Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Silent Patient, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Empathy, Identification, and Boundaries
Tragedy and Destiny
Honesty vs. Deception
Childhood Trauma
Silence vs. “The Talking Cure”
Summary
Analysis
Theo returns to his freezing cold office, where the broken radiator makes him sympathize with Elif’s frustration over the pool cues. Reluctantly, he looks at Diomedes’s case notes on Alicia. The notes reveal little, except that Alicia had tried to harm herself many times after she first arrived. Eventually, she stopped trying to hurt or kill herself and grew distant instead, isolating herself from the rest of the patients.
Just as the facts of the murder—the time, the number of shots—left Theo with little clarity, he is frustrated by the nuts-and-bolts information in Diomedes’s notes on Alicia.
Themes
Only one moment sticks out to Theo in the files: soon after she was admitted, Alicia had violently attacked Elif, without clear motivation. Theo decides he will ask Elif about what really happened that day.
For the most part, Alicia’s violence seems directed against herself, as evidenced by the multiple suicide attempts. The only exceptions are her murder of Gabriel and her attack on Elif—so what kind of provocation makes Alicia turn her anger outwards instead of inwards?
Themes
As he prepares to dive deeper, Theo takes out a notepad and organizes his thoughts. He knows that the Alcestis painting will be a crucial clue. But he also writes down the word “childhood.” Theo is convinced that Alicia’s murderous rage towards her husband has roots in her youth; such rage, he believes, “originates in the land before memory […] with abuse and mistreatment, which builds up a charge over the years, until it explodes—often at the wrong target.”
The Alcestis reflects both Alicia’s silence and her sense of betrayal. But if the painting is Alicia’s attempt to identify her own feelings, Theo believes that she might be confused about where her pain comes from. In other words, rather than drawing a straight line between childhood trauma and adult behavior, Theo aims to untangle what can often be a messier connection.
Themes
To understand Alicia’s childhood, Theo wants to talk to the people close to her. Her nearest relative is an aunt named Lydia Rose; Alicia’s mother Eva had died in a car crash while Alicia had been in the car. The only other contact in her file is Max Berenson, Gabriel’s brother and Alicia’s lawyer. Theo decides to call his office.
Already, the death of Alicia’s mother at such a young age suggests one possible cause of Alicia’s adult struggles (both because Alicia might have inherited her mother’s suicidal tendencies and because she might be traumatized by her mother’s death).
Themes
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In retrospect, Theo understands that trying to contact all these people was already crossing a professional boundary. “But even then it was too late to stop,” he admits. “My fate was already decided—like in a Greek tragedy.” The receptionist at Gabriel’s brother’s office answers and informs Theo that Max will be away all week. Theo then tries Lydia Rose, but as soon as she learns who he is, she tells him to “fuck off” and hangs up the phone.
Both Max and Lydia’s responses reveal that Alicia is a polarizing figure: though she may be a gifted artist, she has complex relationships with even her closest family members. More vital, though, is Theo’s outright comparison to Greek tragedy. Like many Greek heroes, he feels that he has no real choice about any of his actions—and like many Greek plays, The Silent Patient is structured so that audiences feel as if they cannot prevent impending doom.
Themes
