Thomas Ripley
From Free net encyclopedia
Current revision
- 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 the protagonist 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.
Orphaned at a young age when his parents drowned, Ripley was brought up in Boston by an emotionally abusive aunt. He left at 18 for New York, and lived for years off of his "talents" — forgery, impersonation and lying — until he was paid to go to Italy by Herbert Greenleaf, a rich shipping magnate, to convince his son Dickie 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. He eventually murdered Greenleaf, however, after the playboy grew tired of him and spurned his friendship and latent homosexual attraction. 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. </p>
He was involved in many criminal enterprises after that, often aided by Reeves Minot, a small-time fence. Ripley's criminal exploits included a long-running art forgery scam, an entanglement with the Mafia (whom he despised), and several murders.
Initially living in Italy, he had several abodes before settling down at his chateau, Belle Ombre, on the outskirts of Villeperce, France. He added to his already considerable fortunes by marrying Héloïse Plisson, a rich socialite who suspected, but preferred not to know about, his criminal activities.
At first blush, Ripley would appear to be a classic 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 incredible 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 friendships with many of his victims, particularly Greenleaf, and has later regretted resorting to murder. 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.
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.
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.
Ripley was believed, by quite a number of readers, to be gay in the first novel. 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 have featured elements of repressed sexual obsession.
While the novels were written over a period of 36 years (from 1955 to 1991) only about 10 years pass in the chronology of the books, even though the fashions, politics and music featured in the books reflected those of the time in which they were written.
Book magazine ranks Ripley #60 on its list of the 100 Best Characters in Fiction since 1900.pt:Tom Ripley ru:Том Рипли