Throughout Hitchcock’s career, he created a number of different kinds of female leads. Some being incredibly active and influential characters, like Madeleine/Judy in "Vertigo," and some who basically just stand there and let the plot develop around them, like Daisy in "The Lodger." The importance and relevance of the female characters progress in a linear pattern, with each character becoming significantly more dynamic than the previous. Alice is able to make a decision; she acts in a way that seriously affects the outcome of the film whereas Daisy lets the actions happen to and around her. Following Alice we see Charlie who is able to not only be an active character but she’s also able to act on her accord. She’s able to take care of the situation on her own as opposed to going to a man for help. Finally there’s Judy/Madeleine who has the most control out of any of the other women. She has knowledge that the men in the movie do not and she completely drives the plot. The women do progress but I think more importantly Hitchcock adapts and begins to see women as powerful and more complex.

In "The Lodger," Daisy and the Lodger develop a flirtation early in the plot even though she’s basically engaged to Joe the police officer. It’s so hard to relate to Daisy or to feel like she has any voice because she just lets the two demonstrate their affection without showing any real preference. The audience has no idea what’s in her head or how she feels about the Lodger and Joe. The scene where Joe lovingly cuts the cookie dough into heart shapes makes it very clear to the audience how he feels about Daisy but not so much how Daisy feels about him. She hardly shows any sort of reaction either way; she’s practically indifferent. Then when the lodger finally kisses Daisy for the first time her reaction is similar; there’s no apparent lust but there’s also no fear or discomfort. We know that he’s very interested in her because throughout the first part of the film he would stare longingly, almost creepily, at Daisy. Daisy, however showed no affection either way; she let him act upon her instead of demonstrating her own voice. Daisy’s main purpose throughout the film is to make the lodger appear frightening to the audience. Hitchcock wants us to fear for Daisy but only in the context of the lodger. Without the presence of the lodger, Daisy would become completely disposable.

In "Blackmail," the leading female, Alice, is forced to deal with a moral issue but Hitchcock gives her no way of expressing it. Alice makes it clear from the beginning of the film that she wants to be a liberated woman. She doesn’t like that she’s tied down to Frank and she’s looking for some adventure. That’s why she takes advantage of the Artist’s offer to come up to his mysterious and exciting studio apartment. Things become uncomfortable very quickly and soon Alice is put in a dangerous situation where she absolutely must make a decision. The moment when she murders the artist is a major turning point for her character. Up until then Alice had some power; she decided to go off with the artist and she decided to leave Frank behind and no one was controlling her actions.

As soon as Alice murders the artist she becomes passive and silenced. This very traumatic and personal experience becomes Frank’s business and suddenly Alice has no say in what happened. However, Alice tries to resist the silence by attempting to accept responsibility. She goes to the courthouse fully prepared to turn herself in but is interrupted by the news of Tracy’s death. The fact that Alice tried to use her agency still puts her ahead of Daisy who didn’t even know she had agency. Alice tried to be outspoken and free herself from her guilt and pain but she never got the opportunity, instead she was forced to laugh it off. By the end of the film Alice isn’t given a chance to come to terms with the rape/murder and it doesn’t seem like she ever will.

Daisy and Alice are similar in the fact that they both want bigger and better things. We’re given a little more insight into what Alice wants because she makes an active decision to go pursue the artist while Daisy stands passively by as the Lodger makes all the moves. It’s interesting however that at the end of the day Daisy ends up with the bigger and better life and Alice, who tried to create a new life for herself, ends up exactly where she started. Alice ends up not only silenced but also living with a great deal of pain, unable to open up about it. This might be Hitchcock’s way of showing the audience what happens when young women think they deserve more.

