Like Bronte’s Rochester, Gregory House is a Romantic Hero. The Romantic Hero is a loner — damaged and wary of people; cynical and melancholy. He is outside the circle — an outcast; introspective and flawed. He is often alienated or isolated and has his own (often quite strong) sense of morality and ethics that is outside the conventional. He is a hero whose heroism is not involved in upholding the social order, but operating outside of it and sometimes in contradiction to it.
In three seasons of House, we have seen Dr. Gregory House at his best and at his worst. It is easy to see his flaws; to see his “badness.” It is especially easy to see because, as written, Gregory House wants us to see those things: his flaws, his anger, bitterness, misanthropy, outrageousness. But like the proverbial onion, all one has to do is peel away one layer, and another appears. It is to catch a glimpse of one of those reveals that is the most appealing part of the character. (Leaving aside, for the moment, the beautiful and expressive eyes of his portrayer, Hugh Laurie.)
We’ve seen from the first very first episode what House is like when he’s not being observed by or interacting with colleagues. With his colleagues, House is guarded in the extreme, callous and brusque; cold. When his staff uncovers a photograph taken of House in an unguarded moment in season three’s “Fetal Position,” they are bewildered. “It almost looks like… he’s caring,” says a perplexed Dr. Allison Cameron. The photograph had been taken by a patient (who was a photographer) while House was attending to her.
House is most unguarded, of course, when he is alone. And it is in those moments we catch a glimpse of who House might be if he was not emotionally or physically “damaged.” House is a man of artistic sensitivity. His apartment is a virtual museum of antique furniture, collectibles, and artwork. His television set is old and small, but he owns an audiophile’s stereo system; a grand piano; multiple musical instruments; and a library of books that eclipses even mine (and I have about 2,000 volumes). That tells you more about House than the fact that he’s into porn or has a thing for General Hospital and Monster Trucks.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Lisa McKay
Barbara, this is a very insightful look at House. I agree with pretty much everything you have to say here, particularly regarding Laurie's skill at portraying a character for whom most of the interesting stuff is either unspoken or simmering just beneath the surface.
Nice work!
2 - Barbara Barnett
Thank you Lisa. Your comments mean a great deal to me as a newbie at BlogCritics.
3 - Josh Lasser
Congratulations! This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States.
4 - Kim
I agree. My sister thinks House is a psychopath (she's a psychologist.) But I'm just a romantic and I see what you see in him. Hugh Laurie and the writers make us love a man that most people would hate in real life!
House has an incredible female fan base of mature, professional women. The forums are filled with lawyers, university professors, doctors, biologists and managers who are all in love with Gregory House. I went to a civic event where the program was being honored and the women(all fans who paid substantial money to be there) at my table were all extremely impressive in their credentials. It's a testament to the character that the writers have created. We just can't help it,we'd all love to be the cure for the naughty doctor's woes.
Well done.
5 - Barbara Barnett
Josh, I am simply blown away. Thank you.
Kim,
You are so right about the female fan base of the show. I have acquired many friends on within the House fan community: doctors, writers (lots of professional writers, interestingly), professors, librarians, etc. Hugh Laurie makes what is, on paper (and I have read several of the scripts), a pretty nasty character into someone with charm, sexiness and intelligence that makes mature, otherwise sane women, into fangirls.
barbara
6 - Grace
I never thought much about why I ADORE HOUSE and HUGH LAURIE.......I just do.
I've always wished, however, that when the series ended, House would be with Stacey and live happily ever after. I have never seen House look at anyone the way he looks at Stacey. He is totally 'open' to her and only her.
And oh how lucky Stacey is. I say that because I, like you, have seen that 'second layer' of House and I hardly see the top layer anymore.
Yes, it's still there, but I don't see it much anymore.
7 - Lin
Wonderful article, Barbara. It really reminds me of all the reasons why I like the character as well as the show so much. For a while there in season 3 I was finding it difficult to watch because it looked like House had lost his streak of humanity. However I still watched it, if only to see Hugh Laurie's masterful performance. I doubt any other actor could do the role justice.
8 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks Grace and Lin for your kind comments.
Grace--It's a testament to Hugh Laurie's acting that he has never, ever reacted to a woman in the same way he reacted to Stacy from the very first glance at her in 3 Stories. She understood him and accepted him for who he was. Ultimately he forgave her for her betrayal and, I'm certain, regretted that he pushed her away.
Lin--I think that more than losing his humanity in Season 3, we saw a character still reeling from being shot; from recovering the use of his leg, and the suddenly losing it again (after he had dared to be hopeful)--and then right on the heels of that trauma, being backed into a corner with Tritter. Looking at House through that lens, I think it's much easier to see beyond House's outward behavior in Season three.
