Gregory House M.D.
By Liza Stasco.
Spoilers ahead:
“I can never forgive him for what he did to his Mother!”
House: “Did he steal her signature look?”
Such snarky comments are ever so common for Doctor Gregory House (Hugh Laurie), who, for the better part of the show, spends his time inhaling Vicodin, indulging in excessive sarcasm, and being one of the best doctors at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. House is far from the model of a loving, compassionate doctor with bedside manners, but he isn’t here to hold hands — he’s here to solve cases, save lives, and get on with his day.
Gregory House, called by his last name even by the closest of friends, is the head of the Diagnostic Department at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital located in Princeton, New Jersey. He is dually specialised in Nephrology and Infectious Diseases. House is more than just a simple doctor. He enters patients’ houses (no pun intended!) without consent, thrives under his boss Lisa Cuddy’s criticism, and derives sadistic pleasure from being hated by his patients. Despite multiple charges of malpractice, substance abuse, a trip to the psych ward, and a personality that would drive anyone mad, House is a genius who saved hundreds of lives. It’s not like he cares about that anyway.
For House, medicine isn’t just about saving lives, but about life and death. It’s about figuring out the cause of illnesses like it’s that morning’s crossword puzzle. Unlike his more empathetic colleagues, Wilson, Cameron, and even Cuddy, House is unbothered about the patient’s outcome. He must solve the puzzle at anyone’s expense.
“I take risks. Sometimes patients die. But not taking risks causes more patients to die—so I guess my biggest problem is I’ve been cursed with the ability to do the math.”
Cynicism is one of the distinguishing characteristics of this sardonic doctor. Due to a muscle infarction when he was forty (as a result of a clot left untreated), the muscles in his leg suffered necrosis. House was left partially paralysed and in need of a cane. His cane is a literal embodiment of the hardships he carries, from parental abuse to his actual disability. House is a sensitive man clouded underneath a veil of Vicodin, which he relentlessly abuses to drown out both his physical pain and his feelings. He’s a jerk — so much that almost everyone dislikes him personally — but nobody dares disrespect him. He breaks rules, mocks patients, skips work, and commits malpractice, and yet, that takes nothing away from his genius.
At first glance, House’s bitterness and abrasive nature seem to stem from his pain and his reliance on Vicodin. It is simple to pass his cruelty off as a symptom of his pain. Upon deeper digging, one realises that he is acerbic and rude simply because he can — he chooses to be a jerk. He doesn’t do that because it’s entertaining (well, he might), but because his callousness strips away the pleasant facade that people put on, both his “friends” and patients. In House’s twisted view of the world surrounding him, being a jerk is not a flaw but a means of survival by sparing himself from getting emotionally hurt.
House views humanity as inherently flawed and expects people to do the wrong thing. In his work, he goes by the philosophy that “everybody lies”, starting off any diagnosis, even those of the nicest patients, on that basis. House doesn’t care for anything that doesn’t serve him — not shift hours, not Cuddy’s rules, or even laws. However, there is something he does truly care about, and that is his colleague, Doctor James Wilson.
His fellow doctor, James Wilson, is an oncologist and House’s exact opposite. Wilson has a most gentle bedside manner, is soft-spoken, and at times cares more about others than he does about himself. Unlike House, who puts himself first, Wilson is the heart (House’s Head/Wilson’s Heart — the most heartbreaking episodes!), who often lets himself get trampled upon by those who use him for his kind nature and benevolence. Yet he, Wilson, is who keeps House grounded. The two share a friendship so rare for House where Wilson, though pushed away by his friend, still keeps close. It is not a healthy friendship by any means for Wilson, who has to put up with the most wretched behaviour, and yet, it is a real friendship — one where, in times of hardship, the two stand by one another. They’re two deeply flawed, broken individuals who found each other. Wilson is House’s only true, healthy solace, which, unfortunately, will be stripped from him like everything else he has ever loved.
House is not a villain or just a jerk — he’s a deeply depressed man who struggles to keep going for another day. In the first season, he is still trusting of others; he still sees the good side of people. Yet, as seasons pass, as people die, as his pain worsens and his misery grows worse, he becomes more malicious, more cruel. He hates himself and believes he’s unworthy of connections, friends, or love. That is why he isolates himself and in his solitude, becomes burdened by misery and gloom.
Gregory House M.D., is endlessly berated for his unethical practices — and sometimes for good reason — but medicine (besides Wilson) is the only thing that keeps him going. We root for him because we see ourselves inhis struggles, actions, and pain. Most who can deeply connect with House and are emotionally attached enough to read into his behaviour see a bit of themselves in him. It doesn’t matter if you have a disability, a crippling addiction, an off-putting personality, or you’re just sarcastic, there’s something of House in all of us. Whether you like House or you despise him as much as he would despise you, he is a rare character — one that truly makes you feel.