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Suicide Is Painless: Difference between revisions
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''It brings on many changes''
''And I can take or leave it if I please''
''And you can do the same thing if you please!''
|"[[Trope Namer|Suicide is Painless]]", from ''[[M*A*S*H (film)|M*A*S*H]]''}}
The opposite of [[Driven to Suicide]]. A character is just tired of life, wants to see what death is like, or knows he only has a short time to live anyway, or is just plain crazy. So, usually while sporting a huge smile, they kill themselves, often by jumping off of a building. Either played straight for creepy effect to establish how out of touch a character is with reality, or alternately used in [[Dead Baby Comedy]] for laughs.
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* In Season Two of ''[[True Blood]]'', Godric tired of his existence and allowed himself to be captured by the anti-vampire fanatic group The Fellowship of the Sun, hoping that his death would help bring about reconciliation between humans and vampires. After he is rescued by Sookie and Eric, he tries briefly to hide his reasons for allowing his capture, but eventually confesses that he is tired of living. He later kills himself by 'meeting the sun' on a rooftop, bursting into flame and crumbling into dust.
* {{spoiler|Moriarty}} follows this trope in the Series Two finale of ''[[Sherlock]]''.
== Real Life ==▼
* [[Truth in Television]]: The suicide note left by the actor George Sanders attributed his actions to simple boredom.▼
** As did [[Hunter S. Thompson]] in his famous suicide note (titled "Football Season Is Over"):▼
{{quote|''"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun - for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax - This won't hurt." ''}}▼
** Timothy Leary (although he didn't commit suicide) recommended something similar.▼
** And George Eastman, founder of Kodak, had a suicide note that read, in total, "Dear friends: My work is done. Why wait?"▼
* The Roman historian Tacitus describes the suicide of Petronius this way—although it was forced on him by Nero, he uses the opportunity to say "screw you" to the emperor:▼
{{quote|Yet he did not fling away life with precipitate haste, but having made an incision in his veins and then, according to his humour, bound them up, he again opened them, while he conversed with his friends, not in a serious strain or on topics that might win for him the glory of courage. And he listened to them as they repeated, not thoughts on the immortality of the soul or on the theories of philosophers, but light poetry and playful verses. To some of his slaves he gave liberal presents, a flogging to others. He dined, indulged himself in sleep, that death, though forced on him, might have a natural appearance. Even in his will he did not, as did many in their last moments, flatter Nero or Tigellinus or any other of the men in power. On the contrary, he described fully the prince's shameful excesses, with the names of his male and female companions and their novelties in debauchery, and sent the account under seal to Nero.}}▼
** Henryk Sienkiewicz's dramatization of Petronius' death, in his novel ''Quo Vadis'', imagines a letter to Nero of equal parts wit and snark, almost savaging his ex-friend more for his artistic "skills" than his crimes.▼
{{quote|"Be well, but don't sing. Kill, but don't write verses. Poison, but don't dance. Burn cities, but don't play the lyre. This is the last friendly bit of guidance you will ever get from Petronius, the arbiter of elegance."}}▼
* It's well documented that many people who commit suicide after being depressed for a long period of time often seem to be at peace right before killing themselves, because making the decision gives them a sense of finality. The result is that those left behind are often shocked, especially if the person suddenly appeared to be getting better before their death.▼
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** Let's not forget the recent episode where, after learning that Meatwad recruited the Aqua Teens into the Marine Corp, Shake promptly blows his own head off with a shotgun so they can't take him, and ''they take him anyway.'' (he also shows up miraculously alive in the next shot, with his head taped back together.)
* One of the more disturbing episodes from ''[[Ren and Stimpy]]'' (and that's really saying something) features a ghost who tries to scare the title characters away from his house. When he fails miserably, he decides to stab himself to death. The protagonists stop him, only to convince him to drink poison instead. This actually leads to him being resurrected. As a black man with a completely different voice and personality.
▲== Real Life ==
▲* [[Truth in Television]]: The suicide note left by the actor George Sanders attributed his actions to simple boredom.
▲** As did [[Hunter S. Thompson]] in his famous suicide note (titled "Football Season Is Over"):
▲{{quote|''"No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun - for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax - This won't hurt." ''}}
▲** Timothy Leary (although he didn't commit suicide) recommended something similar.
▲** And George Eastman, founder of Kodak, had a suicide note that read, in total, "Dear friends: My work is done. Why wait?"
▲* The Roman historian Tacitus describes the suicide of Petronius this way—although it was forced on him by Nero, he uses the opportunity to say "screw you" to the emperor:
▲{{quote|Yet he did not fling away life with precipitate haste, but having made an incision in his veins and then, according to his humour, bound them up, he again opened them, while he conversed with his friends, not in a serious strain or on topics that might win for him the glory of courage. And he listened to them as they repeated, not thoughts on the immortality of the soul or on the theories of philosophers, but light poetry and playful verses. To some of his slaves he gave liberal presents, a flogging to others. He dined, indulged himself in sleep, that death, though forced on him, might have a natural appearance. Even in his will he did not, as did many in their last moments, flatter Nero or Tigellinus or any other of the men in power. On the contrary, he described fully the prince's shameful excesses, with the names of his male and female companions and their novelties in debauchery, and sent the account under seal to Nero.}}
▲** Henryk Sienkiewicz's dramatization of Petronius' death, in his novel ''Quo Vadis'', imagines a letter to Nero of equal parts wit and snark, almost savaging his ex-friend more for his artistic "skills" than his crimes.
▲{{quote|"Be well, but don't sing. Kill, but don't write verses. Poison, but don't dance. Burn cities, but don't play the lyre. This is the last friendly bit of guidance you will ever get from Petronius, the arbiter of elegance."}}
▲* It's well documented that many people who commit suicide after being depressed for a long period of time often seem to be at peace right before killing themselves, because making the decision gives them a sense of finality. The result is that those left behind are often shocked, especially if the person suddenly appeared to be getting better before their death.
{{reflist}}
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