Chapter 3 Summary: The Governor’s Parlour (1859)
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Grace Marks sits alone on the purple velvet settee in the Governor’s wife’s parlour, a place usually reserved for guests. She describes her usual chores—dusting, clearing tea things—and her fascination with the tall European clock that tracks the sun and moon. Grace contrasts the delicate, jellyfish‑like ladies who visit with the “Woman Question” and Spiritualist Circle meetings. She is aware that she herself is a “celebrated murderess,” a label she ponders aloud. The Governor’s wife keeps a scrapbook of famous criminals; Grace has read the newspaper accounts about herself, noting both lies and truths. She remembers her lawyer, Mr. Kenneth MacKenzie, who argued she was “next door to an idiot” to save her from the noose. Grace recalls James McDermott, hanged and dissected, and the peddler Jeremiah. A doctor arrives to measure her head for a phrenology study. The moment she sees his hand reaching into his bag, she recognizes him as the same doctor who once carried shining knives, and she begins to scream.
Key Events
- Grace sits on the settee, reflecting on her role as a servant and murderess.
- She describes the ladies’ fashions and her own thoughts on the word “murderess.”
- Grace recounts her lawyer’s strategy of portraying her as unintelligent.
- She reveals the Governor’s wife’s scrapbook of criminals and her own reading of the clippings.
- Grace recalls James McDermott’s hanging and dissection.
- A doctor enters to measure her head; Grace recognizes him from her past.
- The chapter ends with Grace screaming upon seeing the doctor’s hand and his knives.
Character Development
This chapter deepens Grace’s internal voice. She is self‑aware, sardonic, and acutely conscious of how others perceive her—as a “romantic figure,” a “demon,” or an “idiot.” She controls her facial expressions to appear repentant while privately scoffing at the narratives imposed on her. Her fear and trauma surface when she sees the doctor’s hand, revealing that a past encounter (likely violent medical treatment) still haunts her. Grace’s memory of McDermott and Jeremiah shows she carries guilt and sorrow for those entangled in her story.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
- The “Murderess” Label: Grace contrasts “murderess” with “murderer,” reflecting on the gendered judgment embedded in the word. She notes how newspapers portray her in contradictory ways, reducing her to a sensational figure.
- Phrenology and Science as Control: The doctor’s plan to measure heads represents pseudo‑scientific efforts to pathologize criminals, especially women. Grace connects it to the dissection of McDermott, showing how institutions dissect and categorize both body and reputation.
- Memory and Forgetting: Grace deliberately refuses to remember certain things, stating some details “should be forgotten by everyone.” The scrapbook, keepsake albums, and the desire to be remembered contrast with Grace’s wish to erase painful truths.
- Performance and Surveillance: Grace constantly performs for the Governor’s wife and visitors—keeping her “face still,” adopting a submissive pose. She knows she is watched and judged, and she uses that awareness to protect herself.
Why This Chapter Matters
Chapter 3 deepens Grace’s psychological complexity and her critical view of nineteenth‑century institutions—law, medicine, gender roles. The arrival of the doctor creates a direct link to Grace’s traumatic past, foreshadowing revelations about what really happened in the Kinnear household. The scrapbook motif reinforces how public narratives about crime distort personal truth. This chapter also introduces the theme of phrenology, a pseudoscience used to justify social control, which will recur as the novel interrogates who gets to define sanity, guilt, and identity.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Grace describe the visiting ladies as “jellyfish” and what does that reveal about her view of upper‑class women?
Grace sees the ladies as fragile, hollow beings: beautiful when supported by their crinolines but shapeless and empty when dried out. This reveals her contempt for their artificial gentility and the way they, like jellyfish, float without substance or real power. It also reflects her own sense of being a creature of the lower depths, exposed and dried out by public scrutiny.
2. How does Grace’s attitude toward the word “murderess” differ from her attitude toward “murderer,” and what does that distinction imply about gender?
Grace finds “murderess” musky and oppressive, like dead flowers, while “murderer” is merely brutal, like a hammer. This shows that the feminine version carries a sexualized, theatrical stigma. Society sees a female killer as an exotic aberration, framing her crime in terms of her womanhood rather than simple violence.
3. What is the significance of the doctor’s arrival being preceded by talk of “science” and “improving the world”?
The doctor represents the Progressive Era’s faith in phrenology to predict and prevent crime. Grace’s reaction—she screams—undermines that faith, suggesting science can be as threatening as the crimes it seeks to understand. The doctor’s former presence in her life (likely during her asylum years) links scientific “objectivity” to medical abuse and trauma.