people. Seeing the character of John Doe, he uses seven deadly sins which is a religious percept as his fundamental reason and motivation to kill people.
This study is reasonable since all the facts to reveal his psychopathic behavior are considered.
On the other hand, this study has a different focus from the three studies above. None of them explains about the hidden related motivation of a
psychopath using religious precept for killing people. The writer chooses to explore the dynamic of unconsciousness of John Doe why he uses the seven
deadly sins as his motivation of murder through his psychopathic behavior. As a result, these three studies show the relevant topics to the study in the
seven deadly sins as the motivation of murder and the psychopathic behavior of John Doe revealing his hidden relation.
B. Review of Related Theories
In this research of study, the writer applies two theories and two concepts. They are theory of character and characterization, concept of
psychopath, theory of psychoanalysis, and concept of seven deadly sins.
1. Theory of Character
Character is one of elements which is important in literary genre. It is represented in short word, usually witty, and described in different type of
person in literary works Abrams, 2009: 42.
Abrams and Harpham‟s
A Glossary of Literary Terms
explains that the readers know the character‟s desires and feelings through the dialogue and
attitude or action from the characters.
Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by reader as possessing particular moral,
intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it
– the dialogue – and from what they do
– the action 2009: 42. Characters in literary works have contributions to express, describe, and show
their influences or roles that are construed and concluded by the readers. Characters
‟ motivation is described through their personality, wants, and moral quality in the way they speak and act.
“The grounds in the characters‟ temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and
actions are called their motivation” Abrams, 2009: 42. In Reaske‟s
How to Analyze Drama,
characters ‟ motivation is covered
in the progress of the play which is found through their actions 1966: 41. He also
states that there are central motivations in most plays which motivate the most people in real life through their emotions Reaske, 1966: 41. One of
them is hope for reward which means that the character has an ambition to get happiness for himself or others that he loves and plan for his actions to reach
the end of his pretension Reaske, 1966: 41. Then, there is love as motivation to extent the hope of reward Reaske, 1966: 41. The third one is fear of
failure which is the opposite of hope for reward, it means that everything that he works on is to avoid the suffering of failure Reaske, 1966: 41-42.
Another motivation is religious feelings. Religious feelings here focus on the motivation of character which is affected by the faith. This motivation
leads the character to a belief and in a result he or she assumes that what is done is what God commands to. His or her motivation often causes particular
results towards his or her acts because what he or she does based on his or her thought.
Occasionally, but not frequently, we discover a character who is motivated by religious faith. The character acts out of deep feelings
and convictions that he is acting as God so directs. His motivation is diminished to the extent that he acts as he thinks he is
supposed
to act Reaske, 1966: 42.
The next motivation of characters behind their actions is revenge.
There are many plays that perform the idea to avenge the death of loved friends or relatives, even the characters are eager to give up their life in order
to murder someone who wrongs them Reaske, 1966: 42. Besides that, there is also a greed as the motivation
. This is type of motivation “in the category of „hope for reward,‟ which becomes an outstanding motivation in its own
right in many plays” Reaske, 1966: 42. The last one is jealousy as one of the most specific motivation related to both love and the fear of failure Reaske,
1966: 42. Zanjani explains in
Screenplay: Movie Script or Literature?
that there are three ways to build characteristics of characters in screenplay: description,
dialogue, and action 2006: 67. The first way is started through description. Zanjani states that it is necessary to create descriptions of the character
through “his or her physical description, his look, his clothes, his gender, his
age and so on ” 2006: 67. In addition, a setting also has important role to
create characteristics of character connected with his deeds, hobbies, jobs, etc as he mentions
that “Since settings can reveal many things about character, his attitudes, hobbies, jobs, and so on, describing a set is a way of describing the
characters personality” Zanjani, 2006: 68. For instance there is a different identity between a man who is driving an old car and a man with a motorcycle
Zanjani, 2006: 68. The second way is through dialogue. Dialogues in screenplay have
similar assignment as in novel and play which is to give information about the characters
‟ emotions, thoughts, feelings, intentions, hopes, or dreams Zanjani, 2006: 68. The dialogue is not always from the character himself but also from
the other characters that do descriptions about another character as he says “it is either through the dialogues of the character himself or through the
dialogues of the others that he or she gets revealed ” Zanjani, 2006: 69.
The third way to reveal the characteristics of the character is by observing the
character‟s action. As Zanjani quotes from Field‟s
The
Screenwriter’s Workbook that “Action is character. What a person does is what he is, not what he says Ibid, p.79
” 2006: 70, a character‟s action reveals his personality. Besides,
Zanjani also agrees with Seger‟s theory that character‟s action is divided into two parts which are “the decision to act and
the act itself” 2006: 70. He mentions Seger‟s argument that the character‟s thought is printed through his decision how he will act his action
. “She argues
that in a drama we usually see only the action, but its the decision to act that helps us understand how the character‟s mind works” Zanjani, 2006: 70.
Besides the character‟s descriptions, dialogues, and actions, Zanjani also explains that a name of character can give great value to characterize his
personality and provide a lot of descriptions about the character. “Name of the
character can play an important role in building his identity, because, name can suggest many things about character
” Zanjani, 2006: 73.
2. Concept of Psychopath
Coleman and Broen ‟s
Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life
stated that a psychopathic personality is obviously labeled as antisocial and
incompetent to be loyal to others, society, or moral values. Despitefully, he is intelligent, impulsive, and very pleasant on first introduction. He also has no
business on past or future things, and also behaves insensitively towards other people
‟s matters. Basically, they are unsocialized and incapable of significant loyalty to
other persons, groups, or social values. Typically intelligent, spontaneous, and very likeable on first acquaintance, they seem to live
in a series of present moments, without consideration for the past or future and with callous disregard for the rights and well-being of
others 1972: 366. VanderVeldt and Odenwald explain in
Psychiatry and Catholicism
that “psychopaths are always interested in people who are newcomers in the
neighborhood” 1952: 305. Psychopaths seem very caring to the newcomers by visiting their house or even helping voluntarily to sew new curtains 1952:
305.