Barbara
9 - Rafael Cordeiro
Hi Barbara
Here I was at the office and decided to read on what people had to say about House and I stumbled across your digression. It was a lot of what I felt already about the character but couldn't put in words. The character is attractive by itself and its traces of character but I guess what makes it truly charming or appealing is the fact that the romantic hero portrayed on the screen or printed in books is much more than a simple individual with martyr like characteristics and admirable features. Also more than its flaws which make him more human and easier to identify with, what really really makes it attractive is that it reflects with no exception what we usually want to flourish in ourselves or cherish when we attempt to let out.
It may seem too abstract or maybe it's a narrow vision of mine, but I guess this stoic stand is common to all of us, this constant struggle to stand up to our moral and sometimes sticking to such moral as an excuse for our own failures and handicaps.
I'm not willing to be too long here, but I wanted to add my 2 cents on why I think this sort of character is so interesting and easy to seduce the viewer, cause it's the one which we identify ourselves most with. It's our worst in our best and vice-versa.
Also, another moment of "humanity" for House, was when he returned the dog to Wilson in season 3 and even after seemingly hurting on purpose and showing clearly he wasn't comfortable with it, he gazes it long as it goes away as if saying goodbye to someone who mattered or whose presence would be missed and immediately shuts himself in the usual tough exterior by taking a vicodin pill and walking away.
Guess I took a lot of space here, sorry, just felt like sharing a bit as well.
Thanks for the article and sorry for a possible bad English/grammar and mispellings..
Rafael Cordeiro
10 - Naika
Very true, Rochester and House...Very true! I think that in season 3 TPTB went a little overboard because House was unbelievably mean, but now I think they are back on track with his character :)
Lets hope that House will have his happy ending like Rochester!:)
11 - Barbara Barnett
but I guess this stoic stand is common to all of us, this constant struggle to stand up to our moral and sometimes sticking to such moral as an excuse for our own failures and handicaps.
I'm not willing to be too long here, but I wanted to add my 2 cents on why I think this sort of character is so interesting and easy to seduce the viewer, cause it's the one which we identify ourselves most with. It's our worst in our best and vice-versa.
Rafael, Thank you for your comments. I agree with you. House's stoicism and consistency with his own ethical boundaries is what makes House appealing not only to women, but to men as well. We see House struggle and endure, but we also see him reach beyond his physical and social limitations, which also makes him heroic.
Naika--When House ultimately ends (and I hope it is on their terms, and not the network's terms) they can go two ways: tragic or happy. Not sure which I'd like better, but hopefully we won't know that for a long time to come ;)
Barbara
12 - Namikwa
Barbara, this is truly beautiful writing and you hit the nail on the head with every sentence. I have given quite some thought to the puzzle why women who are not spring chickens any more on suddenly develop such a major crush on this multi-dimensional personality of Gregory House - I thought that it is sort of like "adolescence meets mid-life-crisis", but now I realize that I am not alone out "there". On one hand, that comforts me to know that there are other maniacs around, but on the other hand, of course, I do not like sharing a lot...LOL.
Anyway, your article is truly a masterpiece. Keep up the great work.
13 - Barbara Barnett
Thanks Namikwa. There are indeed quite a few of us middle aged women who seem to have a thing for Gregory House (though I fear that if he were my doctor, I would be more intimidated than in love.)
I am a constant source of amusement to both my husband and 16 year old son, who insist I'm obsessed. (Who me?)
Regards,
Barbara
14 - Atara Stein
This is really excellent. I think you pretty much covered all the bases. This would be an A- paper. The minus for not going back to Byron's heroes themselves. But since this isn't a paper, it's totally right on and totally rocks!
"Son of Coma Guy" strikes me as a particularly good example of House's own moral code. Once he agrees to the deal that he has to answer a question every time he asks one, he comes through even when the question asked is a very personal one that is horribly painful for House to answer. A Byronic hero usually sticks to his deals.
I actually find Heathcliff of E. Brontë's _Wuthering Heights_ to be more strictly like Byron's own heroes than Rochester (although when Rochester is maimed, I used to like to say he'd been "de-Byronized"). One example of Heathcliff's moral code is in a conversation with Nelly, the housekeeper, about Edgar the husband of his beloved/soulmate, Catherine. He says:
"Had he been in my place, and I in his, though I hated him with a hatred that turned my life to gall, I never would have raised a hand against him. You may look incredulous, if you please! I never would have banished him from her society, as long as she desired his. The moment her regard ceased, I would have torn his heart out, and drank his blood! But, till then--if you don't believe me, you don't know me--till then, I would have died by inches before I touched a single hair of his head!"
