Desire And Violence In The Talented Mr. Ripley

This essay will explore two topics shown in the film The Talented Mr. Ripley, a psychological thriller which is based in a novel made by Patricia Highsmith. These two topics are desire & violence. I chose this topics because of three reasons, the first one is that desire is what makes characters act impulsively and irrationally. The second one is that desire is what leads to violence in the first place; and the third one is that desire is something very interesting because everyone, absolutely everyone, wants things they can’t have.
Desire is one of the most powerful feelings in the worlds since it can lead us to do things we can’t even imagine. For example, to violence, as seen in the film. As I watched the film I was often surprised by the decisions the main character made and I could see that even though they were rash and delirious, there was a really strong reason behind

them, they were all moved by the desire of being recognized, of being a fake somebody instead of a real nobody. I found that fascinating. For example: The main character forges documents in order to have a new identity.
As the movie moves forward we can see that desire leads to worse and worse things; little by little Tom Ripley crosses a line from which theres no return. He aspires for greatness, he has an amazing ability at impersonations but desire and anger issues are not a good combination.
Desire happens everyday in our lives, it can happen in a small and insignificant way or it could be something that changes your day completely.

There is something that I’ve always found very interesting and that is the fact that everyone wants something they don’t have, it can be recognition, material things or even a human being. This is something people take for granted but I think it’s a true game changer, because we (humans) don’t have a limit, we always want more and that’s what leads us to do the things we do, to take the decisions we take, to live the way we live.
There’s a huge difference between desire and goals, and I want to point this out because I think it’s important to know that what Mr. Ripley had was desire. Desires are things that we desperately want in the future. You could desire to have a family, to be the president someday, etc. A goal is something that you alone can accomplish and outside factors will not affect the outcome. Goals can help you get to your desires, and that’s what Tom did, he set goals for himself to achieve the desires that he wanted so

desperately.
Violence is defined as the aggressive behavior showcased by an individual. I am and I will always be against violence but there are some people that can’t live without violence, people that need violence and that are violent whenever they have a chance. This is showcased in the movie because Tom Ripley has a very short temper and has anger issues; this causes him to make rash and violent decisions which change his plans and objectives.