In the opening sentence of The Bell, Iris Murdoch presents Dora Greenfield as a weak, timorous character, stating 'left her husband because she was afraid of him'. This makes her appear somewhat of a victim who is incapable of standing up to people, especially as Murdoch then informs us that she returned to him shortly after 'for the same reason'. Murdoch makes it clear that Dora is trapped in her relationship, talking of his 'haunting' …showed first 75 words of 1801 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1801 total…This illustrates Dora's incredible resilience, and despite all Paul's disapproval such as towards her outfits, which she thinks he considers her 'the tiniest bit vulgar, has remained strong and silently fighting back with supportive thoughts to herself. It also suggests that during the six months that she spent away from Paul, she gained the self-knowledge that she previously 'lacked', rather than accepting the 'child-wife', 'juvenile' image that Paul holds of her and she previously believed.