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Original Question:
At the end of Se7en, Kevin Spacey tells Brad Pitt to shoot him and become wrath, and Brad complies. First, does this qualify as wrath, and why? And second, was this stupid on Spacey's part, or bloody brilliant? That one would depend on your answer to the first question, I bet. >;)

Response:
After watching this movie, I came to an observation that this film is about total loss of control. That evil needed to be more resourceful and resilient. In the motions that Brad Pitt aka Detective Mills performed at the end of the film, in shooting the master murderer, Kevin Spacey aka John Doe, he did indeed commit wrath. I tracked his character throughout the movie, and I found that he fits in with my theory of what I believe wrath to be. Basically, to refresh that: A victim goes from Pain, to Anger, to Rage, to Fury…a full fledged path to Hatred and Malice. A system that is based on different levels of ill will. As well that I believe, Wrath is observed in different forms and levels of consciousness. Basically, my theory is that Wrath is a path or cycle. Mills (Pitt) follows the Wrath cycle twice in the movie. Once over the course of the movie as an unconscious state of the feeling for vengeance and working for wrath, basically his job as a police officer. The other cycle, was an instant, conscious, explosion of fury, a method of wrath, in shooting Spacey aka Doe. Indeed I qualify this as Wrath. As with this I will combine the question was John Doe (Spacey) stupid or bloody brilliant? Indeed, he was "blood brilliant" in choosing Mills as the victim for Wrath, to finalize his "work".

First, look deep within the role that Mills plays through the film. Look at his first cycle of Wrath, seeking retribution for the murdered and silently enjoying the suffering of the murderer. He is the replacement cop, the new one on the force. In all theory, the police play out a sense of wrath or retribution in the name of the law for the masses. New York is a cauldron of unpleasantries, the breeding grounds of pain and sorrow. The starting point of wrath, pain. It is present and shown throughout the atmosphere of the film. Throughout the investigation, Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is the cerebral puzzle solver, the one who is interested in the art of crime fighting. Whereas, Mills (Pitt) is a no-nonsense homicide detective who's willing to do whatever it takes, even forsake the law to track down the individual. He's hardwired to be more susceptible to wrath. The fact that he's willing to do whatever to get what he wants, even if he won't dare admit it is for himself, show's he can be easily bent to suggestion of wrath if hit closer to home. In the end this happened. Someone pulled a heart string too close and he got over the pain, shoved anger aside, and used the rage as his motivator and went to full fledged conscious fury.

The discussion that the two cops had with John Doe in the car, when they were out to find the two last victims, was tying in the ideas of what the first form of Wrath in Mills was. Mills has been obsessed with making those he is looking for in his job guilty. He can't see past what they might be, he only is closed minded to seeing them as "insane fucks" who don't have any reason. He is deep into a more silent form of wrath, wrath for the light, or even just the mortal realm…the police. By being a police officer he constantly feels the need to bring down the bad guy. Yet his partner is trying to deter him from this form of thinking, as his partner, Somerset, knows that it only leads to more dangerous forms of wrath. But the job of a police officer is subtle and silent wrath, justice and revenge for the dead and law. However, it is still classified as wrath, because they are blinded to any other thought that what is being done wrong to them can be taken as something else. The police in a sense are taking personal offence to the murders of "innocent" people. In this case, John Doe was trying to prove a point and make his motives studied for a long time. The police would not see into that, they labelled him as insane and sadistic. True, he probably was. But it all ties into what I'm saying that Wrath is a cycle that pushes aside just simple anger and pain…it manifests. Into a driving urge, need…..for vengeance without forgiveness. Be it light or dark. The police have no forgiveness. Mills has no forgiveness for murderers. In the following examples from the movie's dialogue, I will connect how Mills went through the unconscious silent path of wrath, or his first cycle. Mainly the path that lead to his more explosive results, as one wrath cycle can lead to another cycle, even larger than the last:

"SOMERSET: I'm, sorry, but even the most promising clues usually lead only to other clues. I've seen so many corpses rolled away... unrevenged.

