Week 3 Shadow of a Doubt

I’m sure we are all familiar with the typical meaning behind a ring: that it is a symbol of the bond between two persons, usually lovers. However, as it is most often given by a man to a woman, a ring also symbolizes the power the man has over the woman, or even as a sign of his possession over the woman.  Unlike in “The Lodger” and “The 39 Steps”, where the ring-like motif of handcuffs are used as a bind between the two main characters, “Shadow of a Doubt” used an actual ring as the motif of binding. In Shadow of a Doubt however, the bind is simply symbolic and not actually physically binding Uncle Charlie and Young Charlie. Initially to Young Charlie it represents the close bond she believed she had between her and her idol, Uncle Charlie. This is expressed by the way her expression changes when he gave it to her at time stamp 3:23 in part 3. Even if we can only see her profile, it is very clear how her expressions exude joy and delight as she realized Uncle Charlie just gave her a ring. We also get a glimpse of how trusting she is of her uncle at this moment. As Young Charlie begun to realize something is wrong with her uncle, the meaning of the ring totally changed. Yet, the interesting thing about this scene is the technique Hitchcock used to film it. If his main purpose is simply to show Young Charlie’s pleasure at receiving a gift in this scene, he could have done a close-up shot of her face taken from behind or to the side of Uncle Charlie as he gave it to her. Instead, Hitchcock chose to employ the technique of backlighting while taking a shot from the side. Backlighting is used here to emphasize the low light level on the profile of Uncle Charlie and the contrast it has with the bright face of Young Charlie (look closely at time stamp 3:28). It is as if he wants to highlight how innocent Young Charlie is while subtly noting that Uncle Charlie is hiding something.

The scene in part 10 between 6:31 – 6:54 is rather significant for the motif of rings as well. Unlike in the previously mentioned scene, it shows the reverse in power of the two Charlies. This scene depicts Young Charlie walking down the stairs wearing the ring while Uncle Charlie notices it. This occurred soon after he told her that she can’t use the ring to threaten him. Several techniques were combined in this one scene. The medium long shot with Young Charlie still at the top of the stairs implies she is in control, this is followed by a close-up shot of Uncle Charlie’s face to call attention to his surprise as a zoom combined with a following shot is used to create the transition of point of view to Uncle Charlie when he realizes she is wearing the ring. The overall effect allows the audience to feel the intensity between the two characters and the suspense from wondering how he would react.