Tom Ripley
Tom Ripley | |
---|---|
Con artist | |
Spouse | Heloise Plisson (wife) |
Nationality | American |
Tom Ripley is a fictional character in the Ripley series of
Ripley has been critically acclaimed for being "both a likable character and a cold-blooded killer".[1] Sam Jordison of The Guardian wrote, "It is near impossible, I would say, not to root for Tom Ripley. Not to like him. Not, on some level, to want him to win. Patricia Highsmith does a fine job of ensuring he wheedles his way into our sympathies."[2] Book magazine ranked Ripley at #60 on its list of the 100 Best Characters in Fiction since 1900.[3]
Fictional biography
Backstory
Highsmith introduced Ripley in
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Ripley is paid to go to
Ripley enters a
Ultimately, Ripley manages to keep himself safe by restoring his own identity and forging a suicide note in which "Dickie" confesses to killing Freddie. The story concludes with Ripley traveling to Greece, having discovered that the Greenleaf family has transferred Dickie's inheritance to Ripley – in accordance with a will forged by Ripley on Dickie's typewriter. Ripley exults in his newfound wealth, but he wonders if he will pay for it with a lifetime of paranoia, if he would "see police waiting for him at every pier he ever approached.”
Ripley Under Ground
In Ripley Under Ground, set six years later, Ripley has settled down into a life of leisure in an estate called Belle Ombre ("Beautiful Shadow") in southern France. He has added to his fortunes by marrying Héloïse Plisson, an heiress who has suspicions about how he makes his money but prefers not to know. He occasionally assists small-time gangster Reeves Minot with lucrative forgery and smuggling jobs, but he avoids direct involvement in crime as much as possible to preserve his somewhat shady reputation.
Ripley is also a silent partner in a gallery that markets counterfeit works by the artist Derwatt, who, unbeknownst to the public, has been dead for years. When Thomas Murchison, an art collector, contacts Ripley with proof that his Derwatt paintings are fake, Ripley kills him by hitting him over the head with a bottle of wine, then dumps his body into a nearby river.
Bernard Tufts, the artist who forges the Derwatt paintings, considers exposing the fraud; when Ripley tries to talk him out of it, Bernard attacks him and buries him alive. Ripley survives, however, and preserves the fraud by attending an exhibition of Derwatt's paintings disguised as Derwatt himself. Upon seeing Ripley in disguise, Bernard has a
Ripley's Game
In
Minot then approaches Jonathan offering to hire him as a freelance assassin, an offer Jonathan reluctantly accepts in order to support his wife and son after his death. Ripley, meanwhile, is so fascinated by the situation that he intervenes in the second hit, which Jonathan has botched, and helps him kill several members of a
Fearing reprisal from the Mafia, Ripley sends Heloise and their housekeeper, Mme. Annette, away on holiday to keep them safe and warns Jonathan that they are both in grave danger. They hole up at Belle Ombre and defend it against mafiosi who come after them, but Jonathan is mortally wounded while pushing Ripley out of the way of gunfire. Touched, but puzzled, by Jonathan's selflessness, Ripley leaves Jonathan's wife with the money he had earned as an assassin.
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
In The Boy Who Followed Ripley, Ripley befriends Frank Pierson, a teenage boy from a wealthy family who has run away from home. After Frank confesses to Ripley that he killed his own father by pushing him off a cliff, Ripley lets the boy live with him and Heloise at Belle Ombre, seeing in him a kindred spirit. He also commissions, through Minot, a fake passport for Frank so Ripley can take him to West Berlin to help him forget his troubles.
In Berlin, however, Frank is
Ripley takes Frank back to his family's home in
Ripley Under Water
In Ripley Under Water, Ripley's new neighbors, David and Janice Pritchard, hear of his shady reputation and begin prying into his private life, simply because they dislike him. When they discover that he murdered Murchison and threaten to expose him, Ripley pursues them with the aid of Ed Bradbury, one of his business partners in the Derwatt forgery scam.
They get into a fatal confrontation with the Pritchards that result in the couple falling into a lake; Ripley allows them to drown over Bradbury's halfhearted protestations. Ripley then goes back to his life, as though nothing had happened.
Characterization
Personality
Highsmith characterizes Ripley as a "suave, agreeable and utterly
In his review of Purple Noon, René Clément's 1960 adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley, film critic Roger Ebert described Ripley as "a committed hedonist, devoted to great comfort, understated taste, and civilized interests. He has wonderful relationships with women, who never fully understand who or what he is. He has friendships – real ones – with many of his victims. His crimes are like moves in a chess game; he understands that as much as he may like and respect his opponents, he must end with a 'checkmate'."[5]
Sexuality
While Highsmith never explicitly portrays Ripley as
In The Boy Who Followed Ripley, he reflects that he and Heloise rarely have sex and that frequent sexual demands on her part "really would have turned him off, maybe at once and permanently.”
