The Concept of Greed in Clue

Greed is associated with a selfish want for power, wealth or something beyond an individual’s need. Greed describes the desire to detriment another and obtain what may not be necessary for someone’s survival. In addition, greed explains the characteristic of a person who cannot have enough. The more the person obtains something the more he or she wants more and he can never be satisfied. The outcomes of unchecked greed include destitution, bankruptcy and criminal punishment (Krekels 226). Greed is mainly associated with tax evasion and investment scam in American business. Therefore, this paper seeks to discuss how various scenes in a movie known as “Clue” have illustrated the concept of greed.

Clue is an American comedy film combine the mysteries of funny killings based on the board game of the same name. The film was produced by Debra Hill in 1985 and directed by Jonathan Lynn who worked together with John Landis on the script and other stars. The movie starts with six strangers entering to a secluded New England mansion for a dinner party invitation. The butler, Wadsworth meets them and gives them a pseudonym. However, a seventh guest, Mr. Boddy arrives during dinner and afterwards Wadsworth explains the actual reason why they are there.  Wadsworth explained that Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing them, the six quests and him, as well as his now-dead wife for some time now (www.popcornflix.com). Therefore, the rest of the group is there to confront Mr. Boddy and hand him over to the police. When Wadsworth is revealing the reason for meeting at Hill house for a dinner invitation, we see how Mr. Boddy is greed to an extent of blackmailing them which might lead him being apprehended by the police.

Furthermore, Mr. Boddy went ahead to blackmail the other guests at the dinner by giving them different weapons (dagger, candlestick, revolver, wrench and a lead pipe) as a gift for one of them to kill Wadsworth to avoid exposure and humiliation. However, the light is turned off and by the time it is turned back on, Mr. Boddy is killed instead of Wadsworth and his body disappears but later it’s found with injuries from the candlestick.  The body of a cook, Mrs. Ho, is also found dead, stabbed with a dagger (www.popcornflix.com). The weapon used for killing Mr. Boddy and Mrs. Ho was among the weapons given to the quests meaning they had a secret to hide based on what Mr. Boddy has been blackmailing them for. Such a character is associated with greed.

In scene A, Miss Scarlet manifests the concept of greed by killing Yvette who she ordered to kill the cook and Mr. Boddy. Yvette was working as a call girl for Miss Scarlet. Miss Scarlet killed her along with other murder victims to keep her business of extortion safe. She also has an insatiable desire of selling other guests’ secret. Hence, she wants to kill Wadsworth who claims to know who the murderer is. Wadsworth was also recreating the events of the night to explain how the murder occurred. The consequences of unchecked greed to Miss Scarlet eventually led her into destitution and criminal punishment as she was detained by Wadsworth who was an undercover FBI agent (www.popcornflix.com). In the ending B, Mrs. Peacock demonstrates the element of greed by killing all the victims to conceal her engagement to bribes from a foreign power. She tries to escape to her car while holding the others at gunpoint but she is caught by the chief (The Evangelist). It is because of greed that led Mrs. Peacock to get engaged with malicious businesses that made Wadsworth to spy on her activities as an undercover FBI agent so as to secure her arrest.

Therefore, as it can be observed from the movie ”Clue” we find that greed can result in a man to disregard everything and sacrifice all moral traits toward accumulating wealth, power and hiding nasty secrets. Greed people care too much about themselves and they are always involved in crime to satisfy their unending desire which eventually leads them into destruction (Krekels 228). In the Clue film, we see different people committing crimes of murder and other felonies for selfish gain. We see Mr. Boddy blackmailing other guests by threatening them that he will expose their guilt secret if he gets arrested. Therefore, he gives them different weapons to kill Wadsworth to avoid being exposed and humiliated. However, his selfish motives led him to destruction as he was the one being killed instead. Though there is no visible trace of how he was killed, his body was discovered with new injuries from the candlestick, a weapon that was given to one of the quests.

On the hand, Miss Scarlet kills Yvette with other murder victims to protect her business of extortion and to sell the other guests’ secret. Unfortunately, her selfish motive aborts as she gets detained by Wadsworth who has been an undercover FBI agent and hence lost everything. Lastly, Mrs. Peacock kills all the victims in order to keep her secret rendezvous of bribes from a foreign power. As she tries to escape to her car she gets apprehended by the chief to face criminal punishment.

Works Cited

https://www.popcornflix.com%2Fmovie%2F18-4fbd6a7a-f431-4e82-95f9-883ecb5c56be-clue%2Fdetails

Krekels, Goedele. ”Dispositional greed.” Personality and Individual Differences 74 (2015): 225-230.