Rhoda Penmark
Encyclopedia
Rhoda Penmark is a fictional character
in William March
's 1954 novel The Bad Seed
and the stage play adapted from it by Maxwell Anderson
. She was portrayed by Patty McCormack
in the 1956 film adaptation
and by Carrie Wells in the 1985 made for TV remake.
s a classmate and a janitor who suspects her. It is also revealed that she murdered an elderly neighbor the year before. Despite coming from a loving home, she is a sociopath
who is willing to kill to get what she wants. She is also a precociously talented con artist, adept at using a sweet, innocent facade to mask her true self from adults so they will give in to her. This act does not work on other children, who sense who she truly is and avoid her.
March writes that Rhoda's evil
is gene
tic; her maternal grandmother was a serial killer
, who also began killing at a young age (Rhoda's mother, Christine, was adopted at a very young age and so doesn't remember her real parents).
her classmate, Claude Daigle, who won a penmanship
award she feels she deserved, after beating him with her tap shoes
. While no one initially suspects Rhoda, Christine notices that she seems startlingly untroubled by the other child's death. Christine, who has always vaguely sensed something abnormal about her child, is troubled, but dismisses any possibility that Rhoda was actually involved in the boy's death.
The only adults who see through Rhoda are Leroy, the somewhat addled janitor, and, to a lesser extent, her teacher Miss Fern, who observes that she is a poor loser and rather selfish. Leroy spies on Rhoda and repeatedly threatens to "tell on her." Rhoda says no one would believe him, but begins to make plans to get rid of him.
Christine tries to relieve her fears by talking abstractly about the murder with her adopted father and Mrs. Breedlove, a neighbor who dabbles in psychiatric theories
about personality
. During the conversation, she recovers a long-repressed memory
of her real mother, "the incomparable Bessie Denker", a serial poison
er who died in the electric chair
. That night, Claude's mother arrives, drunk, at Christine's home stating that there is "something funny about this whole thing" and asks Christine to ask Rhoda about her last few moments with the boy. While Christine is locating Rhoda's necklace, which Mrs. Breedlove is having engraved for the child, Christine finds the Penmanship Medal in Rhoda's treasure chest. She confronts Rhoda, who initially denies having done anything wrong, but confesses after Christine finds the bloodied shoes Rhoda had beaten Claude with before drowning him. Christine is horrified, but Rhoda doesn't seem to understand what the fuss is about; after all, she says, "it was Claude Daigle who drowned, not me."
While Christine grapples with what to do, Rhoda silences Leroy by locking him in a furnace
room and setting it on fire. When she learns what her daughter has done, Christine makes a gut-wrenching decision: she must kill Rhoda to keep her from killing again. She gives her a lethal dose of sleeping pills, hoping she will die without pain, and then commits suicide
by shooting herself in the head.
Rhoda survives when a neighbor hears the shot and takes her to the hospital. Nobody is the wiser as to what Rhoda has done, and she is free to kill again.
, while Christine survives her suicide attempt.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in William March
William March
William March was an American author and a highly decorated US Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was praised by critics and heralded as "the unrecognized genius of our time", without attaining popular appeal until after his death.March grew up in rural...
's 1954 novel The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by William March, nominated for the 1966 National Book Award for Fiction. It was the last major work written by March, and, although published in his lifetime, its enormous critical and commercial success was largely realized after his death, one month after publication...
and the stage play adapted from it by Maxwell Anderson
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist and lyricist.-Early years:Anderson was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela Stephenson, both of Scots and Irish descent...
. She was portrayed by Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
in the 1956 film adaptation
The Bad Seed (film)
The Bad Seed is a 1956 American horror-thrillerfilm directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It is based upon a play by Maxwell Anderson, which in turn is based upon William March's 1954 novel The Bad Seed. The play was adapted by John Lee Mahin for the screenplay of the film...
and by Carrie Wells in the 1985 made for TV remake.
Character overview
Rhoda Penmark is an eight-year-old girl who, in the course of the novel, murderMurder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
s a classmate and a janitor who suspects her. It is also revealed that she murdered an elderly neighbor the year before. Despite coming from a loving home, she is a sociopath
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
who is willing to kill to get what she wants. She is also a precociously talented con artist, adept at using a sweet, innocent facade to mask her true self from adults so they will give in to her. This act does not work on other children, who sense who she truly is and avoid her.
March writes that Rhoda's evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
is gene
Gene
A gene is a molecular unit of heredity of a living organism. It is a name given to some stretches of DNA and RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. Living beings depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains...
tic; her maternal grandmother was a serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
, who also began killing at a young age (Rhoda's mother, Christine, was adopted at a very young age and so doesn't remember her real parents).
Character history (novel)
Rhoda drownsDrowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
her classmate, Claude Daigle, who won a penmanship
Penmanship
Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called hands, whilst an individual personal style of penmanship is referred to as handwriting....
award she feels she deserved, after beating him with her tap shoes
Tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...
. While no one initially suspects Rhoda, Christine notices that she seems startlingly untroubled by the other child's death. Christine, who has always vaguely sensed something abnormal about her child, is troubled, but dismisses any possibility that Rhoda was actually involved in the boy's death.
The only adults who see through Rhoda are Leroy, the somewhat addled janitor, and, to a lesser extent, her teacher Miss Fern, who observes that she is a poor loser and rather selfish. Leroy spies on Rhoda and repeatedly threatens to "tell on her." Rhoda says no one would believe him, but begins to make plans to get rid of him.
Christine tries to relieve her fears by talking abstractly about the murder with her adopted father and Mrs. Breedlove, a neighbor who dabbles in psychiatric theories
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
about personality
Personality psychology
Personality psychology is a branch of psychology that studies personality and individual differences. Its areas of focus include:* Constructing a coherent picture of the individual and his or her major psychological processes...
. During the conversation, she recovers a long-repressed memory
Repressed memory
Repressed memory is a hypothetical concept used to describe a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall; also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life...
of her real mother, "the incomparable Bessie Denker", a serial poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
er who died in the electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
. That night, Claude's mother arrives, drunk, at Christine's home stating that there is "something funny about this whole thing" and asks Christine to ask Rhoda about her last few moments with the boy. While Christine is locating Rhoda's necklace, which Mrs. Breedlove is having engraved for the child, Christine finds the Penmanship Medal in Rhoda's treasure chest. She confronts Rhoda, who initially denies having done anything wrong, but confesses after Christine finds the bloodied shoes Rhoda had beaten Claude with before drowning him. Christine is horrified, but Rhoda doesn't seem to understand what the fuss is about; after all, she says, "it was Claude Daigle who drowned, not me."
While Christine grapples with what to do, Rhoda silences Leroy by locking him in a furnace
Furnace
A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...
room and setting it on fire. When she learns what her daughter has done, Christine makes a gut-wrenching decision: she must kill Rhoda to keep her from killing again. She gives her a lethal dose of sleeping pills, hoping she will die without pain, and then commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by shooting herself in the head.
Rhoda survives when a neighbor hears the shot and takes her to the hospital. Nobody is the wiser as to what Rhoda has done, and she is free to kill again.
Film adaptation
Patty McCormack portrayed Rhoda in the 1956 film adaptation. The ending was revised to fit the Hays Code, which did not permit characters to get away with their crimes. In this version, Rhoda is killed by a bolt of lightningLightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
, while Christine survives her suicide attempt.