The Doctor
Dr. Rock is a goofy choice for a name in light of all the history that has passed since Thomas wrote this work. But it wasn’t intended to be so. The name is intended to connote strength and a certain hard-headedness by the end. Just in case that doesn’t come across through the name, the author cements the conception of his character through introductory imagery. Dr. Rock:
“…wielded his stick like a prophet’s staff…deep-set eyes behind the large spectacles; the wide sensual mouth tightened into its own denial; the wild fringes of hair blowing from under the sides of the stiff hat-rim; the coffin-shaped forehead; the insatiable, and even predatory, curiosity of the bent-forward head.”
The Devils
You’ve met the doctor and the author describes him in stage directions. As for the devils of the title, let the doctor handle that job. It is simply more efficient: it tells you about the devils and also about the doctor:
“Do not suppose for a moment that, even after dinner and in one of those mellow, argumentative moods in which one would try to prove that black is white or that politicians are incorruptible, I regard the Resurrectionists [graverobbers] as anything but the vicious human vermin of the gutters of the city; in fact, a pack of devils. But as the law says `No’ to our need, to the need of progressive science, so up crawl these creatures to satisfy that need against the Law. The same applies to every city, though ours is rather more fortunate than most; it is full of perverted blackguards.”
The Orator
Rock is more than mere doctor. He is a true orator. The man simply has a way with words. Well, that is clear enough from the imagery above: gravediggers are perverted, devilish vermin. Whew! But Dr. Rock can also build up just as powerfully as he can tear down. Especially on the subject of anatomical research where he appeals specifically to imagery to make his case:
“To think is dangerous. The majority of men have found it easier to writhe their way into the parasitical bureaucracy, or the droop into the slack ranks of the ruled. I beg you all to devote your lives to danger; I pledge you to adventure; I command you to experiment. Remember that the practice of Anatomy is absolutely vital to the progress of medicine.”
That’s the equivalent of a rousing half-time speech by the coach during the big game. Powerful and convincing. Also, of course, exactly the same of kind of thinking which leads to his downfall.
Stage Directions
The Doctor and the Devils is half dialogue and half prose. It often reads like a novel or, more accurately, a novel written like a poem. One would have to search long and hard to find stage directions as evocatively poetic as that which is strewn throughout the text. This is just one example of many that are miniature masterpieces of imagery:
“Gathering dusk.
We hear the thin, high singing of the wind in the street.
And, in the background, the sound of the voices of children drifting through the dusk.
Rock, from a grey distance, is walking towards us along the street. He is cloaked, top-hatted.
And as he comes closer to us a little girl…grimed from the gutters of the city, her dress is thin and ragged; one should is naked.”
