The terror of Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House (1959) resides in the struggle of its protagonist to procure and maintain a stable sense of self. Eleanor Vance’s desperation to establish a collective and an individual identity is palpable in her continual self-affirmations that she both “belongs” to the group of guests in Hill House and exists as a separate entity. Identifying herself in relation to Theodora, the house’s other female inhabitant, is particularly crucial, given Eleanor’s history of dysfunctional relationships with other women. In Robert Wise’s 1963 film adaptation, The Haunting, Eleanor’s identity crisis is brilliantly conveyed through the use of mirrors in the cinematography and mise-en-scène. Throughout the film, mirrors function to trace Eleanor’s attempts and eventual failure to establish an identity in relation to Theodora.
From her arrival at Hill House, Eleanor is painfully aware of her “self,” or, rather, lack thereof. Bending down to pick up her suitcase, Eleanor notices her reflection in the freshly waxed floors (19:30) and is prompted to quickly catch up with the house’s caretaker, commenting, “I gather I’m the first one here, Mrs. Dudley” (19:40). On the way up the stairs, she is startled less by the ominous-looking gargoyles decorating the stairwell than she is by her reflection in a wall mirror (19:50). This is just the first of the excessive number of mirrors she will encounter in the house.
When Theo arrives, she not only saves Eleanor from the dread of being alone in the dreary house, but also from facing her tenuous identity. Finding another woman settling into the adjoining bedroom is Eleanor’s first hope of establishing a relational identity. As the two become acquainted, they stand on either side of a mirror on Theo’s bedroom wall, neither being captured in its frame. Eleanor walks towards Theo, stepping into the mirror’s frame as if to “see” herself in relation to the other woman. “We’re going to be great friends, Theo” (23:40), she exclaims. “Like sisters?” Theo replies pensively, as if sensing Eleanor’s need to bond with her. Initially, Theo resists this aim, moving away from the mirror and cheerfully changing the subject.
Eleanor and Theo talk in front of Theo’s mirror
Mirrors abound in the parlor and dining room as well, yet none of them capture the reflections of both women at once until Dr. Markway refers to the “unsavory stories” about the notoriously haunted Hill House. In this moment, Theo’s impulse is to back away from him, nearer to Eleanor. Before long, she is toasting, “to my new companion [Eleanor]” (30:30). Eleanor’s collective identity begins to take shape when Dr. Markway mentions his rationale for selecting the guests based on their previous experience with the supernatural (31:49). Immediately, the next shot captures both women’s reflections in the mirror–the first time Eleanor can see herself in relation to another. It is on these grounds that she thinks to herself, “I’m one of them. I belong” (35:33). She becomes particularly close to Theo as they are simultaneously terrorized by the house. The first haunting drives Eleanor into Theo’s room where the two huddle together in bed, stunned by inexplicable pounding noises outside the door. Across the room, the girls’ embrace is captured in a full-length free-standing mirror (42:19) as if to frame their merging identities.
Eleanor and Theo framed in fear in the mirror
Having at last obtained relationality, Eleanor awakens the following morning refreshed and composed, with an unprecedented confidence complete with new hairstyle. Markway notices the difference, commenting that she “look[s]so pretty” and that “this curious life seems to agree with you” (48:51). But Eleanor’s relational identity, and therefore her vivacity, comes under attack when the group discovers ghastly writing bearing only Eleanor’s name. Eleanor is enraged by Theo’s smug suggestion that she wrote it herself (55:15) because it threatens her collective identity to the group, as well as her relationship with Theo. Now, the same dining room mirror that had previously evinced the girls’ intertwined identities captures neither of them (55:06).
Eleanor’s anger at Theo
As in the novel, Eleanor’s failure to maintain her relationality to Theo results in the unraveling of Eleanor’s identity at the film’s climax. As Eleanor runs through the halls driven by some unknown torment, we are able to see her through the distorted reflection of one of the house’s mirrors (1:32:31). The distortion effectively conveys her own detachment from her body and identity. In a moment reminiscent her arrival at Hill House, Eleanor is accosted by her reflection in the mirror (1:32:35), terrified by her “self” as it appears in the small, round wall mirror, which is not conducive for bearing more than one person’s reflection at a time. Not surprisingly, the eventual destruction of her fragile identity is represented by the shattering of a mirror (1:33:20).
The function of mirrors in building terror in the film’s climax reinforces Dr. Montague’s claim that “we are only afraid of ourselves,” especially with Luke’s amendment: “of seeing ourselves clearly and without disguise” (Jackson 149). In Eleanor’s case, seeing herself “without disguise” means facing the truth that she has no identity because she has failed to establish meaningful relationality. Rather than establishing her own identity, she has only succeeded in (temporarily) reflecting those of others. As Eleanor’s psychological decline shows, a mere reflection cannot stand alone. Wise’s use of mirrors in the film effectively adapts for screen Jackson’s skillful depiction of the mystery of psychological development and the disorienting horror of self-perception.
You can stream The Haunting on Amazon:
Mariel Caputo is an M.A. student in the English program at Lehigh University. Her primary research interests are nineteenth-century British literature and feminist theory.
WORKS CITED
Jackson, Shirley. The Haunting of Hill House (1959). New York: Penguin, 2018.
The Haunting. Directed by Robert Wise. Argyle Enterprises, 1963.