Psychopathy
Ripley is portrayed as devoid of conscience. In The Boy Who Followed Ripley, he admits that he has never been seriously troubled by guilt. Though he sometimes feels "regret" about his earliest murders – he considers the murder of Dickie Greenleaf "a youthful, dreadful mistake" and that of Freddie Miles "stupid" and "unnecessary" – he cannot remember the number of his victims.[7] In his 2001 book Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited, Sam Vaknin writes that Ripley (as portrayed in the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley) meets five of the seven criteria for antisocial personality disorder and also displays narcissistic traits.[9]
Ripley is not without redeeming qualities, however. He feels genuine affection (if not love) for several characters throughout the series and has his own code of ethics; in Ripley's Game, Ripley reflects that he detests murder unless it is "absolutely necessary.”[10] In his review of Purple Noon, Roger Ebert wrote: "Ripley is a criminal of intelligence and cunning who gets away with murder. He's charming and literate, and a monster. It's insidious, the way Highsmith seduces us into identifying with him and sharing his selfishness; Ripley believes that getting his own way is worth whatever price anyone else might have to pay. We all have a little of that in us."[5]
Adaptations
Highsmith's first three Ripley novels have been adapted into films. The Talented Mr. Ripley was filmed as Purple Noon (French: Plein Soleil) in 1960, starring Alain Delon as Ripley, and under its original title in 1999, starring Matt Damon. Ripley Under Ground was adapted into a 2005 film, starring Barry Pepper. Ripley's Game was filmed in 1977 as The American Friend, starring Dennis Hopper, and under its original title in 2002, starring John Malkovich.
The Ripley novels have also been adapted for television and radio. The Talented Mr. Ripley was adapted for a January 1956 episode of the anthology television series
Of the Ripley portrayals that Highsmith saw, she praised Delon's performance in Purple Noon as "excellent"
References
- ^ Jordison, Sam (June 9, 2015). "Mr. Ripley's great talent? Making us like a killer and his crimes". The Guardian. London, England. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Jordison, Sam (June 2, 2015). "Tom Ripley, the likable psychopath". The Guardian. London, UK. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Paik, Christine (March 2002). "100 Best fictional characters since 1900". Book. New York, NY: West Egg Communications. Retrieved December 30, 2010 – via npr.org.
- ^ Silet, Charles L.P. "Patricia Highsmith's Thomas Ripley". MysteryNet. Archived from the original on January 8, 2011. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ^ a b Ebert, Roger (July 3, 1996). "Purple Noon". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved December 30, 2020 – via rogerebert.com.
- ^ Highsmith, Patricia (1955). The Talented Mr. Ripley. New York City: Norton, W&W & Company. p. 81.
- ^ New York Review of Books. Vol. 56, no. 11. New York City: New York Review Books. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
- ^ Sight & Sound. Vol. 75, no. 2. London: British Film Institute. pp. 104–105 – via geraldpeary.com.
- ^ Vaknin, Sam (2003). Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited. Rheinbeck, New York: Narcissus Publishing. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- ^ Highsmith, Patricia (1974). Ripley's Game. New York City: Norton, W&W & Company. p. 12.
- Studio One. Season 8. Episode 17. January 9, 1956. CBS.
- ^ a b Wilson, Andrew (May 24, 2003). "Ripley's enduring allure". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ^ "The Complete Ripley". BBC Radio 4. February 28, 2009. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (May 27, 2015). "Patricia Highsmith's 'Ripley' Book Series Headed to TV (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (March 24, 2016). "'Luther' Creator Neil Cross To Write TV Series Adaptation Of Tom Ripley Books". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 20, 2020. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
- ^ Thorne, Will (September 25, 2019). "'Fleabag' Star Andrew Scott Cast as Lead in Showtime Patricia Highsmith Series". Variety. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
- ^ Walsh, Savannah (December 12, 2023). "First Look: Andrew Scott Is a Crazy-Sexy Scammer in Ripley". Vanity Fair. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on December 12, 2023. Retrieved December 12, 2023.
- ^ Schenkar, Joan (2009). The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith. New York City: St. Martin's Press. pp. 485–6.
- ^ Wim Wenders (director), Dennis Hopper (actor) (2003) [1977]. The American Friend (DVD). Beverly Hills, California: Starz/Anchor Bay.
- Sydney Morning Herald. Archivedfrom the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved May 6, 2018.