House is of course an outlaw as Byronic heroes tend to be, but he's an outlaw in the cause of saving lives. When (blanking on his name) the guy w/ money who takes over the hospital keeps harrassing and trying to get rid of House, House isn't interested in being a flag bearer for hospital independence from people who only want to make money from sick people, he just wants to be left alone.
In some ways we see, as you pointed out, these moments of caring and gently speaking truth to a patient. But in the Tritter arc, he really is literally incapable of seeing beyond his own problems (lack of drugs) to see the utterly devastating effects that protecting him have had on Wilson. Like Heathcliff, and Rochester (oh, minor detail, I'm married already--nah, better not share that w/ her until after we've committed bigamy), and jumping ahead to Gaiman's Dream, Eric Draven of "The Crow" and Angel of the eponymous series, House can never be with the woman he loves. In House and Dream's cases, as with Byron's Manfred, it's b/c he can't see past his own ego and raging self-absorption to consider that she might have needs.
BH's tend to have supernatural powers or quasi-supernatural powers. The Western gunman who never misses. House w/ his intelligence. But they're always torn b/t their superiority complex and the less desolate lives ordinary humans seem to lead. He gets there (in his head) in "Reason," and we see it in the fact that he can't lose Wilson or he'd be devastated. We saw that, one of my favorite examples in "Son of Coma Guy," when Wilson has been berating House for pushing all relationships to the breaking point so he can circularly prove to himself that all r'ships are conditional, and House says, in a line slash fans (myself included) took as a veritable declaration of love: "Maybe I don't want to push this til' it breaks."
He's way larger than life, but that doesn't stop him from being human.
15 - Barbara Barnett
This is really excellent. I think you pretty much covered all the bases. This would be an A- paper. The minus for not going back to Byron's heroes themselves. But since this isn't a paper, it's totally right on and totally rocks!
Thanks much. I am flattered and delighted that someone who's an expert enjoyed my take on House, Atara.
"Son of Coma Guy" strikes me as a particularly good example of House's own moral code. Once he agrees to the deal that he has to answer a question every time he asks one, he comes through even when the question asked is a very personal one that is horribly painful for House to answer. A Byronic hero usually sticks to his deals.
That's a very consistent feature of the character. Once he commits to something, he does honor it. He even tried in Role Model, but his ideals got in the way of that as well, and he couldn't quite bring himself to give that speech for Vogler. None of the people in his sphere really got what he was doing, or why he was so against giving the speech. Foreman assumed it was because he couldn't be "nice." But it was because he couldn't sell out people who would be ripped off by the drug, and couldn't lend his name to the effort for (what he believed was) personal gain.
16 - bliffle
Piffle.
House is no hero. He's a drug-addled mono-maniac who ruthlessly disregards every rule and every person who gets in his way. What you think is noble rebellion is just petulant self-indulgence that you wouldn't put up with for 3 minutes if your 4 year old child did it. What you think is 'morals' or 'ethics' is nothing more than monomania expressed as a deadly consistency. He betrays every trust.
Sure, women go all gooey over him because they desire a hero who will slay their enemies and ensconce them in a luxurious lifestyle. And, of course, submit to their every wish; better, anticipate their every wish. So they fantasize House falling hopelessly in love with them, and even going so far as to remember their anniversary. Not very noble.
Men do the same thing, they just don't gush over it. But the homo-erotic subtext of conventional superhero stories has been written about extensively before.
Such fantasies always end up in disaster. It's a well-worn path.
17 - Akatechon
A very well written piece of character analysis, I'm pretty sure the creative team would enjoy your appraisal, as that's exactly what they want to hear you say. Contented viewers, especially of the female variety, are a show's bread and butter, lose them and it's Medical drama convention time (wonders if this actually such thing, MEDCON, coming to an sports hall near you)
Seems to me, that as you rightly quote, everybody lies, and the fourth wall is mauch narrower than you might think in the show...there are plenty of 'for the audience' moments through the various seasons, when it is apparent that the the Character is talking straight at the viewer, intentionally. I fear that the actual roots of Dr. Greg might go a lot deeper..I mean sure, he wants to be seen as a wounded 19th century literary type, full of depth & pathos (although what's he actually being is a revivalist interpretatin of a 13th century knight's tale), who wouldn't, it give's his existence grounding and meaning and fights off the reality that he's a middle age dude with a duff leg and a credit bill full of .com addresses and personal transactions, and that line just doesn't work on the chicks.
