Tools of Characterization

Characterization in The Departed

Family Life

Billy Costigan is not close to his remaining his family. He grew up with divorced parents and spent his young years living with his mother and spending the weekends with his father. As he admits to Sergeant Dignam, he even had different accents he put on when living in the rough neighborhood of Southie and the rich neighborhood of the North Shore.

Meanwhile, Frank Costello is a guy who's never been able to have children himself, though he tries to become a symbolic father figure to young men like Billy and Colin. Unfortunately for him, this desire for a son is what ends up destroying him. Director Martin Scorsese once said that the thing he loved most about this movie is the way it explores issues of family, although he also admitted he didn't know what final verdict this movie gives on these issues.

Actions

Frank Costello will kill anyone who stands between him and what he wants, and that includes a police captain. Billy Costigan, on the other hand, will risk everything just to stop Frank from continuing to be the crime lord that he is. Finally, Colin Sullivan is a guy who wants to help Frank—but he also wants to make a life for himself and pursue his own ambitions. In the end, Colin decides he can't do this with Frank in his life, so he sells the guy out and totally kills him. The downside of all this is that Colin ends up getting killed, too.

Location

Most of movie takes place in the neighborhood of Southie in Boston. This is important: the only reason Frank Costello trusts Billy Costigan enough to let him into his gang is that Billy's family goes way back in the Southie neighborhood. Frank has a deep sense of loyalty to his 'hood, but he also wants to make sure that he's the man who runs the place, which means killing anyone who tries to mess with his business. Meanwhile, half of the police force in this movie seems to come from Southie, too, and many of them are the childhood friends of the very guys they're trying to put in jail.

Occupation

You can tell a lot about a person by his or her occupation, especially if that person is a murdering mob king. Yeah, Frank Costello is the kind of guy who will do anything to get power, so "mob boss" is a pretty appropriate career for him. Meanwhile, Billy Costigan is a guy who has always lived between two worlds—the rough world of Southie and the world of law and order on Boston's North Shore. And that's exactly why the job of undercover cop is a great fit for him. He has the Southie connections necessary to have street cred, and he's got a strong enough belief in he law to remember which side he's on.

Sex and Love

Despite his advanced age, Frank Costello likes to have a whole lot of sex. This might be connected to his desire for power, but it might also be connected to his frustration that after decades of having it, he's still never been able to produce a child.

Meanwhile, Colin Sullivan's fiancée Madolyn shows us some insight into her character when she cheats on Colin with Billy and then tells Billy she would lie to Colin if he ever questioned her about it.

Finally, Billy shows us that he's looking for human connection when he sleeps with his psychologist Madolyn. After months of private conversations, he feels like she's the only person he can be his true self with, and this understandably translates into a desire to be with her romantically.