MILLS: I've seen the same. I'm not the country hick you seem to think I am.

SOMERSET: In this city, if all the skeletons came out of all the closets... if every hidden bodies were to suddenly rise again, there'd be no more room for the living. "

This is one of the first quotes that ties into the ideals of what the police do, that their very job is a form of wrath. Maybe wrath used by the Light, but also can be manipulated to the dark side. The bodies are "unrevenged" and think of how many that are still out there, that need to be. Mills has this drive, to find murderers, make them pay. He is avenging the dead, but in actuality taking up their pain and sorrow into his own life. Their deaths and suffering are his burden. He is trying to get the enjoyment of finding the ones who caused this pain and making them suffer within the means of the law. Even though, he himself enjoys it thoroughly.

"MILLS: I'm sick of sitting around, waiting for him to kill again.

SOMERSET: This is the job. It's not an Easter egg hunt.

MILLS: There must be something in this pile of garbage we can follow. I mean, Christ... do we have to let this lunatic make all the moves.

SOMERSET: It's too dismissive to call him a lunatic. We can't make that mistake.

MILLS: Oh, blah, blah, blah. The guy's insane.

SOMERSET: It's a fine line between insane and inspired."

This example is a pin-point on the mind set that Mills has. When a person is being consumed by silent and unconscious wrath, the form of rage or fury can be shown in their personality. A driving need to take someone down, and make them pay, even if it means labelling them. Mills labels those murderers who are sick enough to kill in this fashion as lunatics and insane. He does not wish to think that Doe might actually be sane and trying to portray a message, even in a violent way.

"SOMERSET: By telling you this, I'm trusting you more than I trust most people.

MILLS: It'd be best if you got to the point, cause I'm about ready to punch you in the face."

Most of Wrath's victims have angry souls, an aggression that they cannot explain sometimes in the mortal realm. Mills was a fiery individual, ready to do anything to get to the point or get his answers. Look what he did when he kicked down the door to the apartment without a warrant, or how he ensued in a gun chase with the killer. Even when he was almost on death's doorstep. That fury, that outburst of rage and lust to "take him down", that vengeful spirit in him…the killer saw that.

Through the following examples we can see how Mills has been following the path of Wrath as it is leading into another and a more explosive one, when he shot down John Doe. The following was only part of my answering to why I believe Mills qualified to performing the act of wrath. He has become Wrath, and Doe (Spacey) saw that. The events leading up to the climax, there is a heated feud between Doe and Mills over the murders justification. Mills only saw him as a sick and insane lunatic, while Doe saw Mills as his final victim. Doe could see the sinner which Mills was all along, and like John Doe had pointed out that there were no innocent people, that the seven sins were so common, people were ignorant of them. John Doe could see that Mills saw in black and white, he was patient….a very dangerous and powerful attribute to a person who is believing he is serving justice. Both John Doe and Mills played out Wrath. Yet is Mills who must hold this more, as he is more consumed by Wrath and its cycle. In the final moments of the climax, when Mills is alone and finds out that his wife might have been killed….the more explosive and second cycle of Wrath begins to take its course in him.

John Doe has hurt the one closest to him. The one whom he loved and protected the most. A heart string, that when severed….there is only one choice…….vengeance. I know this all too well. Wrath is your only friend, and you can NOT turn away from it. No matter how hard you turn away, you always harbour the hatred….and Hatred may I remind….IS WRATH, a form of wrath that is kept within. It eats the soul, the wrath has been turned inward. Begin Mills' second cycle of Wrath.

Mills has been hit with the pain, the source of wrath. The land has been ploughed for the seeds of dwelling sorrow and tearing down the soul to make way for anger. Immense pain and suffering overwhelm him. What has been done to his wife and unborn child, it destroys his will. This form of pain is one of the biggest weak points of mortals or anyone. Open the doors for anger, the fury of despair, clouds to resentment and denial. He even shouts out "NO! GOD NO! OH GOD!" Spitting out them out, not believing the words. Inside him…he's facing the wall of anger, and is succeeding in jumping it to the next stage, rage. That denial through evil, shown through Doe is large enough for him to jump over anger.