One thing I've never understood in the show was his childhood, quite often it seems a little shoehorned in when they've brought it up, like they weren't really sure about his backstory, fill in the blanks and the mysterious stranger no longer has any mystery, or appeal, I guess. His approach to Miltary types has been uneven at best , so no real Daddy issues to speak of, and his obvious distain for (in his eyes) pointless authority in general just seems like the average intellectual...I'm not quite sure why they get thrown in, other than to show, that like his leg, and his relationship history, that they are red herrings in the net. At one point in an episode (I don't recall which) someone ask Cuddy what he was like before the leg, to which the answer comes 'still a jerk'...House appears addicted to his misery, unlike the Romantic Hero who is inevitably by way of plt inclusion destined to be saved, House can't be, as if the character knows that if he was...he would cease to exist.
18 - Barbara Barnett
I mean sure, he wants to be seen as a wounded 19th century literary type, full of depth & pathos (although what's he actually being is a revivalist interpretation of a 13th century knight's tale), who wouldn't, it gives his existence grounding and meaning and fights off the reality that he's a middle age dude with a duff leg and a credit bill full of .com addresses and personal transactions, and that line just doesn't work on the chicks.
The knight errant. But I don't think House attempts this facade himself. That pathos and depth is not for his audience (colleagues at Princeton Plainsboro). We see them when he's alone. He does not address the audience (even metaphorically), since those scenes rarely have any dialogue at all. They are silences and opportunities for the audience to be voyeurs to his pain. It's not the fourth wall that has vanished or thinned, it's that we get to be the fly on the wall (inside the fourth wall--behind the proscenium arch of the camera).
One thing I've never understood in the show was his childhood, quite often it seems a little shoehorned in when they've brought it up, like they weren't really sure about his back story, fill in the blanks and the mysterious stranger no longer has any mystery, or appeal, I guess. His approach to Military types has been uneven at best , so no real Daddy issues to speak of, and his obvious disdain for (in his eyes) pointless authority in general just seems like the average intellectual...I'm not quite sure why they get thrown in, other than to show, that like his leg, and his relationship history, that they are red herrings in the net
His background has been revealed in glimpses. A childhood spent around the world--from that we can infer that he has never "settled" in a home community. This probably has shaped his "outsider looking in" aspect of his persona. I think his back story is anything but shoehorned. He was abused by an overly harsh military father. his disdain for authority probably stems from that and other bits of upbringing. Even being a bit of a "march to his own drummer" type living within the closed ranks of military family life (especially the marines). I would agree that House has many beliefs of a an intellectual, but he couches his persona into an anti-intellectual stance.
As far as Cuddy's comments, I don't think House was "always like that." I think she saw what House wanted her to see, and that Wilson is the more reliable narrator of that aspect of House's life. He's raised it a couple of times, how House fell apart after Stacy left and was left to "pick up the pieces."
19 - A Reader
You make Gregory House sound like more than a romantic hero - he's the perfect man. Honestly, i think so too..Thank you for this, i loved it.
20 - Barbara Barnett
You make Gregory House sound like more than a romantic hero - he's the perfect man. Honestly, i think so too..Thank you for this, i loved it.
Thanks for the kind words. Like romantic heroes do, House is certainly flawed, but it's part of his charm. If he was perfect, we'd all hate him ;)
barbara
21 - Mahwash
Interesting. Although I don't altogether agree with him being as Byronic as it may have been accepted by the adolescent population of the world. In any case, he does provide the cynical, bitter half of the world with a reason to grin and a connection that isn't found in most of the nitwits we see saving the world and prancing in costumes. House - is almost real.
22 - Steve Engel
Watching Jose Ferrer in "Cyrano de Bergerac" tonight, I realized: that's Gregory House! That same caustic, insouciant, insulting, brilliant, wounded, unerring, inventive, engaging, demanding, offensive, comic, self-mocking, deceitful . . . (well, you get the idea: House is modeled on Cyrano)
23 - bliffle
Also, House is modeled on Philoctetes, the hero of the Trojan War whose archery was required to win, but whose old stinking wound made him repellant to society.
24 - kelly
I LIKE IT BECAUSE IT IS CUTE AND FUN TO PLAY WITH IT IS REAL COOL.
LOVE,
KELLY
25 - Jane
I watched "Role Model" for the first time today (just bought the Season 1 DVDs) and realized just how spot-on your analysis is. The speech he gives and the way he gives it, obviously struggling, are amazing. And then Cameron sums it up: "You asked me why I like you. You’re abrasive and rude, but I figured everything you do, you do it to help people. But I was wrong. You do it because it’s right." Wow.