Kate Evans

Tom Ripley is a social climber, a con man and a con artist who, and even Patricia Highsmith admitted, you know, the book, the premise of the book is based upon a couple of sort of outrageous coincidences in terms of he basically gets hired by Dickie Greenleaf's very rich father to go to Europe, to go to Italy and to try to encourage Dickie Greenleaf to return to America because his mother is unwell and

And Dickie seems to be living the high life on the trust fund allowance.

And Tom Ripley, who is already, you know, being chased by creditors and, you know, looking over his shoulder because of some of his con work, jumps at the chance to go over to Italy to meet Dickie Greenleaf.

And you have this astonishing 50 pages really where he befriends Dickie Greenleaf, you know, becomes his sort of confident best friend

They fall out and there's a murder all within this incredibly dense 50 pages and then suddenly you have Tom Ripley becoming this chameleon who becomes Dickie Greenleaf to try to get away with murder.

Michael Rybotham?

I actually don't agree.

With her?

No, I think he's driven more by self-loathing.

You know, he hates being Tom Ripley.

He hates being... He hates where he came from.

He hates the way he was treated by, you know, his aunt, I mean, called a sissy.

He hates... I think he hates his closet homosexuality, you know.

I mean, he...

He hates being, and that's why, you know, when he becomes Dickie Greenleaf, he seems to finally come into his own.

And that moment in the book where he has to go back to being Tom Ripley, he fights so hard against because he hates being Tom Ripley.

He's just not comfortable being that.

He wants to be somebody else.

And I think that's what motivates him.

I think it's to do with the fact that he doesn't, he's a social climber.