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
One evening, as Tilly works on the dresses, she hears Teddy enter the house. She hides in the bedroom and tries to resist the temptation to go out and see him. Tilly has grown more comfortable with Teddy recently; she enjoys his company. Finally, she goes into the living room and finds him sitting with Molly and Barney. Tilly sits down with them and she continues to sew.
Tilly tries to resist Teddy’s advances because she has been scarred by previous experiences of rejection and wishes to protect herself from further pain. However, over time, Teddy’s kindness gradually transforms Tilly and helps her to open up.
Themes
Teddy says that Tilly is wasting her time on the Dungatar residents—they do not appreciate her. Tilly says that it doesn’t matter if they hate her because everyone needs a scapegoat. Molly says that they are all morally corrupt and hypocritical. Barney goes out to weed the garden, and Teddy laughs and points out that it’s dark outside. After Barney leaves, Teddy leans close to Tilly and tells her that he is falling for her. Tilly tells him not to because she is “falser than vows made in wine.” Teddy says that he doesn’t know this quote and be gets up to leave. Tilly blows a kiss at the door as he goes.
Tilly naïvely believes that she can withstand the rejection and cruelty of the Dungatar townspeople, even though Teddy warns that they will never understand her because they are too close-minded. Molly thinks that the townspeople are hypocrites because they judge others for behavior that they themselves privately engage in. Meanwhile, Tilly quotes a Shakespeare play to suggest that Teddy should not fall in love with her because she is unlucky, something she believes because of negative past experiences.
Themes
The next evening is the ball, and Teddy comes to collect Tilly. He wears a suit—but when Tilly opens the door, he sees that she is in her dressing gown. Tilly says she’s not going, and Teddy teases her and dances with her until she agrees to go with him after all. They stand in the kitchen, laughing and holding each other. Molly approaches and says happily that they are disgusting together. Tilly changes into her gown, and she and Teddy set off for the ball.
Tilly resists Teddy’s advances and fights her own growing feelings for him because her past experiences of rejection and loss make her wary about getting hurt again. Ultimately, though, Tilly cannot deny the connection that she and Teddy have; she allows herself to be transformed by him into someone who is more open and loving.
Themes
The Dungatar women look radiant in their gowns as they stroll across the ballroom, and they show off to the guests who have come from Winyerp. Marigold Pettyman wins “Bell of the Ball,” and Beula takes her to the restroom to prevent her from fainting. Beula asks Marigold if Tilly made her dress. Marigold says yes and she asks Marigold if she knows who Tilly’s father was. Marigold says that he was a travelling salesman, but Beula whispers something else in Marigold’s ear.
Although the Dungatar women have been transformed by Tilly and look beautiful in their gowns, they are not beautiful on the inside—instead, they’re still vain and arrogant, desperate to appear superior to the ladies from the other towns. Beula knows everybody’s secrets because she feels that this gives her power over others. In a conservative, conformist community like Dungatar, people are terrified of having their secrets spread and of being judged and ostracized.
Themes
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Tilly and Teddy look in at the ball through the open door. They try to find their names on the seating arrangements, but Tilly is horrified to see that her name has been scrubbed out. Teddy drifts in through the doorway, chatting to some friends. Evan Pettyman passes Tilly and spits on the ground beside her. Beula Harridene appears and hisses that Tilly is a “bastard, murderer.” Beula slams the door. Tilly tries to pull it open again, but someone holds it firmly shut.
Despite all Tilly’s hard work (most of the Dungatar women at the ball wear dresses that she has made for them), they still reject her and will not let her forget her past in the town, where she has always been considered an outcast. The townspeople unfairly hold Tilly accountable for Stewart Pettyman’s death, even though his death was an accident and Tilly was only a child when it happened. This suggests that, although Tilly has tried to escape her past, the spiteful townspeople will not let her do so and they literally shut her out of the community.
Themes
Tilly goes to the park, and Teddy comes to find her. Tilly starts to cry and tells Teddy that she doesn’t care about the ball, but that the guilt from her past tortures her. She feels remorseful about Stewart Pettyman’s death. Teddy comforts her and takes her home to his trailer. Tilly tells Teddy about her past, after which they have sex and fall asleep. When Tilly wakes up, Teddy proposes to her and Tilly accepts. Teddy says that they will have a huge wedding in Dungatar and then take Molly and Barney and go elsewhere.
Tilly blames herself for Stewart’s death, even though it was not her fault. Her memory of the accident is unreliable and, rather than remember correctly (and realize that she was not to blame), Tilly instead believes the spiteful townspeople who unfairly hold her responsible. However, Teddy’s persistent kindness transforms Tilly. Although Tilly is reluctant to fall for Teddy because she has been hurt in the past, his loving nature leads Tilly to let her guard down. She even begins to hope that, despite her negative past experiences, she and Teddy may have a happy future together.
Themes
Tilly and Teddy climb up on top of the silo and they lie there, looking at the stars. Tilly says that she remembers seeing Teddy and his friends playing here as kids. Teddy says that they used to jump into the grain trucks and get into trouble. Tilly comments that Teddy wasn’t afraid of anything, and Teddy replies that he still isn’t. Tilly says that he should be afraid of “her curse,” but Teddy says that he’ll prove he is not. He goes to jump into the wheat truck below. Tilly begs him not to, but Teddy blows her a kiss and jumps.
Although Tilly’s connection with Teddy encourages her to open up about her past, she still does not fully believe that she is free from the effects of traumatic experiences (such as Stewart Pettyman’s death, in which she was indirectly involved). Instead, she feels that her past stays with her like a curse. Although Tilly was not responsible for Stewart’s death, the townspeople made her feel guilty and blamed her for it. This leads Tilly to believe that she is unlucky, even though this version of the past in inaccurate. By contrast, Teddy, who had a happy childhood in Dungatar, has romanticized memories of the past—because of this, he is not afraid to fall in love or to take risks.
Themes
Evan Pettyman takes Marigold home to bed and he hears a thin voice calling out from near the railway. He walks down and finds Tilly pacing beside a grain truck. She has pushed a pole into the truck and shakes it. Tilly tells Evan that someone is inside but that they will not grab the pole.
Evan’s relationship with Marigold is very controlling and abusive—he routinely uses sleeping pills to drug her and then sexually assaults her when she is asleep. The idea that he takes her home “to bed” suggests that she is drunk and that he encourages her to become intoxicated so that she is not aware when he takes advantage of her. Meanwhile, Teddy is clearly stuck in the grain truck and is unable to get out despite Tilly’s efforts.
Themes
