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Mr. Doran sees himself as a victim. He agonizes about the limitations and loss of respect that marrying beneath him will bring, but he ultimately relents out of fear of social critique from his priest, his employer, Mrs. Mooney, and Polly’s violent brother. When Polly visits him in distress he feels as helpless as she does, even though he tells her not to worry. He goes through the motions of what society expects of him, not according to what he intuitively feels. When he descends the stairs to meet with Mrs. Mooney, he yearns to escape but knows no one is on his side. The “force” that pushes him down the stairs is a force of anxiety about what others will think of him. While Mr. Doran’s victimization by Mrs. Mooney evokes some pity, his self-concern and harsh complaints about Polly’s unpolished background and manner of speaking make him an equal counterpart to Mrs. Mooney. He worries little about Polly’s integrity or feelings, and instead considers the fallout as it pertains to him—he sees only his years of hard work and good reputation, now verging on destruction. Additionally, at no point in the narrative does he take responsibility for the situation that he and Polly have found themselves in even though he is the one who seduced her in the first place.
