Importance of Portraits

The art teacher, Mr. Lloyd, who is also the secret love of Miss Brodie paints portraits of each of the Brodie set girls and then a portrait of them as a group. The significance of the portraits is two-fold. First, all of the portraits have some resemblance to Miss Brodie. Second, the portraits are the tie that binds Mr. Lloyd and Miss Brodie since they cannot be together. The Brodie set shares information with Miss Brodie about Mr. Lloyd and with Mr. Lloyd about Miss Brodie.