Classical Theory: The Good Son

After watching the movie the good son I found a lot to similarities between what went on and the classical theory. I plan on highlighting Cesare Beccaria’s classical theories central assumptions and giving examples of events that occurred in the movie to connect the two. To setup some of the story I’ll introduce you to the characters and what their role is throughout the movie. The mother and father are Wallace and Susan Evans, and their children are Henry and Connie. After Mark Evans mother dies, and his father Jack goes out of town on business Mark is sent to live with his Uncle Wallace and Aunt Susan and their two kids for three weeks.

The classical theory is one that believes that human beings were believed to act in terms of their own self-interest, but also to be capable of considering which course of action was really in their self-interest(Classical 1). Also the classical theorists believed that people were free willed, making them completely responsible for their actions(Bohm 12). The state would then construct laws and punishments in such a way that people would understand peaceful and non-criminal actions to be in their self-interest through strategies of punishment based on deterrence(Classical 1). When it came to punishing individuals, Beccaria believed that the only purpose for punishment was for deterrence to make sure that that individual or anyone else who knew of the crime did not also commit the same crime(Bohm 14).

One of the assumptions that the classical theory makes is that it assumes that everyone is motivated to engage in crime through the pursuit of their self-interests(Agnew 17). As a child most of what you do is in the pursuit of your own self-interest, at least so it seems at the time. In the beginning of the movie the crimes start out slow that Henry commits and seems to drag Mark into every time he does, but with them being so small Mark does not think anything of them. For instance, the two boys start throwing rocks acting as they were grenades and it then escalades into throwing the rocks through panes of glass on the building that they are inside of. Another example, it is right after that point in the movie that Henry takes Mark to a well and pulls a box out of the well that he has hidden. Inside the box are a lighter and some cigarettes that Henry lights up and gets Mark to take a drag. Both of these things that occurred are both considered to be a criminal act, but are also a couple things that many kids have done growing up and are considered, by them, ways to just stay busy and keep off the couch watching television.

As the story goes on, the crimes that Henry is committing become much more serious. A couple I like to think relate to the first assumption of pursuit of his own self-interest. You find out early in the movie that Henry’s younger brother had died years before from drowning in the bathtub, and later it comes out that Henry is actually the one that drowned his brother. Also, Henry is very abusive to his sister Connie on several instances during the movie both physically and verbally. In one scene after the parents go out for the night they begin to play hide and seek in the house when Henry cuts the power off in the house. He then scares her horribly when she turns around, and then hints around to Mark that he wants to hurt her. This may seem like normal brother-sister relationship but at one point in the movie Henry actually does try to kill Connie. The two of them were ice skating on a pond together holding hands when Henry swung Connie out onto some thin ice and when she stood up she fell right through into the water. Henry does then proceed to crawl out on the ice to her and pretends to give her a hand but he never really does make much of an effort and when she goes under the ice and men try to cut her out he just lays on the ice with not much expression on his face. The way I see this as being in pursuit of his own self-interest is possibly trying to get rid of any competition he would have as a child to his parents, and by getting rid of his siblings he would be an only child again.

The second thing that the classical theory assumes is that people are rational and engage in crime to minimize their pain and maximize their pleasure(Agnew 17). Henry is a very sick and twisted kid and it seems that he gets his pleasure from hurting other people or things or making them suffer. There are many instances in this movie where he displays this very well. There are numerous times when he brings up his younger brothers death. The first time is was at the well with Mark and he discussed looking at his dead body and blue face and lips with not much remorse on his face or in his voice. The other time is he randomly brought up Mark wanting to move into his brother’s old room when the fact is that it had not been discussed before, and then sat and watched as his mother and father argued about it.