alright alright alright I need to just talk about harry “dr.” “dr. bae” “that maryann” goodsir so pull up a fuckin chair and sit tf down for some cozy existential character analysis.
a lot of fandom seems to characterize him as a trembling lamb and, while I cannot dispute his naivete, I would also like to point out that a “wet behind the ears” greenhorn is just Gonna Be Like That. not to mention one who so clearly cares deeply about helping people, about learning and extending empathy and sympathy to others.
through the episodes we see him go from this bright-eyed cheery and compassionate man to a man taking That Ring from a dead man in the same way hickey did in the first episode (shoutouts to this post that sums it up way better than I could)--a man who will not disguise the horrors of continued lead poisoning/malnutrition to Billy. He went from a man who at the beginning, hesitated out of respect for Young to cut him open for a post mortem examination, and at the end of the series simply responds “good” when asked to examine Irving’s stomach.
in the book and even in the series, we see evidence that he was not actually liked. (also please see this post here for an amazing interpretation of macdonald calling him ‘doctor’.) but even just in the series alone, we see time and again him trying to put himself out there, trying to offer his keen observations, only to be rebuffed and brushed aside. (I would also like to offer my own observation--that scene in 1x02, ‘Gore’, where he’s staring off in the distance as if he sees something. This series is so chalk full of dramatic irony that I can’t help but think this is another example of Harry’s observations going unseen if not outright disregarded by others, but maybe I’m reaching here.)
anyway, what I’m saying with all this is that he keeps trying. he keeps pushing and he keeps being compassionate and even at the end, even when he has lost hope of his own humanity as a healer, a surgeon, a doctor, he gives himself up to the seemingly inevitable. and even when he is bitter, he is becoming calloused, he is never cruel. (hell, in the book he goes down into the ship to help the men despite the danger of the tuunbaq, and later describes cutting up men to the mutineers until they’re ill.)
those are not signs of a weak man, but a strong one. a man growing out of his naivete, and although pushed to commit acts he despises, he never gives in to violence. yes, he poisons himself to poison the mutineers (that’s another rant for another day), but he still cannot bring himself to bring direct harm even to the people who arguably most deserve it.
goodsir is not weak; he is a man with principles opposed to the norms around him and despite all opposition--despite passive and active ridicule, despite being ignored and dismissed, despite being very much alone--he still tries his best to carry them to the very end.
that’s strong af and I will DIE on this hill. thx for coming to my tedtalk.