The motivator, rage. In his fury of wanting to know if his wife is okay, he is building up the rage. It is trying to focus him on what must be done, find vengeance. Doe could see this. He saw that this final blow would bring his final plans into full swing, it was only how Mills' nature was. The knowledge of his wife's murder is consuming him. Furthermore, the knowledge of the baby is the final blow, the final push he needs by rage to be taken to fury. Raise the gun, and take aim. That is what rage has been saying to him. It is no longer about just pain and anger…they have balled up to make rage, and grow into fury. Fury, one of the final steps in the Wrath cycle. All that Mills wanted through this whole thing was vengeance and he enjoyed unconsciously when he pulled that trigger and killed John Doe. He was filled with the fury, that needs to be the one with the last laugh. To avenge his destroyed life. Those five bullet holes or more were enough to say that. Even when he was taken into custody, the final effects of wrath lived in him. He was set up for the other sins. Like I've said, Wrath is a leader to other sins, or a consumer for all their lives. Mills will probably face Doom now.

Consciously he lost himself in his job, unconsciously when the barrier of his pride was taken, for he was now alone without the one he loved more than any other. Ultimate retribution was to kill. One of the highest forms of Wrath in the mortal realm….to kill. Mills became what he hated. Seeing the guy rot in jail wasn't enough. Wrath went to the higher level of physical retribution.

Examples from the film's dialect I wish to point out on this are as follows:

"SOMERSET: I think Hemingway wrote somewhere... I can't remember where, but he wrote that in order to live in a place like this, you have to have the ability to kill. I think he meant you truly must be able to do it, not just faking it, to survive."

This quote deals with how Mills had to be, he had to seriously kill Doe…to survive. He had to pull the trigger to enact his vengeance and he could do it. He did not fake it, for he had to survive. It is how Wrath works. Wrath lives for making a soul purge another, so they can endure, all in the name of gaining back their pride. Mills may not have gained all his pride or self back, having lost his wife and child, but he did gain a satisfaction, knowing that Doe was dead.

"SOMERSET: You know... there's not going to be a happy ending to this. It's not possible anymore.

MILLS: If we get him, I'll be happy enough.

SOMERSET: No. Face it now. Stop thinking it's good guys against bad guys.

MILLS: How can you say that? Especially after today?

SOMERSET: Don't try to focus on things as black and white, because you'll go blind. There's no winning and losing here."

This is a dead set foreshadow to what the outcome of the movie is going to be. Mills even proves that he will be Wrath. He takes enjoyment from capturing the murderer, and he is also going to go blind (or unconscious in wrath) with the killer, because he is only going to be still thinking in black and white. He only sees this guy as "the one who killed my family….destroy him, then I will be avenged." Yet Somerset knows, that either way nobody wins or loses. Simply because he knows there will never be an end to those that must be avenged. It's like an eternal game of tag.

"SOMERSET: Just know that in this case there's not going to be any satisfaction. If we caught John Doe and he were the devil himself, if it turned out he were actually Satan, then, that might live up to our expectations. No human being could do these things, right? But, this is not the devil. It's just a man."

This quote is powerful in showing that the light is creeping in. The light is shown in Somerset, the darkness in John Doe, and Mills is the middle ground. Liable to turn to either side. Somerset, the light, is trying to show him that there is a choice. Yet the darkness in the end will consume Mills, make him falsely believe that there IS satisfaction in this case. That this may be just a man, but it will be retribution. No matter the level.

The following examples were emphasising that Mills was the middle man, who was struggling with his own Wrath cycle. The one that would in the end, become Wrath. The darkness flushed out his capability for forgiveness and drove him further and further, to pull that trigger. It was the entire plan.

Finally, was John Doe bloody brilliant in asking Mills to shoot him and become Wrath? Damn straight.

