Compare and Contrast the presentation of disturbing behaviour in The Talented Mr Ripley and Frankenstein

Both Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt, authors of The Talented Mr Ripley and The Secret History, have created their novels to have a theme of disturbing behaviour, portraying it through how the characters act and also how their backgrounds have influenced their behaviour. Main protagonists Thomas Ripley and Richard Papen go through stages of showing abnormal behaviour which may be defined as behaviour that is disturbing and is often the result of distorted thoughts. Freud stated that human behaviour stems from the desire to cater to subconscious drives. This theory means that everything people do revolves around satisfying the subconscious urges. In the novel The Talented Mr Ripley, Tom Ripley has strange urges to take over the identity of one other character and because of this, he carries out murders and does everything he can to satisfy his impulses. In The Secret History, Richard Papen and his group of friends have the desire to get rid of another student and in order to give into this urge, they also end up murdering. This makes both main characters in each novel very similar in the way that they give in to their subconscious drives.
Patricia Highsmith portrays Tom Ripley to be, at first, a timid and nervous character who has been through a lot in the past and was raised by his wicked Aunt Dottie. However, as the novel goes on, the writer delves deeper into his darker and twisted persona. This also happens in The Secret History as Richard Papen first starts out as a character who struggles to make friends to a character who seems to be capable of much more than he thought. Critics state that ‘Highsmith takes the reader on a dark roller-coaster ride of deception, jealousy, deceit and murder, followed by evasion, more deceit, and more murder. Rather than chilling, senseless violence, Highsmith carefully crafts a mesmerizing tale of pursuit and near-miss as Ripley manages to stay just ahead of capture. He is crafty and calm even when in a panic. For the