Sociopathy In The Film Gladiator

The film, Gladiator, takes place in Rome during AD 180 and the current emperor, Marcus Aurelius and his best general, Maximus, have won the war against the barbaric Germanic tribes. Marcus is an old man and his wish is to have Rome turned into a republic again and to see Maximus inherit his powers until the Senate is strong enough to rule all of Rome. Unfortunately when Marcus’s son, Commodus, hears of who will take his place and his father’s wishes, he murders his father in cold blood and takes the throne for himself. Because Marcus loved Maximus and didn’t love his own son, Commodus decides to exact his revenge on Maximus and have him executed as well as his family slaughtered. Commodus certainly displays features of a dictator; however he does not qualify as a totalitarian tyrant as he does not commit acts of violence against humanity as he would rather have the people love him then

Psychopaths and sociopaths generally are introverted and antisocial, but psychopaths don 't feel remorse and are normally described as lacking empathy. Sociopaths are generally damaged by environmental factors like how the child was raised and in what environment it all occurred. Sociopaths and psychopaths both normally commit crimes out of revenge or greed. Both psychopaths and sociopaths can carry on normal relationships, but psychopaths won’t feel any emotions and only want relationships that will benefit them and sociopaths can also hold relatively normal relationships but will often feel guilty if they harm someone (“Psychopath vs. Sociopath”). In the case of Commodus, he can have a normal relationship with his sister because he feels he can relate to her and often will feel guilty if he harms her, but with others he lacks empathy and feels the need to occasionally take a drastic measure in disciplining someone who doesn’t follow his