John Doe was like a wraith when he was on his knees in front of Mills when the package had been delivered, pushing him more and more with extremely hurtful and painful information to Mills. The Wraith do this, although they possess an individual and whisper and drive the soul over the edge. He was hinting at all that had happened, and pushed Mills further and further to rage by saying he had killed his wife taking her head off. Words that tear and rip at Mills… "she begged me to stop." Playing out the scene in Mills head, more and more, to get him to pull the trigger. That is what John Doe wanted. He needed a Wrath victim and who better than the man who was hunting him all along to begin with, to gain vengeance? Detective Mills. The detective who does anything to bring down the insane bastards. John Doe had studied him, watched him, patiently. Waiting and knowing that the media would be all over this one, the head cop that was after him and out for justice, fell from the Light to the Dark. It is what he wanted. To show the world about the sins, that we are all capable of them.

Even though John Doe seems himself as a martyr, he is not. Still some would think he's insane, granted he probably is, but he is also enacting a form of Wrath himself. That he enjoyed putting the sin against each sinner. That he was capable of dealing out gruesome murders, to turn the heads of the public. All in the name of avenging his "lord", he may claim working for the buddy upstairs, but its not so. He's been consumed on the path of Wrath as well. Something in his past provoked him to give in to the anger and turn to delusional thinking to think that what he was doing was for right, in truth it was for evil. Killing is a form of wrath, no matter which side. It is dark. John Doe's life was consumed in Wrath. He even said that was guilty of the sin of envy. Envy as I've said before is an instigator of Wrath. Working to push Wrath victims further. That's what he did, he used his sin of envy, to push Mills to become Wrath. The final sinner for Wrath had to live…to keep the motions going. So that the suffering could continue. John Doe enjoyed that knowledge, that he knew that Mills would be studied and prodded for all the answers and slip into unrepressed sorrow in jail, failing to avenge anymore. He enjoyed all that suffering, so he was not afraid to die, and it wasn't stupid in his mind set, as he died finishing his "work", his "masterpiece". So in the end Doe won, in a sense. Even though we'll welcome his ass to Hell with a grin.

The following examples I found throughout the movie to show the side that John Doe was brilliant in choosing this method to show Wrath and who should have done it:

"SOMERSET: Why always like this? Only after the fact... this sudden realization, that if you shoot someone, or stick a knife in them, that person will cease to exist.

TAYLOR: Crime of passion.."

John Doe did not just do his "work" he enjoyed every minute of it, he was an expert in it. He was committing the crime of passion over and over again. Passion could be defined as wrath. However, it is not to say that John Doe pities the sinners he kills, for he does not care that they cease to exist. For he is consumed with the vengeance for his "lord".

"SOMERSET: The bruises were caused by the muzzle of a forty-five. So, there was a gun against his head and he was given a choice. Eat, or get your brains blown out.

He ate his fill, and was forced to continue eating... till his body rejected the food. The killer held a bucket under him, and then kept serving. He took his time. The coroner says this might have gone on for more than twelve hours. The victim's throat was swollen from the effort, and there was probably a point where he passed out. That's when killer kicked him in the stomach. Popped him.

MILLS: This was one sadistic motherfucker.

CAPTAIN: That seems obvious."

Popping someone in the name of Gluttony? 12 hours of torture? John Doe was sadistic, as he enjoyed the suffering of the victim. He felt they had violated him, by spitting in his god's face by entering the seven deadly sins. He wasn't afraid to enact physical punishment in gruesome ways. He also knew, that this would bring the cops right to him. He needed a cop to be Wrath, the one who was tracking him the closest. The idea that a normal man was out to seek vengeance for what his deeds had done, made him admire Mills.

"SOMERSET: Just, realize... this is not some common lunatic. The type of intestinal fortitude it must take... to keep a man bound for a full year. To connect tubes to his genitals. To sever his hand and use it to plant fingerprints. He's methodical and exacting, and worst of all, he's patient. "

Methodical, a tactic used by Wrath; meaning that suffering and malice will be played out using different forms. To John Doe it was the murders. He may have some idea of what he is doing is enjoyable and another sin, but he is blinded by the idea that it is right, it is his "work". His work is to find a sinner for each of the deadly sins, and seeing that Wrath is not something he himself can do, as he is the sinner for Wrath and Envy, he needs another Wrathful sinner to enact the murder. He is patient do to so, a lot of consumed wrathful individuals are patient and cunning. Waiting and biding their time for a long while, to find the right moment to strike. Doe kept an eye on Mills.

