Trainspotting: Mark Renton



Trainspotting: Mark Renton character analysis 

In Trainspotting Danny Boyle not only creates the character Mark Renton, but he also develops him in a way that makes the audience understand him, but also sympathies with him. From the beginning of the film right through to the end Danny Boyle focuses more of the potential of Mark Renton rather than who he definitively. At the beginning Renton seem to be a quite care free character that is clearly a drug addict. One thing that is quite unexpected is that he is aware of his addiction.
 Image result for trainspotting heroinAfter Renton's opening monologue regarding choosing life he says "But why would I want to do things like that? And the reasons...who needs reasons when you have heroin. From this it is made clear that at this stage of the film that drugs are clearly more important to Renton than 'choos[ing] life' and all the things that come with it at this stage. He then goes on to say "People think it's all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it. Otherwise we wouldn't do it. After all, we're not fucking stupid. At least, we're not that fucking stupid". The fact also mentions the bad side of drug use shows that he is aware that what he is doing is the exact antithesis of 'choosing life'. However, from what he says that follows implies that is entire mindset is being influenced by the drug use. One thing that also interesting is that included in this list of things associated with choosing life he mentions friends. From this it can be inferred that at the beginning of the film he sees friends as a positive thing that may even bring him away from the lifestyle he was living. 

 This can be directly compared to the final scene after steals the money from his friends. Even though the stuff that he is saying his similar the way he is even saying it is different, essentially meaning that by the end, the definition of 'choose life' has changed. He says it in a more uplifting tone, which suggest that he not only redefined the meaning of 'choose life' but also redefined his attitude towards it. 
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Another one of the noticeable differences about the two monologues is that in the first one Renton mentions choosing friends, whereas in the second one he mentions choosing a family. From this we can infers that through his journey he may have come to the conclusion that friends may in fact be the thing that was holding him down the whole time and his family were the only that actually truly done what's best for him. 


In conclusion, via the means of the opening and the closing monologue we are able to see the change both definition of 'choose life' and Renton's ability to carry it out. 

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