Throughout Hitchcock’s film, Rear Window, we see many situations, people, and relationships going on in the apartments that surround Jeffries’ window. I think that each of the stories unfolding in these apartments reflect Jeffries’ insecurities about marriage and his relationship with Lisa. She is the upper-class, designer label type of woman and Jeffries just doesn’t feel like their relationship is realistic in a marriage sense. Jeffries also can’t see her as the adventurous type that he imagines himself with, which does not help when they argue about getting married. I also believe that through observing these situations with the neighbors, especially the murder in the Thorwald’s apartment, he is able to let some things go and accept the fact that no girl or marriage is going to be perfect.
Being a domesticated husband does not seem to be something that Jeffries is particularly fond of becoming, so when he observes certain neighbors, his firm stance against marriage becomes stronger. The extremely uneventful life of the couple with the dog has him believing that marriage is going leave him content with boredom and I think that really scares him because of the active, traveling lifestyle he has as a photographer. I also think that seeing how the women treat the men in this film makes Jeffries uneasy about choosing one woman to be with for the rest of his life. The young couple seem really happy at first (especially when they have the blinds drawn and are celebrating their fresh, new marriage) but things don’t stay that way for long, as Jeffries observes the wife take on the nagging role like another woman in the film- Mrs. Thorwald.
The Thorwalds have a particularly interesting relationship and Jeffries seems to be very intrigued by it. Mrs. Thorwald is a bedridden, nagging wife to Mr. Thorwald and he eventually becomes sick of her. Come to find out, just as Jeffries suspected, the frustrated husband kills his nagging wife. This lifestyle is definitely not appealing to Jeffries at all.
The single neighbors in the film also help Jeffries to reflect upon his relationship with Lisa and the idea of settling down. I feel like both the dancer and Miss Lonelyhearts (as Jeffries named her) give him a negative view of women. The dancer seems to have a very open personality, often dancing in front of large, open windows, and hosting parties that only men ever attend. Miss Lonelyhearts is just depressing, often loathing in self-pity, and even contemplates suicide at one point in the film. The women seem to be very frustrating and unstable, and that makes Jeffries uncomfortable with the whole idea of being around one for the rest of his life.
With all of this being said, I believe that by Jeffries constantly watching his neighbors during his time in a cast actually opened up his eyes in a positive way, despite the negative personalities and situations that occur with his neighbors. When Lisa finally buys into Jeffries suspicion of Mr. Thorwald being a murderer, he sees the sense of adventure in Lisa and his eyes are really opened up to the idea of being with her. We see Jeffries look at her in a completely new way when she scales the wall into the Thorwald apartment; he also shows great concern when she gets caught. At the end of the film, we see Jeffries and Lisa sitting very happily inside of his apartment and I think it is evident that marriage has become a plausible idea in his eyes.
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