 | At a party, Judge Horfield attempts to hold Gay Keane's hand.
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Sir Simon's daughter, Judy, also demonstrates insightful perception. She guesses the extent of Tony's infatuation and the likely affair between the valet Latour and Mrs. Paradine. But her judgment of Mrs. Paradine, like Gay's, is tempered: "No, I don't hope they hang her. I don't like breaking pretty things." The prison matrons, the close-mouthed estate housekeeper, and Lady Justice herself are also established by Hitchcock as judiciously observing the action.
Though these women suffer in their watching, it is hard to categorize their behavior as masochistic. They wait passively while reserving judgment--until they receive a cue to act. Gay explains to Judy: "Just because a man, a husband, fancies another woman, you don't treat him as a criminal. It's very painful, but it's painful for him, too. He's very fond of me and I'd like to keep him so." The long-suffering Sophie Horfield still loves her loathsome husband. She possesses a kind, compassionate spirit. "Who needs pity more than a woman who's sinned?" she says to her husband while pleading for Mrs. Paradine's life. "Doesn't life punish us enough, Tommy, doesn't it? Why must we be cruel to each other?" These women do not enjoy their suffering or seek to increase it; they merely wait and love.
Gay, Judy, and Lady Horfield watch the trial from the gallery, watching the men, particularly Tony and Judge Horfield. They watch Mrs. Paradine and fight to determine the true image of her: murderer or saint. Judge Horfield sadistically enjoys sitting in judgment over a beautiful woman. Tony toils passionately before Mrs. Paradine's image, but he is chastised and unappreciated by Mrs. Paradine, especially for his attempts to implicate the valet Latour in the murder. When he interrogates Mrs. Paradine on the stand about her relationship with Latour, his manner becomes intimate and voyeuristic. When Tony's tactics lead to Latour's suicide, Mrs. Paradine publicly scorns him and then professionally humiliates him with her admittance of guilt. In choosing death, Mrs. Paradine reveals to Tony the truth about herself--and him.
 | Tony bows his head in shame as Mrs. Paradine assails him from the witness stand.
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In her book In the Realm of Pleasure, Gaylyn Studlar asserts that in a patriarchal society, masochistic sacrifice may be the most powerful choice available for a woman. Mrs. Paradine demonstrates Studlar's thesis, that death may be an active choice by a woman who refuses to submit to male judgment and control.
The final scenes show the women trying to rehabilitate and reclaim their husbands. First, Lady Horfield pleads for Mrs. Paradine's life, reminding her husband of her constant love for him--and that he used to be kind. The fact that Lady Horfield has remained loving and compassionate--and not become cynical or hard through her marriage to a brute--is a sign of her personal strength and integrity, not her passivity. In the last scene, Tony is hiding out in disgrace in Sir Simon's office. Gay comes to him, forcing him to see her belief in him: "My husband is the most brilliant man I have ever known," she says. She does not ask for his repentance. She asks that he return to the image of the great man that she has kept constant. To categorize Gay, Lady Horfield, and Mrs. Paradine as merely passive is inaccurate. They can and do act--but not until the appropriate moment.
 | Gay Keane finds her husband hiding in disgrace in Sir Simon's office.
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The male gaze that surrounds Mrs. Paradine, following Tony and Judge Horfield's perspectives, drives the action of the film. But in Hitchcock parlance, that's a McGuffin. The controlling perspective of the film is feminine, which is not surprising in a film where strength of both will and character resides in women. Mrs. Paradine proudly and bravely chooses death because her reason for living is gone. Tony merely goes from being a pawn of Mrs. Paradine to a pawn in the hands of Gay. In the movie's final shot (a close-up), Gay approaches Tony and holds his face in her hands: "Darling, you need a shave," she says.
