Thomas Ripley
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- For the English architect, see Thomas Ripley (architect).
| Tom Ripley series (the Ripliad) |
|---|
| The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) |
| Ripley Under Ground (1970) |
| Ripley's Game (1974) |
| The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980) |
| Ripley Under Water (1991) |
Thomas "Tom" Ripley is a fictional character of a series of crime novels by Patricia Highsmith and in several films spawned from the novels. The series of five books based around Ripley's exploits is collectively called "the Ripliad."
A "suave, agreeable and utterly amoral" con artist who always gets away with his crimes, including murder, he is a classic example of an antihero, a character type featured in most of Highsmith's books. He has been played by Alain Delon, Dennis Hopper, Matt Damon, John Malkovich, and Barry Pepper.
Book magazine ranks Ripley #60 on its list of the 100 Best Characters in Fiction since 1900.
[edit] Background
Highsmith introduced her most famous character in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955) as a young man making a meager living off his "talents": forgery, impersonation and lying. Relatively little was revealed about his background, except that he was raised in Boston by an emotionally abusive aunt, and that he had moved to New York City at 18. He was paid to go to Italy by Herbert Greenleaf, a rich shipping magnate, to convince his son Dickie (a half-remembered acquaintance) to return to the family business. Ripley befriended the younger Greenleaf and quickly found himself in love with the rich young man's indulgent, carefree lifestyle and brash, confident personality. Ripley eventually murdered Greenleaf, however, after the young playboy grew tired of him and spurned his friendship. He then stole Greenleaf's identity, using his passport to travel in luxury and enjoy pretending to be someone other than himself. He did the latter to unsettling perfection, imitating Greenleaf to the point that he virtually became him. This charade got him in trouble, however, whenever he was confronted by Greenleaf's friends and people who knew him as Greenleaf at the same time.
After murdering Greenleaf's suspicious friend, Freddie Miles, Ripley forged Greenleaf's will, leaving himself the other man's inheritance. The novel ended with Ripley, having narrowly evaded being found out and arrested, sailing to Greece and rejoicing in his new-found wealth.
As revealed in the sequel, Ripley Under Ground (1970), set six years later, Ripley eventually settled down into a life of leisure in Belle Ombre, an estate on the outskirts of Villeperce, France. By then, he had added to his already considerable fortunes by marrying Héloïse Plisson, a rich, amoral socialite who suspected, but preferred not to know about, his criminal activities. He avoided direct involvement in crime as much as possible in order to preserve his somewhat shady reputation, but still found himself involved in criminal enterprises, often aided by Reeves Minot, a small-time fence. Ripley's criminal exploits included a long-running art forgery scam (introduced in Ripley Under Ground and consistently mentioned in later books), an entanglement with the Mafia (in Ripley's Game), and several murders. While he came perilously close to being caught several times, he was never arrested or even seriously suspected for any of his crimes. The series' final entry, Ripley Under Water (1991) ended with Ripley once again evading the police, presumably to live the rest of his life in comfort and anonymity.
[edit] Personality
At first blush, Ripley would appear to be a prime example of a psychopath (and is even described as such by many critics), but certain elements of his personality do not conform to a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. While completely devoid of conscience and capable of cold-blooded violence (he beats most of his victims to death), Ripley also has his own code of ethics: he detests murder, and often tries to reason with his victims to see things his way and go along with his criminal plans. It's only when people directly threaten him with violence or the police that he does what he thinks is "necessary." He has had real, non-exploitative friendships with other characters, and has regretted resorting to murder (albeit without true remorse.) In many ways, the civil, considerate, impeccably well-mannered Ripley is the consummate gentleman; that he is also a criminal and a murderer is, in Highsmith's characterization, of no great importance. His primary desire, at least after coming into money, is to live quietly in great comfort, and he sees other people as expendable objects to be used for that end.
Few physically descriptive details are supplied throughout the series; Highsmith writes only that Ripley is thin and pale, has light brown hair, and is a smoker.
While Highsmith never explicitly identified Ripley as gay or bisexual in any of the novels, she did weave elements of sexual ambiguity into the character. For example, he is never truly sexually attracted to his wife (in Ripley Under Ground, he describes going impotent with laughter while having sex with her on their honeymoon), and his feelings for a few male characters (particularly Greenleaf) have featured elements of repressed sexual obsession.
[edit] In film
Cinematic portrayals have varied; while Delon (in 1960's Plein Soleil) and Malkovich (in 2002's Ripley's Game) played Ripley as a coldblooded manipulator, Hopper (in 1977's Der Amerikanische Freund) and Damon (in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley) played him as a tragic figure motivated more by self-hatred and identity confusion than by greed.
