Mystic River: Question #2

Throughout the entirety of the plot of Clint Eastwood's Mystic River, we follow three childhood friends who ultimately branch into three distinctly separate sectors of the social spectrum. Yet what drives each of them apart from one another is their separate ways of handling the situations of guilt that life places into their very hands. As Jimmy has been the victim of guilt's wrath for a majority of his life (having been involved with a criminal past that continues to haunt his present), he constantly indulges in episodes of catharsis, most notably his final confession to his wife of Dave's murder. With Sean now leading a life as a clean-cut detective, it is evident that he also endures a great deal of guilt in considering the case of Katie's murder from the most neutral perspective possible, despite that his friends are closely involved with it.

In Dave's case, however, his wife's shift in loyalty throughout the plot reflects upon his own sense of false guilt incited by his suspected role in the murder of Katie. While Celeste, bound by her conviction that Dave is the killer, acknowledges that she must consider the facts and approach Dave's friends of her suspicion, she falters to her tragic flaw of skepticism until the point at which she alerts Jimmy and her 'private loyalty' to her husband is broken.

It is likely that Celeste's reluctance was largely in part to the doubts she had of her husbands involvement in the murder. Yet despite her efforts, the real killer is revealed to be Ray Harris, Jr. along with his friend. A tragedy in itself, the unspoken secrets encompassing Katie's murder truly lie with the initial 9-1-1 call, in which a boy and an unknown accomplice are heard. Yet the unspoken secrets withheld by Dave earlier in the movie (the knife wound and the blood on his car) speak volumes of his innocence and his tragic flaw of naivety that ultimately leads to his kidnapping (twice, ironically!) and eventual murder.

Guilt was often the harbinger of some of the most climatic moments of Greek plays. The quote below by Elder David A. Bednar reflects upon the pivotal role that guilt plays in an individual's life and justifies the tolls it may take upon their conscience.