In the next film, "Shadow of a Doubt," Hitchcock gives his female lead much more power and initiative. Charlie, like Daisy and Alice before her, wants something more from her life. The first time we are introduced to her she is lying in bed dreaming about a life outside of her family system. She loves and respects her mother but still feels like something is missing and thinks that she can find what she’s looking for in her Uncle Charlie. When Uncle Charlie arrives the audience is aware that he is on the run and has probably committed murder yet we know how important he is to little Charlie. Although it’s the detectives who first suggest that Uncle Charlie is guilty it’s little Charlie who takes the initiative to solve the case. Little Charlie, while trapped in her stereotypical family in the ideal town of Santa Rosa, and against her desire for her suspicions to not be true, does indeed investigate the crime. Hitchcock allows her to take over the trajectory of the plot and eventually overcome Uncle Charlie.

The scene where Charlie takes it upon herself to run down to the library alone at night, without anyone, knowing is a major turning point for her character. The audience knows how much she loves Uncle Charlie and how conflicted she must feel, yet she takes action and ultimately solves the mystery. What’s more is that she then withholds her knowledge from the detectives and tries to take care of the situation on her own. In Blackmail the police got involved immediately and took away all of Alice’s power as opposed to Charlie who is able to hold onto her power for a little bit longer.

Little Charlie is able to overcome Uncle Charlie but not her initial desire for life outside of her family system. Uncle Charlie dies before his crimes are exposed to the public and because of that everyone mourns him as a beloved son of Santa Rosa. Little Charlie still holds onto her power even after Uncle Charlie is dead because she’s the only one who knows the truth about him. Little Charlie makes the decision to withhold this information from her mother as a way protecting her. She wants her mother to forever see Uncle Charlie as a loving, charismatic, beacon of hope, just as she once had. Little Charlie is still silenced, similarly to how Alice was silenced before her, except this time Charlie is the one choosing not to speak. Little Charlie is ultimately silenced by her love for her mother. And at the end of the day, little Charlie still knows the truth about Uncle Charlie and that alone gives her more power than any of the other women.

Finally, in "Vertigo" we are introduced to Judy/Madeleine, the most complicated and well-developed of Hitchcock’s female leads. Hitchcock embraces the power of femininity and uses it to create his most effective and alluring femme fatale. Not only does he embrace femininity but he also questions what it means to be a woman, especially when you’re subjected to the male gaze. Judy/Madeleine is such an effective and mysterious female lead because she is actually in control of the plot the entire time, whether we know it or not. As Judy she completely manipulates both the audience and Scotty into thinking she’s a possessed and suicidal woman. Although it’s initially a man who hires her to play this role it’s really up to Judy to follow through. It’s Judy who makes Scotty fall in love with Madeleine and it’s Judy who follows through on the suicide mission.

In the last third of the film, when Madeleine comes back as Judy, she has a completely different kind of power. The audience is finally filled in on her identity but she still keeps it a secret from Scotty as a way of protecting herself. At this point she’s no longer playing the role of Madeleine but she’s also struggling to figure out who Judy really is. She let’s Scotty back into her life and even lets him remake her back into Madeleine because she’s so desperate for his love. However, what she really wants is for Scotty to love her for herself. Judy keeps letting men “create” her and by doing so slowly begins to lose sight of herself. Judy finally learns that the fantasy creature is the woman who Scotty loves and with that realization she loses control of her identity. We know that she fell in love with Scotty and will do anything to win his love back even if that means letting him dress her up as Madeleine. She is still in control of the situation because she knows way more than Scotty. The power only shifts when she puts on her Madeleine necklace and allows Scotty to solve the mystery.

In the final scene of the film we return to the monastery where the murder of Madeleine had previously occurred. At this point Judy has been transformed back into Madeleine and Scotty is putting all of the pieces together. This scene perfectly mirrors the death of the real Madeleine, so much so that when Judy/Madeleine falls to her death it almost makes sense. Scotty tried to bring Madeleine back to life through Judy and by doing so he was forced to watch Madeleine die all over again. It’s hard to imagine Judy is actually dead because the only woman we’ve seen die is Madeleine; the only thing dead about Judy is her identity.