"SOMERSET: Wrong! I sympathize completely, because if you can't win... then, if you don't ignore everything and everyone around you, you... you become like John Doe. It's easier to beat a child than it is to raise it, because it takes so much work to love. You just have to make sure you don't stop to think about the abuse, and the damage, because you'll risk being sad. Keep ignoring.

MILLS: You're talking about people who are mentally ill. You're...

SOMERSET: No I'm not! I'm talking about common, everyday life here. If you let yourself worry about one thing, you'll worry about the next, and the next, and it never ends. In this place, ignorance isn't just bliss, it's a matter of survival."

In these part of the script, it is helpful tool in showing how wrath works on mortals. If a mortal ignores everything that matters, meaning those that can pull you towards the light when consumed by pain…you'll head down the cycle of wrath. You'll become a John Doe. Yet John Doe is an extremely twisted form and level of Wrath. When mortals worry more and more about things that hurt them, they are more susceptible to pain and resentment, leading down the path of Wrath. Mills has fallen into this trap, he worries about not catching the killer, he worries about his opinions not being heard, he even worries about his wife constantly, in the end this destroys him. It is never going to end for him now, as he is not ignorant to the pain and power of suggestion when it comes to the reminders of his family's death. He doesn't survive inside. John Doe intended this for the final Wrath victim. The wrath victim dies inside, completely, eating their insides out. Mills is still young, and his life is already over.

"MILLS: We're not just going to pick up two more bodies, are we, Johnny? That wouldn't be... shocking enough. Wouldn't keep you on the front page of the newspapers.

JOHN DOE: Wanting people to pay attention, you can't just tap them on the shoulder. You have to hit them in the head with a sledgehammer. Then, you have their strict attention.

MILLS: What makes you so special that people should pay attention?

JOHN DOE: Not me. I'm not special. I'm not exceptional. This is, though. What I'm doing.

MILLS: I hate to burst your bubble, but other than the fact that you're especially sadistic, there's nothing unusual about these precious murders of yours.

JOHN DOE: You know that's not true. "

In this conversation that Mills has with Doe, it shows the opposing sides, but also shows that John Doe has the edge. These murders DO play an important eye opener, even if they are bizarre and gruesome, they holding meaning, even if not for a real "higher power". Action seems to be the only thing that people respond to anymore, or so that's the thoughts Doe possesses, the whole sledgehammer thing. That only ties in with what I said, that he is also on a path of Wrath, why wrath is the last sin. He cannot kill himself, as it wouldn't be true wrath, he needed the other sinner to kill him. The sinner that is unconscious to his own wrath cycle, but is capable of carrying it out. Mills is still thinking that it is only sadism and nothing more is to come, that he has his "final justice" carried out. Little does he know that to finalize his plan John Doe had to severe Mills' last heart strings. When he decapitated Mills' wife. He even warns the detective that this whole journey has meaning. He offered the cop a way to see that he had a choice. Still, you cannot turn from the road of Wrath so easily.

"JOHN DOE: I won't deny my own personal desire to turn each sin against the sinner. I only took their sins to logical conclusions.

MILLS: You only killed a bunch of innocent people so you could get your rocks off. That's all.

JOHN DOE: Only in a world this shitty could you even try to say these were innocent people and keep a straight face. That's the point. You see a deadly sin on almost every street corner, and in every home, literally. And we tolerate it. Because it's common, it seems trivial, and we tolerate, all day long, morning, noon and night. Not anymore. I'm setting the example, and it's going to be puzzled over and studied and followed, from now on. "

The intolerance that the sins has on the world is a true fact. Most mortals have accepted them as everyday life. Yet to some they are just part of human nature. **smirks** What we want them to believe. John Doe is aware of this, he knows that there are those that influence the sins on mortals. Even though, he himself will be going to Hell, as he's killed using the upstairs in vanity. He admits that he has a desire to turn the sin on the sinner. He is conscious of his path of Wrath, and it was his time to complete his message and work. To die, to end the consuming.

