Romantic Delusion
Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ is a startling meditation on
romantic delusion. The main character in the film, Scottie Ferguson, was easily
deceived and manipulated by the people around him. His strong need for that illusive
fantasy type love caused him to be oblivious to what really was going on. Midge
was presented as down to earth, loving character. She was the complete opposite
of Madeleine. Her character offered Scottie “real” love, which Scottie disregarded
while on the search for that dreamlike love he saw in Madeleine/Judy. The
character Judy pretended to be Madeleine Elster, the wife of his friend Gavin Elster. Judy was involved in the plot,
created by Gavin Elster, to murder the real Madeleine Elster. Scottie fell in
love with Judy without knowing who she really was. After Madeleine’s supposed
suicide, Scottie could not accept the fact that Madeleine was dead. He tried to
recreate her image in Judy. The screen capture above shows the scene
where Scottie sees Judy’s complete transformation back to Madeleine for the
first time after the suicide. This scene shows Scottie going in for a kiss. In
his mind, he had brought Madeleine back from the dead. After finding out that
Judy had deceived him, he takes her back to the scene of the crime, the bell
tower. His drastic action to free himself from his romantic delusion and
acrophobia causes him to lose his love once again. Frightened by Scottie’s
actions, Judy is disoriented. She falls to her tragic death after seeing a
shadowy figure who she believes may be the ghost of the real Madeleine.
Scotties romantic delusion causes him to lose his love not once but twice.
