The Silent Patient

The Silent Patient

by

Alex Michaelides

The Silent Patient: Part 2, Chapter 31 Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Theo arrives at the Grove and hears a woman screaming. He worries that Alicia has been hurt. But in fact it is Elif, bleeding from her eye. Quickly, Theo realizes that Alicia has stabbed her with a paintbrush. And when he turns to see Alicia, she is completely still, motionless, like in the self-portrait Alcestis. For the first time, Theo begins to feel afraid of her.
There is great symbolic weight in the fact that Alicia commits violence with a paintbrush. In addition to being a vehicle of communication, Alicia’s art is also a way she expresses her rage—punishing Lydia, her mother, and Gabriel with her disdainful portraits. Is the Alcestis, then, a kind of self-harm, in which she attacks herself the same way she goes after Elif or Lydia or her other subjects?
Themes
Tragedy and Destiny Theme Icon
Honesty vs. Deception Theme Icon
Silence vs. “The Talking Cure” Theme Icon