Although we are supposed to be drawing connections between In Cold Blood and Shakespeare’s Macbeth, one passage of In Cold Blood has a strong similarity to Hitchcock’s Rope. On the morning of November 17th, Dick and Perry are eating together in the Eagle Buffet, a diner in Kansas City. We are first introduced to the fact that Dick can’t seem to eat enough, whereas Perry has barely touched his own food. Perry is reading an article about the Clutter murder, which according to Dick, he has read many times. Perry then says, “Own up, Dick. Be honest. You don’t believe this no-clue stuff…something tells me this is a trap.” (p.89-90) Perry acts similarly to Phillip in his guilty thoughts that someone has found them out, but that they don’t know about it yet. Perry also shows a likeness to Phillip in that he has a strange attraction to Dick, just like Phillip’s attraction to Brandon. Dick shows qualities similar to those of Brandon. He glorifies the planning and action of the murder like Brandon does, saying “On the whole it was perfect. We hit the ball right out of the park.” (91) He then shows great confidence in the secrecy of the crime, just as Brandon does. Dick says, “It’s lost. And it’s gonna stay lost. There isn’t a single connection.” (91) Another startling connection between the characters is that Dick, like Brandon, seems to almost want someone to discover that they committed the murders. When Perry mentions a Mr. Wells who has some information that could possibly lead to their arrest, Dick refutes, “It’d be worth it. Like if I was nabbed on a check charge, it’d be worth it. Just to get back in there.” (91) Then, just as Brandon is angered by Phillip’s “weakness,” Dick confronts Perry and says, “If you were so damn sure that you were gonna crack up, why didn’t you call it quits?” (92) I’m interested to see if this likeness between the main characters of In Cold Blood and of Rope continues.
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Although we haven't finished Macbeth, (or even gotten close), It appears that In Cold Blood has much more in common with Macbeth than "rope"(as far as the characters go). In Macbeth,Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are shown as accomplices in a scheme to kill the king. Although Lady Macbeth comes up with the plan and is much more ambitious about it, Macbeth has to do the killing, because Lady Macbeth cannot kill. This is very similar to In Cold Blood because the whole plan to rob the Clutters is Dick's doing, but in the end Perry kills the Clutters. Dick uses Perry's weakness (or skill some would say) of being able to murder; he was “convinced that Perry was that rarity a, ‘natural killer’ – absolutely sane, but conscienceless, and capable of dealing, with or without motive, the coldest blooded deathblows. It was Dick’s theory that such a gift could, under his supervision, be profitably exploited”(55). Much like in Macbeth, where Lady Macbeth exploits Macbeth’s ability to kill (he is an honored soldier), Dick uses Perry’s “gift” to his own advantage, something that might considered even more evil than murder.
ReplyDeleteAnother similarity between Macbeth and In Cold Blood is the connection between the victims. In Macbeth, The King is the target – he is loved by his people and is the center of attention (obviously) of his subjects. In “In Cold Blood”, the Clutters are murdered. They could easily be related to the royal family of Holcomb, Kansas. Mr. Clutter is an extremely popular and successful farmer, and has made numerous contributions to Holcomb. Nancy Clutter (the princess, so to speak,) is a highly talented over achiever. The murder of the Clutters, just like the murder in Macbeth, shocks the people of Holcomb (Scotland in Macbeth’s case).
This thing that makes this similarity creepy is the fact that the murder surrounding In Cold Blood actually happened, while Macbeth was only a play.