How are we meant to interpret Cal's character? For someone who is meant to be a narcicisst, his behavior seemed a little more shady than a typical narcicisst, such as having no concern for the "better half" and practically laughing in Rose's face that Jack would be dead. Are we supposed to assume that he may have been hiding behind a fake persona until Rose started to defy him?
shareCal was a spoiled brat and narcissist who was used to getting what he wanted. That was pretty clear.
But Cal was also pretty patient with Rose's stubbornness until she first cheated on him and then rubbed his nose in it, and that's when he went overboard in a matter of speaking. How many men wouldn't sneer with the thought that the guy who just smashed his fiance was likely going to die? A few would I think.
It comes down to Cal being a man of his times, and the type of man most women of those times would have loved to marry, warts and all. We can't retroactively judge people by the morals of our time.
Cal was pretty damn sociopathic and selfish, not just "misunderstood", remember how he got onto a lifeboat? Yup, took a child away from her family and then left her to die!
The child at that point was abandoned IIRC. But yeah, he was a skunk for claiming he was all the child had in order to get on the lifeboat.
The child was lost. Of course, Cal used her to get onto a lifeboat, but he may have saved her life, even if she may have been orphaned.
a moment of humanity by Cal woulda been nice seeing he girl. like adding in earlier in the film that Cal is obsessed with having kids. and seeing her awakens something and he saves her unthinkingly. But still ultimately using it as an opportunity to get on a raft. but I prefer character driven stories not 2dimensional people.. Every single person was doing whatever the F they could to get on the lifeboat, but Cals shown as worse cause he tried to bribe the guy earlier?
shareI don't think he's 'evil'. Being older and having a better understanding of the times due to many Jane Austen movies, lol I completely get where Cal was coming from in the story. Definitely a man of his time. People forget that Rose's family was using Cal for his money. They were poor and he was the only way to get out of debt. The entire time he is with Rose she is rebuking him at every turn from talking back to the paintings she chose. Rose's perspective is a whole other monster...I am only going by Cal's here. There was definitely jealously with Jack because after all he has been doing for Rose and truly being in love with her, she's giving all the attention he was yearning for to the poor guy. It made sense that he would snap after the way Rose so cruelly revealed the infidelity. She put that drawing in the safe KNOWING he was going to find it. And then add on that the stress of this sinking boat, can you blame anyone for the way they were all acting?
That all being said, I definitely don't condone or defend his actions at the end. trying to kill Jack definitely makes you the villain of the story. He got what he deserved at the end. I think over all it shows the difference between the ignobility of the nobility in storytelling.
I know it was the old days and he's expected to hold authority over a woman, but I don't think someone who behaves like Cal are capable of real or true feelings for anyone else. If anything, he was motivated by having a wife to make himself look good rather than having legitimate feelings for her. If he didn't give her any problems prior to flipping the table, I'd say it's more to make himself look like a gentleman respecting his boundaries than actually showing empathy or concern for her. I don't agree with everything Rose did to him, but she had a completely different mindset that she wasn't able to break out of so easily.
I also questioned him about being an actual psycho of sorts because of how he laughed in Rose's face that Jack would be dead soon in a very odd manner of wording, which was completely unnecessary assuming he wanted to maintain good terms, even though he had authority. It just seemed with him doing that he showed far less concern with her needs and welfares than someone like him would normally have, he already punished her enough by slapping her, which was probably seen as a normal thing to do back then for being cheated on, but it makes NO sense to rub it in her face after he's alredy expressed his anger enough, that is unless he's not the most socially graceful individual around.
Rose really hurt him, but he was a callous moron too.
shareHe did try to murder both Jack and Rose with a handgun. There's that.
share