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Is Connery Bond a psychopath?
Is Bond a psychopath? Interesting question. Professor Robert Hare is a criminal psychologist, and the creator of the PCL-R, a psychological assessment used to determine whether someone is a psychopath.
Hare’s test is simple: a list of 20 criteria, each given a score of 0 (if it doesn’t apply to the person), 1 (if it partially applies) or 2 (if it fully applies).
The list in full is:
glibness and superficial charm,
grandiose sense of self-worth,
pathological lying,
cunning/manipulative,
lack of remorse,
emotional shallowness,
callousness and lack of empathy,
unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions,
a tendency to boredom,
a parasitic lifestyle,
a lack of realistic long-term goals,
impulsivity,
irresponsibility,
lack of behavioural control,
behavioural problems in early life,
juvenile delinquency,
criminal versatility,
a history of “revocation of conditional release” (ie broken parole),
multiple marriages, and
promiscuous sexual behaviour.
A pure, prototypical psychopath would score 40.
A score of 30 or more qualifies for a diagnosis of psychopathy.
I would suggest that the Connery Bond, if not over the line, comes close. What possibly saves him is the discipline of government service, with clear ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. The big unknown is whether should he leave government service, would he his ‘work skills’ drift into how he lives his private life
Of course, we only see him at work, with minimal ‘off duty’ moments. But even then, picking up Sylvia Trench and delaying his both departures (to Jamaica and to M’s briefing), his juvenile tussle with Count Lippe, etc, do not conflict with the above characteristics
Hare’s test is simple: a list of 20 criteria, each given a score of 0 (if it doesn’t apply to the person), 1 (if it partially applies) or 2 (if it fully applies).
The list in full is:
glibness and superficial charm,
grandiose sense of self-worth,
pathological lying,
cunning/manipulative,
lack of remorse,
emotional shallowness,
callousness and lack of empathy,
unwillingness to accept responsibility for actions,
a tendency to boredom,
a parasitic lifestyle,
a lack of realistic long-term goals,
impulsivity,
irresponsibility,
lack of behavioural control,
behavioural problems in early life,
juvenile delinquency,
criminal versatility,
a history of “revocation of conditional release” (ie broken parole),
multiple marriages, and
promiscuous sexual behaviour.
A pure, prototypical psychopath would score 40.
A score of 30 or more qualifies for a diagnosis of psychopathy.
I would suggest that the Connery Bond, if not over the line, comes close. What possibly saves him is the discipline of government service, with clear ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. The big unknown is whether should he leave government service, would he his ‘work skills’ drift into how he lives his private life
Of course, we only see him at work, with minimal ‘off duty’ moments. But even then, picking up Sylvia Trench and delaying his both departures (to Jamaica and to M’s briefing), his juvenile tussle with Count Lippe, etc, do not conflict with the above characteristics
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Comments
In fact, why even bring this up as a topic? It sounds like something some aspiring academic would've used to try to draw attention to himself back when Bondmania was huge in the mid '60s.
1) The cinematic bond
2) Bond from the books
James Bond's psychopathy varies between iterations. I think you could classify Connery's - Craig's - Dalton's Bond as being psychopathic on some level. Moore-Lazenby-Brosnan's Bonds are similar, but seemingly to a lesser degree. The literary Bond, despite how ruthless he can be, doesn't generally seem to take pleasure in killing.
In Fleming's novels, he shows conscience, who takes calculated risks, but is not entirely fearless, shows empathy and is not all that emotionally detached. The Bond of the films was changed to suit film audiences; he was, for example, made to make tasteless, sadistic jokes, like,: "Shocking, positively shocking,"; "I think he got the point,": "He had lots of guts,"; and so on. The Bond of the books did not make jokes. It is true that he did not show much of a sense of humour. But he grappled with his conscience. He was focused and committed to his job, as a servant of the Crown. But he did form attachments, had several firm friends and had warmth and affection for his friends. He had loving relationships with women. He was married twice, wasn't he? He was only single because the three women he really loved died violently. These deaths contributed to his breakdown and depression. None of this was shown in the films. I think James Bond is an borderline psychopath in the sense that his line of work has made him emotionally distant and untrusting. He isn't a genuine psychopath like people who were ruthless since their childhood, he's more of a emotionally damaged human.
He doesn't kill without reason like SCARAMANGA "You get as much fulfillment as i do" ,in the film he wanted to kill bond because he thought it would be a pleasure to kill someone whom he share so much common traits with.
That's a psychopath.
EDIT: Thanks @Gerard
Couldn't agree more :))