lucy

His relationship with abuse is potent in certain moments, because he was raised in a violent environment and it shows! He often seemingly wishes to victimise people the same way he himself has been victimised. He says that while watching Bunny die all that played through his head were the small humiliations that Bunny had put him through. He is so angry during the conversation with Julian he wishes to kill Henry, the aggressor when it comes to the murders in the book. His thoughts of harm never come out of nowhere.

The bedroom scene with Camilla specifically is when we see this most definitely. It is arguably his cruelest moment, yet still fits well within his personality. Prior to this he expresses empathy towards Camilla’s situation and tells Francis he can’t blame her for leaving Charles. During this scene he is horrified at the amount of abuse Charles causes and the physical scarring it’s left on her. Yet, he still wishes to victimise her further, to assault her by grabbing her by her already hurt (specifically already hurt by someone else) wrist and strangle her.

But despite all of this, he never acts out these wishes of violence, he even steps away when Camilla steps towards him, because he doesn’t enjoy his urges to cause harm. He freezes when he’s being threatened or hurt (after the punch, while Charles holding a gun to him.) And even outside of a character angle this is important to the plot, Richard’s action very rarely have much bearing in the narrative, his violence would have no place in the story.