Of Human Bondage

Philip, Paul Henreid, is an impoverished, clubfooted, failed artist who is studying medicine in London, sustained by a trust from a wealthy uncle for his tuition. In his first encounter with Mildred, a waitress, he notices that she seems uninterested and perhaps even coarse in his eyes, yet his wounded pride drives him to chase her and try to spark a spark where there once seemed none. He invites her to the theatre, hoping for a change in fortune and feeling, but he quickly discovers that his funds are limited, and his efforts to win her over deplete what little he has. The date collapses, a bitter argument follows, and Mildred appears to drift away, seemingly off to marry one of her regular customers, a man named Miller. For a moment, Philip feels a strange sense of relief at being freed from an emotional bind that has stubbornly held him.

Mildred’s absence does not seal his fate, however. He soon rekindles a relationship with Norah Nesbitt, Alexis Smith, an author he had met during a visit to France. It becomes clear to Norah that her love is returned by something only as friendship, not the deeper passion she longs for. The story grows more complicated when Mildred’s life takes another turn: she becomes pregnant, and Miller, the married man she had gravitated toward, has abandoned her. Philip, moved by a sense of responsibility, decides to help her and even considers marrying her and adopting the baby. To bolster his resolve, he introduces Mildred to Harry Griffiths, Patric Knowles — a handsome, charming friend who eventually entrances Mildred and draws her away from Philip’s plans, complicating the emotional landscape even further.

As Philip tries to navigate this web, he forms a genuine bond with Athelny, [Edmund Gwenn], one of his patients. He becomes a regular at the Athelny family’s Sunday dinners, a social ritual that broadens his world beyond London’s hospital wards and his own ambitions. Through these dinners, he catches the attention of Athelny’s oldest daughter, Sally, Janis Paige, who finds herself drawn to the quiet, thoughtful, and empathetic young man. Meanwhile, Philip notices Mildred again in a precarious state on the streets and offers her and her baby a place to stay. The relationship that develops is deliberately platonic, a choice that only fuels Mildred’s growing fury as she perceives a lack of romantic interest from him. Her jealousy blooms as Philip steadfastly resists her attempts at physical intimacy, and she lashes out, burning his money and trashing his apartment.

The repercussions of these events drive Philip toward illness; he contracts pneumonia and is cared for by Griffiths, the same friend who had previously helped him understand Mildred’s allure. Griffiths eventually takes him to the hospital charity ward, where Mildred lies dying. The burden of Philip’s obsession begins to ease as Mildred’s death marks a hard, final punctuation to that chapter of his life. In the quiet aftermath, Philip returns to Sally, choosing a future that moves away from the storm of his earlier passions and toward a different, steadier connection she represents. Through loss, shift, and reconciliation, the narrative traces how desire, pride, responsibility, and friendship pull a man toward a new chapter while leaving behind the fragments of a once consuming fixation.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 09:34