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
Back at Windswept Crescent, Mona cries and Lesley laughs about the dress mishap. Elsbeth announces sharply that Lesley and Mona will have to get married, which instantly sobers Lesley up. Lesley protests that he doesn’t want to get married, but Gertrude says that if they don’t, they will have to leave Dungatar.
Although Lesley and Mona have not had sex, the townspeople believe they have because gossip spreads so fast in Dungatar. Although Mona is Gertrude’s sister-in-law, Gertrude will not defend Mona against gossip—instead, she forces her to get married or to leave town in order to appease the town’s conservative values. This suggests that relationships are damaged by societies which pressure people to conform in order to keep up appearances, rather than allowing people the freedom to live as they like.
Themes
Mona and Lesley have a quiet wedding, and William drives them to the station to set off on their honeymoon. They are booked into the Grand Suite hotel in Melbourne. They drop off their bags, and Lesley hurriedly offers to take Mona sightseeing. When they get back, the hotel owner has left a bottle of champagne in the room. Mona goes to change into her lingerie, which Tilly made for her. Lesley is almost sick in the bathroom while she is gone.
Leslie’s anxious reaction to Mona changing into lingerie heavily implies that Lesley is gay. He hides this from Mona (and seemingly from himself) likely because homosexuality was illegal in the 1950s (when the story is set). In a conservative and judgmental society like Dungatar, Lesley cannot be himself because he would face terrible consequences if he openly admitted his sexuality.
Themes
When Mona comes out, Lesley says the fabric of her new underwear is gorgeous and he quickly pours them both some champagne. Mona gets drunk and passes out, and Lesley wraps himself in Mona’s silk dressing gown to sleep. The next morning, Mona wakes up feeling sad and upset; she looks accusingly at Lesley. When Mona and Lesley get back to Dungatar, Elsbeth gives Mona her inheritance and tells her that it must go toward a cottage that she and Lesley will rent in town.
Again, it is heavily implied that Lesley is gay, but that he cannot admit this to Mona. Homosexuality was not accepted, and was, in fact, illegal in many countries during the 1950s. Although Lesley is not sexually attracted to Mona, Mona does not understand this and feels rejected by him. This suggests that in societies which do not accept diversity, people cannot maintain honest and loving connections with one another.
Themes
Faith makes up the posters for the Dungatar Ball and takes them into town. At the station, Hamish helps a woman off the train. She asks him when the next train back leaves and he replies that there is one the next day. The woman seems disappointed. She reluctantly gives her bags to Ed McSwiney, who drives her to the hotel on his cart. When she reaches the hotel, Fred shows her up to their best room and asks what brings her to town. The woman is very fashionably dressed. She replies that she thought the countryside might be relaxing, but now she does not seem so sure.
The woman, who is a stranger and is never named by Ham, represents the fashionable outside world to which Dungatar seems a quaint, old-fashioned place. Although local scandal seems important to the townspeople, in the outside world, conservative places like Dungatar are falling behind and will soon experience the inevitable, progressive changes which took place elsewhere in the 1950s.
Themes
Get the entire The Dressmaker LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fred leaves the woman alone and she smokes a cigarette and looks out of the window. She is astonished to see that the Dungatar women are all dressed very stylishly. Some of them are wearing fashions that she has only seen in designer collections in Europe. She wonders how on earth this has happened.
The woman represents the fashionable outside world, to which Dungatar seems like a quaint, old-fashioned place. She notices Tilly’s designs because they are out of place in Dungatar and have temporarily transformed the Dungatar women into stylish, cosmopolitan dressers. However, this does not reflect the real characters of the women (who are unimaginative and close-minded) and, instead, reflects Tilly’s innovation and hard work.
Themes
The Dungatar women stand around Faith’s poster and gossip. Beula says that ball is more expensive this year and that some people from Winyerp are coming. Nancy says that Tilly just received another package, and Sergeant Farrat joins them and says the package came from New York. He says that Tilly is making a beautiful dress for herself. Beula bitterly complains that Tilly saves all the nicest fabric for her own clothes.
Tilly’s innovative designs and her open-mindedness, which allows her to make clothes for the Dungatar women even though they reject her and treat her like an outcast, transform the town and superficially make it more diverse and cosmopolitan. However, despite this surface transformation, the Dungatar residents are the same as they always were—they are jealous and spiteful and, rather than appreciate Tilly’s hard work, they resent her when she saves something for herself.
Themes
In the bar, Purl waits to take the new guest’s dinner order. The woman looks dubiously at the menu and then asks Purl where she got her clothes. Purl explains that Tilly made them, and the woman asks where Tilly lives. After dinner, the woman goes to visit Tilly, and Tilly takes her measurements. The woman orders several outfits from Tilly and then offers her a job at her fashion company. Tilly says that she cannot leave Dungatar for the time being, and the woman leaves, impressed.
The woman represents the modern outside world to which Dungatar looks quaint and old-fashioned. Although Tilly is offered a job elsewhere, she believes that it will be possible for her to make a good life for herself in Dungatar despite the cruel townspeople who still treat her as a social outcast.
Themes
As the ball draws near, people are constantly going in and out of Tilly’s to order new clothes and accessories. Faith, Hamish, Reginald, and Bobby come to get fitted for new band outfits. Hamish puts on Tilly’s Billie Holiday record and comments that Holiday’s voice sounds like pain. Sergeant Farrat collects the garments from Tilly and finishes them at his house to help her with the workload.
Again, the townspeople are hypocritical because they will not openly befriend Tilly or defend her from gossip, but they will take advantage of her dressmaking services. Unlike the other residents, Sergeant Farrat is open-minded and forges a genuine friendship with Tilly. Their relationship is based on mutual respect; Sergeant Farrat helps Tilly in return for her kindness, whereas most of the townspeople do not.
Themes
Sergeant Farrat asks Tilly where she is seated at the ball, but Tilly says she isn’t going. Sergeant Farrat is horrified—who will wear the gorgeous red fabric that Tilly bought for herself? He says that she should go with Teddy, but Tilly dismisses this idea and goes on with her work.
Tilly is reluctant to fall for Teddy, or to allow him to take her to the ball, because she has been scarred by past experiences of rejection. These experiences inform her future behavior as she tries to avoid getting hurt again.
Themes
In their new cottage, Lesley and Mona practice their waltz in the living room. Mona tries to kiss Lesley, but he pushes her away. Mona begins to cry, and Lesley desperately explains that he just cannot love her—he doesn’t know why. Mona asks if Lesley wants her to leave, but Lesley says that he has no one else in the world. His story about his rich family is a lie—his family is dead. Mona is amused by this since she is an outcast too, and the pair continues to dance together.
Again, it is heavily implied that Lesley is gay but that he either does not understand his sexuality or cannot admit it to himself. Since Lesley cannot be himself, he is forced to disguise his true self with Mona, and she ends up feeling hurt and rejected because of this. This implies that intolerant societies hamper genuine connections among people because they cannot truly be themselves.
Themes
