin stands up, offended, and tells Elsbeth that he brought her unpaid bills with him. He hands them to her, and Elsbeth gapes at him, horrified. Alvin and Gertrude storm off through the crowd and William follows. The crowd around them watches, fascinated.
Elsbeth believes that Gertrude wants to marry William for his money. This is ironic because, although Elsbeth pretends to be rich, she herself has no money and is deeply in debt. Elsbeth keeps up illusion of wealth by wearing fine clothes and running up large debts. Meanwhile, the crowd’s reaction suggests that everyone in Dungatar enjoys gossip and scandal and likes to judge and speculate on other people’s affairs.
Themes
Tilly walks Barney down to the racetrack. She wears a beautiful amethyst gown and high heels. Teddy waits in his car at the bottom of the hill and drives alongside them. Tilly and Barney pointedly ignore him. Tilly gently warns Barney that Teddy has used him to get to her. She explains that Teddy will probably give Barney money to go home. Barney says he knows, and that Teddy has already paid him. Barney says that his mum says he is “not finished” and that he is “five bob out of ten.” Tilly tells him that people say rude things about her, too.
Tilly sympathizes with Barney because like her, he is an outcast in the town, and people often use his vulnerability against him to get their own way. Although most of the townspeople are afraid to be seen with people who are socially shunned, Tilly would rather offend the townspeople than hurt Barney’s feelings. She feels that it is the townspeople who are wrong to judge her and Barney, not the other way around.
Themes
As Tilly and Barney reach the racetrack, women gather around and gossip about Tilly. Tilly realizes that they are discussing her dress. Teddy steps up beside them, and Gertrude Pratt pushes through the crowd. Gertrude asks Tilly if she made her dress herself, and Tilly says that she did. Sergeant Farrat saunters over and says that Gertrude’s boyfriend is looking for her. Gertrude tells Tilly that she and William Beaumont are engaged.
The Dungatar women gossip openly about Tilly because they think that, as an outcast in the community, she has no one to defend her. However, Tilly’s genuine kindness leads to her connection with the McSwineys, and Teddy is willing to defend her against criticism. This suggests that love and connection are more powerful than hatred and judgment.
Themes
William wanders over and Tilly catches his eye. They stare at each other until Gertrude drags William away. Tilly tells Sergeant Farrat that she remembers William from school. Teddy says William used to wet himself in class. William recognizes Tilly too, and he says to Gertrude that Tilly has grown very beautiful. Gertrude bursts into tears.
Everyone in Dungatar has a secret or something that they would be embarrassed about if it were public knowledge—even if this secret, like William’s pant-wetting, is in the distant past. This suggests that no one can live up to judgmental behavioral standards, even though people try to pretend that they have nothing to hide.
Themes
That night, William and Gertrude fondle each other in the back of William’s car. William wants to have sex with Gertrude, but she refuses and rushes home. William drives to the base of the Hill and looks up at Tilly’s house. He has heard from people in town that Tilly has been abroad. When William gets home, Elsbeth is up waiting for him. She says he cannot marry Gertrude Pratt, and William cries that he wants “a future.” He says that if he does not marry Gertrude, he will ask Tilly. After this, his engagement to Gertrude is settled.
Tilly represents the outside world and aspirations and experiences beyond Dungatar. William has had a brief taste of the outside world in his time at college, and although he plans to stay in Dungatar, he still secretly longs for something different. Elsbeth feels that William is too good for Gertrude because she considers the Pratts common, while the Beaumont’s are considered a prestigious family. Their prestige is based on a lie, however, as Elsbeth’s deceased husband was really bankrupt. Although she maintains the illusion of wealth, Elsbeth herself is very poor. William and Gertrude are only expected to marry because they spent the night together—otherwise they will be ostracized by the community. This demonstrates the restrictive social attitudes that were common in the 1950s and suggests that there were serious consequences for people who refused to conform with behavioral standards.
Themes
