Hooker with a heart of gold

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Vasantasena from the Sanskrit play Mṛcchakatika.

The hooker with a heart of gold (also the whore with a heart of gold or the tart with a heart) is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute with a hidden integrity and kindness. She (the character is traditionally female) is usually an example of irony: an allegedly immoral woman who demonstrates virtues absent in others.


This character is often a pivotal, but peripheral, character in literature and motion pictures, usually giving key advice or serving as a go-between. She is sometimes established in contrast to another female character who is morally correct but frigid or otherwise unyielding. Hookers with hearts of gold are sometimes reluctant prostitutes due to either desperation or coercion from a pimp. Or her prostitution may reflect an overall lust for life, as in Ilya in Never on Sunday.

The stereotype might owe something of a debt to certain traditions surrounding the Biblical figures of Mary Magdalene and Rahab, or to the ancient Indian theatrical tradition of Sanskrit drama where Śudraka's play Mṛcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) featured a nagarvadhu (courtesan) with a heart of gold named Vasantasena.[1] But this stock character is pervasive enough in various myths and cultures in the form of a tragic story of the concubine who falls in love with her patron/client or, alternatively, young and often poor lover. Therefore, this might be considered not just an archetype but also fairly universal, and somewhat indicative of various societies' complex ideas about sexual decency and moral character. A variation on the theme, the dancer (stripper) with a heart of gold, is a tamer version of the character.

The fictitious courtesan Chandramukhi (character) in Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's highly acclaimed Bengali novel Devdas has been adapted into film numerous times, mostly notably into Hindi in 1955 and 2002 with the character-role of "Chandramukhi" being played by actresses Vyjayanthimala and Madhuri Dixit respectively.

In opera and musical theater, a hooker with a heart of gold is most often portrayed by a mezzo-soprano.[citation needed] (One notable exception is the heroine of Giuseppe Verdi's La traviata, Violetta Valery, portrayed by a soprano.) She is portrayed in a tragic light and often dies a tragic death. Another classic example of the "Tart with a heart" character is the character of Nancy in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist and stage show "Oliver!"

In television history, the "tart with a heart" has become an important archetype in serial drama and soap opera, especially in Britain. During the 1960s, the character of Elsie Tanner in British series Coronation Street set the mold for future characters such as Bet Lynch (also Coronation Street), Kat Slater, Stacey Slater and Dawn Swann (all three characters from the British soap opera EastEnders). Characters of this nature are often depicted as having tragic lives, but put on a front when in public to create the illusion of happiness. More often than not, these female characters are vital to their respective shows, and inevitably become some of the biggest stars in British Television.[citation needed]

The hooker with a heart of gold is also a prominent character in many American western movies. In The Usual Suspects, detective Dave Kujan says to Roger "Verbal" Kint: "... so don't sell me the hooker with a heart of gold."

Two Shirley MacLaine roles—Ginny Moorhead in 1958's Some Came Running and Irma la Douce in 1960's Irma la Douce—exemplify such characters.

The "hooker with a heart of gold" also appears as "Cabiria" (played by Giulietta Masina) in the 1957 action film The Nights of Cabiria.

Alas, no mention of Silverheels, (called by some to be mythical), she who nursed miners with smallpox in the mountains of Colorado, only to be struck in the end by the disease herself. Per the story, she was of southern US extraction and it was after the US Civil War. The miners came to reward her toward spring when the snow had cleared from the road, but alas, in the midst of a harsh winter, she had disappeared. No one had left the town (now a ghost town) before a path was opened, no one knew where she had went. Only she had the small pox, and had survived. There is a mountain in Park County Colorado, with her name, Silverheels.

The character appears in modern action films as "Chris" (played by Angie Dickinson) in the 1967 action film Point Blank, as "Rosie" (played by Maria Bello) in the 1999 re-make Payback and as "Donna Quintano" (played by Monica Bellucci) in Shoot 'Em Up (2007).

In modern comedy films, Jamie Lee Curtis's role in Trading Places has been called an example of this archetype,[2] and the 1990 film Pretty Woman (starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere) is probably the most recognizable modern depiction of the 'hooker with a heart of gold'.

Moulin Rouge! is another modern-day film, in which the main character is a courtesan named Satine who does end up having a heart and falling in love, but ultimately (tragically) dies of tuberculosis during one of her performances and never actually gets to be with the one she truly loves.

In the 2012 film Fury (originally titled The Samaritan) ex-con Foley (played by Samuel L. Jackson) falls in love with a disturbed but ultimately good hearted prostitute named Iris (played by Ruth Negga).

The 2004 Hindi film, Chameli (film), starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, plays the highly acclaimed golden-hearted prostitute named "Chameli".

The 2012 Bollywood film, Talaash's main plotline involves a virtuous prostitute.

The songs "Carmen" by Lana Del Rey and "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran each describe such a character.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Pauwels, Heidi Rika Maria (2008). Indian Literature and Popular Cinema. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 0-415-44741-0. 
  2. ^ Soars, Emily. "Trading Places". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 16 September 2013. 

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