My comment here about "most evil" refers to forensic
psychologist Dr. Michael Stone of Columbia University and his
22 level scale which measures a criminal's mind and his
crime. For purposes of the justice system, this scale is used
to determine the likelyhood of rehabilitation. It measures
motive, method, and malice on the part of each criminal. A
man who kills his wife in a rage is, according to Dr. Stone,
very different from one who kills randomly and repeatedly
using methods of torture. I have to say I agree with this
distinction. Wouldn't you? The Biography Channel has been
running a series of programs entitled Most Evil. They
hightlight several crimes and measure them on Dr. Stone's
scale to show how and why the criminal probably committed the
acts and determine how society may best react to this type of
criminal. Today, the term 'evil' does not relate so much to
superstition as it does to human intent. Denis Rader, The BTK
Killer, is certainly a psychopath, but his psychosis was not
the hope of gaining a 14th Century icon and making a fortune
selling it on ebay. He enjoys torturing families and killing
them all slowly. These were people he'd never met before.
Being crazy doesn't excuse this; do you think?
My original post took it for granted that everyone on this
list was watching that program or was otherwise familiar with
this modern method of assessing criminal behavior. Of course
one can simply enjoy crime fiction without researching crimes
and crime prevention. My own obessession. Sorry.
Patrick King
--- Robert Elkin <
rictusaporia@yahoo.com> wrote:
> If both Wilmer & Brigid are "psychopaths,"
also
> calling them "evil" makes for a confusing mixture
of
> scientific & religious narrative styles. Which
is
> it?
> R
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Patrick King <
abrasax93@yahoo.com>
> To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, October 6, 2007 5:12:10
PM
> Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: Re: Cain and
Hammett
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- Raymond Tait <raymond.tait@ cai.cam.ac.
uk>
> wrote:
>
> > I would say if you are making a case for
The
> Maltese
>
> > Falcon as a noir
>
> > novel then Brigid is the character to focus
on
>
> > rather than Sam Spade.
>
> > If Spade was a true noir character he would
have
>
> > gone down with her somehow.
>
>
>
> I can't see Brigid as a tragic noir villianess
like
>
> Cora, for example. Brigid is
pathologically
>
> manipulative with no redeeming virtues except
her
>
> beauty. Spade knows this when he meets her.
Brigid
>
> fools no one except perhaps Thursby, Miles
Archer
> and
>
> Captain Jacoby. The rest of the important males
in
> the
>
> book are sociopaths with homosexual tendencies
and
> are
>
> not moved by Brigid at all. Spade understand all
too
>
> well how these types of criminals think. One
wonders
>
> where he learned it, as their pathology is
very
>
> complex and involved. Guttman even warns Spade
that
>
> Brigid is dangerous. In the movie at least you
can
> see
>
> that Bogart's Spade is being sarcastic when
he
>
> acknowledges Guttman's warning. He knows how
crazy
> she
>
> is. This fact undermines even his fondness for
Effie
>
> and his willingness to use her to his own ends.
Note
>
> he sends this psycho to stay with his secretary
AND
>
> her invalid mother, knowing full well that she's
a
>
> dangerous person being followed by dangerous
people.
>
> But note also, while Wilma killed Jacoby, it
was
>
> Brigid who killed Miles & Thursby. You can
argue
> that
>
> in Wilma's mind it was necessary to kill Jacoby
to
>
> reclaim the Falcon. But there was no reason at
all
> for
>
> Brigid to murder either Miles or Thursby. It was
a
>
> crazy thing to do. On the scale of most evil,
Wilma
> is
>
> about a 7, psychopath who kills for profit at
the
>
> behest of a superior, while Brigid O'Shannassey
is
> at
>
> 16, psychopath who kills for no reason.
>
>
>
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 09 Oct 2007 EDT