How could somebody be raped or killed by a ghost? Or why would a ghost need a bath or sleep, or whiskey, food, etc..
Agree. He not only needed sleep, food, shave, bath, etc., he also dreamed (a human brain chemical reaction), plus he quite purposely avoided Cassie's gunfire.
I think he's the brother and learned of exactly what happened, so is seeking revenge (hence the same name, Duncan). Heck, he could be a fraternal twin (which means they don't look alike) and has psychically relived the torture.
He could be, and that's the way I'm leaning, but he didn't show much interest in the town until the town found interest in him - the hired gunfighters picking a fight with him in the barber shop, Cassie attacking him, and then finally the town committee convincing him to protect them against the three convicts by paying him with anything he wanted. But.. to counter that is the fact that he wanted Mordecai to put Duncan's name on the grave and the cryptic quote: "yes you do" to Mordecai not knowing the stranger's name.
There are a lot of explanations, including he is the same man and doesn't look the same because of a beard, longer hair, maybe scars, etc.
Well, Duncan was bullwhipped to death - he would have had whip scars on his body which weren't there when he took that bath. Also, a whipping suitable to cause enough facial changes to not be recognizable to townsfolks would have left him horribly disfigured.
What do I think? Split between the stranger being Duncan's brother (his dream of the bullwhipping fits because he would have heard about the method of his brother's death) and a regular guy who was somehow possessed by Duncan's spirit. The possession is a long shot because the stranger's personality didn't match Duncan's at all.
My interpretation is that he was Duncan's brother.
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PrimeMinisterX (8710)
9 months ago
I think that to interpret it as the Stranger being anything other than Duncan's ghost is to ignore what I found to be a highly unambiguous ending with the "yes you do" line and the camera panning down to the tombstone. It seemed to me that the film was telling you he's a ghost in the loudest possible way without coming right out and telling you.
As for the concerns regarding that he ate and bathed and slept and so forth, this certainly wouldn't be the first--or last--ghost story in which the ghost was able to quite convincingly appear human in all respects.
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strntz (12230)
9 months ago
As for the concerns regarding that he ate and bathed and slept and so forth, this certainly wouldn't be the first--or last--ghost story in which the ghost was able to quite convincingly appear human in all respects.
It wasn't just "appearing" human, it was much more. When the Stranger went out to soften up the gang with some friendly dynamite and shooting off an ear, he mounted a horse and rode out there. He also made sure the town tough didn't stick his knife in his back.
Since ghosts don't exist in real life or are at the very most theoretical as far as we know, I won't use another movie's portrayal as canon (what movie would you say best portrays a ghost as completely corporeal? The best I can think of is The Wraith).
The Stranger's "yes you do" could very well mean his surname, something he never gave to anyone. And really, the Stranger could have just said that not being a ghost or even the Marshal's brother - he was disgusted when Belden's wife told him how the Marshal was bull whipped to death on the town committee's orders with no one helping. Telling Mordecai that he did know his name could have just been spinning a yarn.
In any case, a ghost aspect kind of dilutes the story - we like to see bullies get their due but if it comes at the hand of a supernatural creature, the outcome was a forgone conclusion - the Stranger was going to win even if shot or stabbed. If the Stranger is Marshal Duncan's brother, he exacts revenge as a consequence of his cunning, courage, and skills - makes a more satisfying story.
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