L.B.

“Jeff” Jeffries
Jeff is the main character of the story and is the main driver of the plot. Jeff is a photographer who works for a company and got himself in an
accident when trying to take a photograph at a racetrack. From the accident, jeff broke his leg and had to stay in his house for 6 weeks. Due to
his boredom, he starts to partake in voyeurism. From this, he gains suspicion on one of his neighbours and thinks he has murdered his wife.
Jeffs nurse Stella and his partner Lisa both later agree with his suspicions and help him solve the murder. Jeff is unsure of marriage and feels
as if when he marries Lisa shes just going to be a nagging wife and he sees her as “too perfect for him” and this complicates their relationship.

Lisa Fremont
Lisa works in fashion on the wealthier side of new york and is a stereotypical representation of femininity and the female gender role. She is
infatuated with jeff and him tries to get jeff to trade in his job for a more stable and safer role perhaps in his own freelance business but jeff is
stubborn and this causes conflict between him and jeff. Lisa has an uptight personality and is regal and elegant in her mannerisms.

Tom Doyle
Tom Doyle is a detective for the New York City Police Department. He is a close friend of Jeff. When Jeff initially discusses the murder with
Doyle, Doyle refuses to act as there is objective proof only. With the stakes being Doyle’s career and reputation, he is reluctant to get involved .
When Jeff makes the claim about Mrs Thorwalds train trip and the missing luggage, Doyle investigates and comes back empty, furthering
Doyle’s doubt of jeffs assumptions of murder, dismissing it as a symptom of a cooped up man with an overactive imagination. However, Doyle
appears at the climax of the film to save Jeff from Thorwald.

Throughout the film, Doyle is presented as a sharply-dressed, curt and industrious man who takes pride in his work, appearance and
mannerisms. Doyle has some “outdated” views on topics and especially women. Doyle is the representation of the traditional conservative
values of the time. He doesn’t disrespect women, but he treats them different to the way he would treat a man – and this not a bad thing, as
women are inherently different to men, however the modern interpretation is that behaviour is misogynistic.

Lars Thorwald
Lars Thorwald is Anna Thorwald’s spouse Jeff’s neighbour. Lars is a character who is kept a stranger to the audience. All the viewer really
knows about him is what is seen by Jeff. There are few close up shots of Thorwald until the very end of the film, where he attacks Jeff. This
lack of clarity and information adds suspense to the film. The seed of suspicion for Thorwald is planted in the audience when Jeff sees him
leave his apartment multiple times throughout the night, leaving them guessing at what he was doing. Jeff firmly believes that Lars murdered
his wife and Jeff has not only convinced his two female companions, Stella and Lisa, but also the audience. The audience is made to believe
Jeff because we feel a connection with him, perhaps through a sense of camaraderie. Hitchcock made Jeff relatable and amicable that the
audience can easily build a connection with him. What Jeff believes, the audience is coerced to believe too. 
We always see Thorwald in long shots and wide shots, with very little details visible. We get a sense of his general appearance; tall, old and on
the brink of frailty. We don’t get a good look of him until the end, when he confronts Jeff. The build up to the confrontation built so much
suspense and tension that even the incredibly underwhelming fight and pathetic nature of it still keeps the audience in suspense (hence the
perhaps generous claim to be the most “thrilling” film of its time).

Anna Thorwald
Anna Thorwald is the wife of Lars Thorwald. We don’t see much of her throughout the film, mostly just her remaining personal effects, but she
is a main focus throughout the entirety of the film.

Stella
Stella is the nurse whom Jeff's insurance company has hired to look after him while he heals. She is sharp-tongued and opinionated and
espouses some rather traditional views when it comes to the subject of marriage. At first, she tries to get Jeff to stop perving on his neighbours,
but she soon is swept up in the drama, as well.

Miss Lonelyhearts
Miss Lonelyhearts name is very self explanatory. She’s lonely, lonely to the extent that she has a dinner date with herself to practice for a real
date with a man seen later on who, unfortunately for her, is a bit heavy handed, insensitive and quite frankly, rapey. Following this she is alone
and depressed. She has no companion, confidant or friends. And it all becomes too much for her, as she attempts to take her own life.
Thankfully, on this occasion Jeff’s voyeurism saved a life, as he saw her to overdose. 

Miss Lonelyhearts represents the typical, slightly lowerclass single woman of the times. Her behaviour and attitude would probably be far more
uncommon. Similarly to Thorwald, we don’t see many close ups of Miss Lonelyhearts and we only get a general idea of her appearance from
afar. But yet despite our lack of knowledge of her, the audience still is empathetic – who wouldn’t feel sorry for a hopelessly single woman who
is obviously not a harlot. The empathetic connection is heightened when Jeff discovers what she’s about to do, its tough to imagine the severity
of her dysphoria that could put her into a frame of mind where the only logical escape is suicide. However hard it is being lonely in such a
vulnerable time of your life some viewers may also see Mrs. Lonelyhearts as a weak and emotionally incontinent individual and unltimately look
down upon her frailty and ultimately escapist tactic of suicide.