Poor Things

Content Warning: This section discusses suicide and non-consensual medical experimentation.



Godwin does not know how to answer Bella’s question. He sweats and trembles, but eventually he and McCandless tell Bella that her unborn child was killed in the accident that robbed her of her memory. This was what Bella suspected. She weeps, embracing Godwin and falling asleep in his arms. McCandless, overcome with jealousy, sits next to Bella and rests his head on her shoulder.

An hour later, Bella awakens. She eats some food, which restores her so much that she starts to look younger. She reflects that Godwin could not have told her about her dead baby before her adventure with Duncan, because she was still a child. Now, she knows about the suffering of the world. She insists that the three of them work together to improve the world; Godwin tells her that she cannot help others until she learns to be independent.

Bella decides to become a doctor. Scottish universities will soon start accepting women as medical students. In the meantime, Bella enrolls as a trainee nurse at the Glasgow infirmary, assisting Godwin. She decides to become a doctor for women, especially mothers and sex workers.