Poor Things

An hour later, Bella awakens. She eats some food, which restores her so much that she starts to look younger. She reflects that Godwin could not have told her about her dead baby before her adventure with Duncan, because she was still a child. Now, she knows about the suffering of the world. She insists that the three of them work together to improve the world; Godwin tells her that she cannot help others until she learns to be independent.

Bella decides to become a doctor. Scottish universities will soon start accepting women as medical students. In the meantime, Bella enrolls as a trainee nurse at the Glasgow infirmary, assisting Godwin. She decides to become a doctor for women, especially mothers and sex workers. She wants to educate women about contraception but is advised to keep this desire secret.

Godwin convinces McCandless to become a public health officer so that he can work on the prevention of disease. McCandless wants to marry Bella as soon as possible. To ensure that she did not contract any venereal diseases while working at the brothel in Paris, Bella takes a six-week sexual quarantine before their marriage. During this time, she and McCandless share a bed, but only cuddle.

25th. It is set to be a small affair, but when he, Bella, and Godwin arrive at the church, they find five men present. The men interrupt the wedding, insisting that it cannot take place because Bella is already married to one of the men, General Blessington. He insists that Bella is really Victoria Blessington. The other men are Victoria’s father, Blaydon Hattersley; Mr. Prickett, Blessington’s medical adviser; Mr. Harker, his solicitor; and a detective, Mr. Seymour Grimes. Bella does not recognize any of them.

Godwin invites the men to his house to discuss the matter in private. Blessington agrees, on the condition that Bella wait outside the room while they discuss her. Godwin and Bella both refuse. Bella is excited to learn more about her past, but Godwin warns her that she is about to learn that he has lied to her. He fears that by the end of their discussion, Bella will hate him.

Hattersley and Blessington both received letters from Duncan telling them where Bella/Victoria lived. Victoria Blessington disappeared three years ago when she was eight months pregnant, but because of Blessington’s status as a respected army general, the disappearance was kept secret.

When Blessington received Duncan’s letter, he called Mr. Grimes to investigate Victoria’s disappearance. Grimes discovered that a body matching Victoria’s was pulled out of the river, and that Godwin was the police surgeon that day. Blessington accuses Godwin of reanimating Victoria’s corpse with electrical currents to create Bella. He accuses Bella of running away to “glut [her] insane appetite for carnal intercourse” (280). Hattersley tells Bella that he was very poor, but through hard work and cunning he made a fortune and pulled the family out of poverty after Victoria’s three brothers died of cholera. At 17, Victoria was sent to finishing school to learn to be a good wife. When she met Blessington, he thought that she had “the soul of an innocent child” (282). She was 24 and had never met a man besides her father. 

Bella tries to hold Blessington’s hand to remember him, but recoils when their fingers meet, calling him horrible. Blessington accuses Victoria of having erotomania; Prickett explains that she wanted Blessington to “lie with her…every night of the week” (285). Bella is overcome with emotion at hearing this and insists that “the poor thing needed cuddling” (285). Prickett declares that healthy women should not have sexual desires. Victoria eventually begged for a clitoridectomy to remove her sexual desires. Mr. Harker accuses Godwin of resuscitating the drowned Victoria to make her his mistress, tiring of her, and passing her off to Duncan. Godwin is so affected by this accusation that he has a seizure. Bella soothes him and McCandless staunchly defends his honor. 

When Godwin recovers, he says he can prove that Bella is not Victoria. While Victoria was “hysterical,” Godwin has had Bella examined by psychologists who say that she is mentally healthy. Godwin tries to reason with Blessington, suggesting that Bella could divorce him. He produces documents that prove that Victoria fled her husband because of his physical abuse and his infidelity with a 16-year-old maid. When the maid became pregnant, she begged Blessington for money to raise the child. Blessington refused, leaving the girl destitute. When Victoria tried to help the maid, Blessington locked her in the basement. Victoria escaped and disappeared.

Upon hearing this story, Bella’s face becomes gaunt like a skull and her hair stands on end. Hattersley says Victoria visited him in Manchester. He was disgusted by her pregnant body and insisted she return to her husband immediately. Hearing all this, Bella refuses to leave with Blessington. She thanks all of the men for their roles in her life. She is happy with McCandless, who cuddles her at night and lets her work during the day.

Harker insists that a husband’s infidelity is not grounds for a divorce, and any violence Blessington enacted upon Victoria was for her own good because she was “hysterical.” Blessington takes out a gun and threatens to shoot Godwin and McCandless if they move. Prickett prepares to chloroform Bella, but before he can get to her, Bella attacks Blessington and wrestles the gun from his hands. In the struggle, Bella is shot through the foot, but she wins the fight. Blessington begs Bella to shoot him. Instead, she fires the gun five times at the ceiling and then faints.

Godwin and McCandless rush to tend to Bella. She wakes up suddenly and declares that she remembers Blessington after all: He is Monsieur Spankybot from the brothel in Paris. She laughs at him and tells everyone about the kinds of sexual acts he enjoyed. Blessington is so ashamed that he collapses and has to be half-carried from the room. All five men leave. Two days later, newspapers announce that Blessington has died by suicide, leaving Bella and McCandless free to marry.

Bella and McCandless get married and have three sons. McCandless becomes the chairman of the Glasgow Civic Improvement Trust, and Bella runs the Godwin Baxter Natal Clinic, writes pamphlets, and supports women's suffrage. She enjoys a successful career, and McCandless is not jealous of her fame and success. He enjoys being able to spend more time with their sons.

Shortly after Blessington’s death, Godwin became very ill. One morning, McCandless received a letter from Godwin, asking him to come to his bedside alone. Godwin was about to die. Strong emotions “lethally emphasize incompatibilities in [his] internal organs” (316) and over the past few years, he experienced several very strong emotions. McCandless and Godwin shared a glass of port. Godwin told McCandless to always be kind to his children, to make sure that the servants were well looked after, and to take care of Godwin’s dogs. Then, he threw his head back and laughed very loudly. The laughter stopped abruptly, and McCandless realized that Godwin had died.

To accommodate Godwin’s unusual shape and size, McCandless had him buried in a cubical coffin. Bella was very upset by Godwin’s death. McCandless hopes that in the near future, science will advance enough for people to believe his tale.