We Make Her Paint Her Face And Dance: The Knick
The TV show Penny Dreadful deals with the same Gothic horrors of the cheaply printed magazines from whence it derives its name; the “penny dreadful” was popular in the UK during the 19th century and detailed “the exploits of detectives, criminals, or supernatural entities.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, there is a seemingly unending wave of non-fictional problems with which to contend. The Knick is set in the first couple of years of the 20th century, less than a decade after the time period during which Penny Dreadful takes place. While much of The Knick deals with the kinds of medical maladies from which many suffered (and died)---late-stage syphilis, typhoid, meningitis, hernias, botched abortions---there are plenty of other less life-threatening ones to go around.
When Dr. Algernon Edwards starts to have blurred vision, he gets a diagnosis from a fellow physician and discovers he has a detached retina. But this is 1901 and the first vitrectomy wouldn’t be successfully performed for another 70 years (to say nothing of laser surgery, which wouldn’t be performed until the 1980s).
Season 2 of The Knick also reminds us that if we think mental illness is misunderstood today and that those who suffer from it are considered pariahs, it used to be far worse. Forget about doctors at a clinic treating Dr. Thackery for cocaine addiction by getting him hooked on heroin. Eleanor Gallinger has a mental breakdown after her child dies and in her grief and confusion, kills an newly adopted orphan; the prescription iso lock her up and remove all of her teeth. There are no dental implants for Mrs. Gallinger, despite her wealth. She must settle for teeth gathered from bodies at the morgue, along with a lisp and the constant fear that they will fall out.
Meanwhile, Lucy Elkins tries to save her soul by confessing her sins (premarital sex with a doctor as well as sex with a pimp in exchange for drugs for said doctor) to her preacher father only to be rewarded with a vicious beating. Mrs. Chickering has a tumor growing in her esophagus that will probably kill her but neither her husband nor her doctor share the diagnosis with her.
The very white and exceedingly high-society Cornelia Robertson, after having to secretly and illegally terminate a pregnancy due to her affair with an African-American, must now contend with an aggressively pro-life husband and his lecherous father. Sister Harriet, the Irish nun who performed Cornelia’s abortion (along with dozens of others), is on trial for her actions. In jail, she’s visited by her former Mother Superior who insults and disowns her. In the courtroom, the judge not only condemns her immorality but also rants about the evils of immigrants.
This isn’t to say that the characters on Penny Dreadful don’t have their own share of problems. Much like Sister Harriett, the Cut Wife of Ballantrae Moor performed the abortions that women wanted and was then spit upon and cast out for doing so. Vanessa Ives escaped the clutches of not only a coven of nasty witches, but the Devil himself, along the way being beaten, trepanned, burned, and threatened with rape and murder.
Despite the difference in the nature of the things that plague the characters on these shows, one thing is clear: the turn of the century was not a good time to be a woman.