Daily Dialogue — June 4, 2017

PALPATINE: Only through me can you achieve a power greater than any Jedi. Learn to know the dark side of the Force, Anakin, and you will be able to save your wife from certain death.
ANAKIN: What did you say?
PALPATINE: Use my knowledge, I beg you . . .
ANAKIN: You’re the Sith Lord!
PALPATINE: I know what has been troubling you . . . Listen to me. Don’t continue to be a pawn of the Jedi Council! Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve been searching for a life greater than that of an ordinary Jedi . . . a life of significance, of conscience. — Are you going to kill me?
ANAKIN: I would certainly like to.
PALPATINE: I know you would. I can feel your anger. It gives you focus, makes you stronger.
ANAKIN: I am going to turn you over to the Jedi Council.
PALPATINE: Of course you should. But you’re not sure of their intentions, are you? 
ANAKIN: I will quickly discover the truth of all this.
PALPATINE: You have great wisdom, Anakin. Know the power of the dark side. The power to save Padme.

— Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith (2005), written by George Lucas

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Seduction. Today’s suggestion by Gisela Wehrl.

Trivia: In 2007, Dr. Eric Bui, a psychiatrist in Toulouse, France, co-wrote a study that diagnosed Anakin Skywalker as having borderline personality disorder. When the authors reported their findings at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association they stated that Skywalker fit the diagnosis criteria: difficulty controlling anger, stress-related breaks with reality, impulsivity, obsession with abandonment and a “pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by alternating between extremes of ideation and devaluation”.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Gisela: “Without even knowing the movies my 5-year-old asks why Darth Vader went over to the dark side. In this scene the chancellor seduces Anhin Skywalker. He promises him that there is a way to save Anakin’s beloved one from death. That’s an option lots of people would do anything for. This option hinders Anakin from killing the chancellor immediately after he has confessed that he is a Sith Lord.

It’s were the seduction starts, therefore Anakin couldn’t decide anything right away. But Anakin’s indecisiveness weakens the scene. Beyond that Palpatine’s strongest argument is to save Padme, compared to that everything he says in between seems a bit lame.”