John doe

John Doe

Little is said about Mr. Doe, the infamous murderer of the film Seven. Nevertheless, through his actions one can draw a logical conclusion as to what mental disorder, if any, dominated John Doe’s life. First of all, through the movie it’s clear that John Doe presents an abnormal type of behavior as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. He presents asignificant behavioral syndrome, which is associated with risk of suffering, death and pain, however Mr. Doe’s behavior is certainly not a response to an event such as death of family member; his behavior needs to be explained through the eyes of psychological analysis. As the movie begins we are taken to a crime investigation led by two detectives, Somerset and Mills. The crime scene shows a deadobese man face down in a plate of spaghetti. While searching for clues in the crime scene, Detective Somerset finds the word Gluttony written behind the obese man’s fridge. After this finding they are linked with another murder, this time a lawyer named Eli Gould. When they find the word Greed written in the lawyer’s blood all over the floor, they conclude that this is the work of a serial killerinspired with the Seven Deadly Sins (Walker). By seing the first two murders it’s clear that this killer is not any normal killer, he’s meticolous and very inteligent with what he does. Afterwards, the Sloth victim is found tied to his bed for exactly one year. It’s at this point in the movie that the Detectives suspect of John Doe. They visit his department and encounter Doe himself coming backhome with groceries. For a split second he looked like a normal adult man, but when he opens fire he’s certainly not any regular man. After this event, both detectives go inside Doe’s department which is a clear representation of his religious mania. The atmosphere in the apartment is rather ascetic, you can see a simple setting. His bed has a red neon cross on the top, the windows are blocked,there are several locks in the doors and religious figures all around. Even though we are not told a lot about Doe, the collection of nearly 2000 notebooks of writings are the closest link as to who he is (Gilks). Doe seems to be an intellectual person, through his writings there are references to many religious sources. Following this, the sin of Lust took away the life of a prostitute, while thesin of Pride took the life of a model who chose suicide by sleeping pills instead of calling for help when Doe cut her nose. With two more sins left, John Doe gives up himself under the condition that he and the two detectives go to where the remaining to bodies are. While talking to John Doe we are exposed to his way of thinking, he “is revolted by the self-glorification of a sinful world. Hebelieves, that the human race in the divine scheme of things is a pathetic shadow of what we could have been, if we had not Fallen” (Gilks). As he converses with the detectives, he tells them he believes someone must do something to wake up the world and that he is “this someone” giving the world a wake up call. John Doe perceives himself as this sort of “Messiah”. Knowing what he was doing, he hadsomeone deliver a box containing the head Detective Mills’ wife. By mentioning this, the detective comes to embody the sin of Wrath and Doe himself embodies the sin of Envy of “the simple man’s life” as he says (Walker). Detective Mills, full of anger shoots Doe and his masterpiece is completed.
After careful analysis of Doe’s behavior, it’s clear that he has a strong beliefthat is firmly maintained although it’s not perceived as acceptable by society. Believing he has the job of killing people to prove that the world is full of sin is most certainly a strong delusion. However, this delusion is not directly caused by a general medical condition apparently he is in good physical health and not abusing any drugs. These delusions seem to have lasted more than a month,...