Tom Ripley's Stereotypes

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Throughout the film, several stereotypes regarding ASPD are challenged and the ultimate effect is to create a character that commits “morally bad” actions while appearing sympathetic and unapologetically human. Tom Ripley is portrayed with a sense of child-life naiveté in the film: he is bookish and shy bringing only “Shakespeare… and no clothes” (Minghella, 1999) with him to Italy; a stark contrast to the charismatic womaniser Dickie Greenleaf who possesses an ethereal charm. On first inspection, Dickie would appear better equipped to be a sociopath, but he lacks the mean-spiritedness and desperation that Tom is capable of. I believe that this desperation is an oblique reference to Tom being a product of his environment and therefore fundamentally a victim. The disparity between their personalities serves to portray Tom as a traumatised figure, where an oblivious Dickie treats him callously, symbolic of how a cruel world has shaped Tom to be this way. He is a “low-class” (Minghella, 1999) alien in a new world who cannot mix a Martini or ski, but he is adaptable. While he possesses no greatness about him, nor status or money that is so respected in Dickie’s world, he is able to adjust to a radically new lifestyle and befriend a complete stranger. Tom’s tenacity is what makes him admirable and his humble beginnings consolidate his underdog status. …show more content…

This concept of a self-made man challenges the invulnerable “elite psychopath” stereotype mentioned above, indeed Tom is oftentimes gauche, as shown by his tactless romantic advances on Dickie and lack of self which I will expand upon

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