Vanessa Ives quotes from Penny Dreadful

They send their girls to me, but for this very service they despise me. So it is always for those who do for women. Old as I am, I know nothing. Why people in this world hate what is not them. Why they fear all they don't know. Why they hate themselves most of all - for being weak, for being old, for being everything altogether that is not godlike. Which of us can be that? Monsters all, are we not?

Vanessa

Some perhaps more than others.

Is that what you feel?

Vanessa

Yes.

Then it will be true, as long as you feel it so.

Vanessa

[clothes shopping for Lily] Good morning. Vanessa Ives, pleased to meet you.

Mr. and Mrs. Ives.

Victor

Oh God, no! No, we're not married.

Oh, I see.

Victor

No, it's not like that either.

I assure you, sir, discretion is the watch-cry of my trade.

Vanessa

We'll look around for a bit if we may, my non-husband and I. [they walk away]

Victor

This is worse than I knew it was going to be.

Victor

You know, once I would have thought all of this impossible.

Vanessa

And now?

Victor

I know nothing's impossible. Whatever we can imagine, far worse is true.

Vanessa

And far better.

Victor

You think so?

Vanessa

I choose to.

Malcolm

How do we protect ourselves?

Vanessa

There is lore to ward off witches.

And rituals.

Ethan

And sturdy locks. And a shit load of weapons.

John Clare

Do you like poetry?

Vanessa

All sad people like poetry. Happy people like songs.

Victor

My cousin and I... it's not without its complications. That's what they call the workings inside of watches. Did you know that? The intricate gears and mechanisms. Complications.

Vanessa

Then enjoy them, doctor. They will tick away no matter what we do.

Dorian

I come bearing an adventure.

Vanessa

When do you not?

A dizzying panorama, isn't it? All the toys of love are out of the box, scattered around the floor.

Vanessa

And at the end of the night, to be carefully put away. These terrible games.

And do you ever play? Or only spectate?

Vanessa

I never learned the rules. The complications, as Dr. Frankenstein said to me, like the workings in a watch.

Ethan

All those things that mark you when you're young... that make you what you are. Never escape them. They just wait, don't they?

Vanessa

What?

Ethan

The monsters inside us.

Vanessa

Monsters?

Ethan

What would you call them?

Vanessa

For me... demons. But one word is much like another.

Ethan

And when they're released?

Vanessa

We're most who we are. Unrestrained. Ourselves.

Ethan

You will not die while I'm here. You will not surrender while I live. If I have one goddamned purpose in my cursed life it's that.

Vanessa

You are one man.

Ethan

More than that and you know it. We are not like others. We have claws for a reason.

Ethan

Do you know what it is... to walk with someone's body tied around your neck for the rest of your goddamn life? Do you know what that is, little girl? Let me tell you about it. First time is hard. I'm sure you cried a bit, didn't you? Don't worry, that'll pass. Second time is easier. Third time, you don't blink. Then it's all just repetition. You don't cry anymore. You don't even remember when you used to cry. You're alive and they're dead. Fuck 'em.

Vanessa

Stop it!

Ethan

You'll never get your soul back. Do you know that?

Vanessa

[quietly] Yes.

Ethan

Welcome to the night, Vanessa.

Vanessa

You are a repellent creature.

You don't know the half of it.

Vanessa

[about her straitjacket] How long do I have to wear this?

Until Dr. Banning decides.

Vanessa

Decides what?

If you're dangerous.

Vanessa

I am. Don't you think I'm dangerous?

I think you're ill.

Vanessa

I'm not ill!

Then what are you?

It's not torture, what they're doing. It's science. It's meant to make you better.

Vanessa

It's meant to make me normal, like all the other women you know. Compliant. Obedient. A cog in an intricate social machine. No more.

I couldn't say, miss.

Vanessa

Couldn't you?

Not all the women I know are cogs.

Vanessa

Then they're freaks.

My wife's not a freak and she's not a cog. You should think better of your sex.

Miss Ives, if you don't start showing signs of improvement, he'll turn to surgery.

Vanessa

Let him.

You don't know what you're saying.

Vanessa

I'll sing as he cuts me open.

Listen to me! They'll start by cutting your hair off and shaving your head. Then they'll sedate you. Then they'll strap you to a table. Then he'll use a drill to open up your skull. It's not a medical thing - it's a drill for woodworking. Then he'll put a clamp on your skull and crack it open. Then he'll start cutting things out. I see the results. That's where my job starts again. You'll have lost the ability to control your body. You'll shit and piss yourself, and I'll clean it up. If you're lucky, that part will come back to you, but not much else, if I'm honest. Sometimes, they can't open their eyes or hear. It varies. Do you know what they are, all of them? A broken thing. Not a tiger, not a flower, not a clump of earth, not even a blade of grass. Miss Ives, you have to get better! [she shakes her head] Then pretend! Be like everyone else. Do what he wants you to do!

Vanessa

I've tried.

Is it that important to be different? To have such specialness inside you?

Vanessa

Would you want your son to be anything but what he is?

I want him to be happy.

Vanessa

What if he's not? Would you want him to pretend?

[pause] No.

Vanessa

Then don't ask it of me.