The doctor identifies with his patient rather than her parents because she's full of self-possession, but the parents are getting in the doctor's way with the annoying, phony, unhelpful way in which they're trying to get their daughter to comply with the doctor's request. He sees himself in her strength and perseverance.
Although the doctor mentally calls Mathilda a "savage brat," he simultaneously admires her for her tenacity in fighting him off and ignoring her parents'...
The doctor identifies with his patient rather than her parents because she's full of self-possession, but the parents are getting in the doctor's way with the annoying, phony, unhelpful way in which they're trying to get their daughter to comply with the doctor's request. He sees himself in her strength and perseverance.
Although the doctor mentally calls Mathilda a "savage brat," he simultaneously admires her for her tenacity in fighting him off and ignoring her parents' orders. He recognizes that she's set her mind against the throat exam, and he respects her display of power. The fact that she's impervious to his attempts to reason with her logically also impresses him somewhat, though it does frustrate him.
On the other hand, the parents are falling all over themselves to ensure their daughter's compliance with the doctor. They tell Mathilda that he's "a nice man" who won't "hurt" her, when honestly, what do they know? They just met the doctor. They're blindly assuming that he's a good man, and worse, they're making invalid promises to their daughter about him. They use the word "hurt" when they should really just be quiet; they're riling their daughter up without realizing it. It really annoys the doctor, who narrates his frustration: "I ground my teeth in disgust"; "the parents were contemptible to me."
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