__ people do bad things

Last week when we watched The Talented Mr. Ripley, Judge Scott Miller had us pause the movie and discuss whether or not Tom Ripley was acting in self-defense when he (spoiler) kills Dickie. The discussion was basically about if he could be found guilty or be prosecuted legally for the murder–which doesn’t take into account the moral, sympathetic, or personal aspects of it. Is Tom a bad person? Is he evil? Weirdly enough, either because he is the main character or for other reasons, many of the audience found Tom to be sympathetic and likable. He’s great at impersonations, and clearly clever in that he can think two steps ahead of most people. But despite all that, he was definitely not in the right to kill Dickie. So, if a “good person” does a bad thing, are they now a bad person? Tom clearly feels guilty over what he’s done to Dickie, but he does not want to face the consequences, and rather uses the situation to his advantage. The fact that he even later on kills two other people because they came too close to figuring out the truth makes it clear that Tom is (pretty conclusively) not a good person. Yes, you can get trapped in a situation. But when you’re faced with two hard choices- to either face consequences for your actions or kill someone to keep your secret and freedom – the answer should definitely not be to kill more innocent people.

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