"JOHN DOE: Don't ask me to pity the people I killed. I don't mourn them anymore than I mourn the thousands who died in Sodom and Gomorrah.

MILLS: You fuck. You really think what you did was God's good work?

JOHN DOE: The Lord works in mysterious ways. "

A statement of his own personal Wrath, that he needed to end his cycle. John Doe does not pity any sinner he has killed, he enjoyed doing it. A high form of Wrath. His fury and rage was harnessed in a calm and refined manor to execute this plan, long in planning and mood. It was because Wrath can know patience, but also is in constant motion. Look at all the journals that John Doe had written. He was stewing over the rage inside him. Finally his motivator would have taken him over, to the fury: the murders. To complete it he had to turn to hatred and envy. He had to get Mills to hate him even more, and he did it by taking away a large piece of Mills. It was to finish the cycle. Dying in the end wasn't in vain. No. It was a perfect move for Doe, as his work was finished, he wouldn't be further punished, and his Wrathful victim, the one he envied and played out wrath upon himself was going to suffer. He was quite calm and pleased when the trigger was pulled.

"JOHN DOE: I visited your home this morning, after you left. I tried to play husband... tried to taste the life of a simple man, but it didn't work out. So, I took a souvenir.

SOMERSET: Give me the gun.

JOHN DOE: Her pretty head.

MILLS: Somerset...

JOHN DOE: Because I envy your normal life. Envy is my sin."

Like those he will never be, John Doe is aching to be that…normal. So when it does not go his way, he is pained and must enact a form of wrath. Bloody murder. He was envious of all, but he latched on to Mills, played his cards and watched him over very closely. Why do you think he didn't shoot Mills when he has the chance to? Simply put, he needed Mills. For the plan to be finished. He took Mills' picture, for he was to be the final sinner. Maybe Doe held a "god" or martyr complex, but he was consumed for the indignation. In the end by pushing Mills over and over again, through his instigating envy… all the sins were purged to be studied and he won. Simple, but they linger.

In conclusion, Wrath is a very active sin, so that is why it was at the end of Doe's plans. It was the one with the most action, an echo of the wrath cycles constantly going on. Mills followed the path of Wrath twice. Once unconsciously through his job as a cop, wanting retribution and justice for the dead, even if it meant to see in black and white, break the law and did whatever it took to make the murderer pay. He was satisfied, but still harboured that hatred from his first cycle of Wrath. Yet he played the job of a cop for vengeance, and he enjoyed it. Mills also followed a second path, when Doe asked him to become Wrath and all the details of it. He was apart of an elaborately laid out plan by Doe, that he knew he was wrathful to begin with. The cycle went through him, pain, anger, rage and fury when Doe was pushing him to shoot. He struggled internally but then followed through and pulled the trigger, shooting the bastard many times. John Doe was satisfied at the end with his death and was not afraid to die. He had studied Mills inside and out, he was patient, knowing which buttons to push and what to say to get Mills to comply. For a sinner of wrath needs another sinner of wrath to end his own pain. Doe looked at the whole thing as his work and needed it to be studied, as well he wanted to enact his own form of wrath on the victims and the police. By choosing Mills he was aware of the path of wrath that Mills was on, and in the end the last two sins were killed off. Wrath was to die internally, his life was basically over, and would never be on the force again.

The act that Mills did, by shooting Doe when asked was indeed Wrath. When asked to become wrath, it was more like a declaration of that which was already there. Often it is overlooked that the murderer is the winner. Yet it was not stupid at all what John Doe did, he gained what he wanted most. Attention to the sins through the deaths. Now the media could target Mills for answers, while John Doe believed he'd be absolved and head to heaven, upon completing his "work". He had mapped out who his victims would be, even showed it when the picture of Mills had been found in the apartment, it was to be. That the whole intent to show the world his plan was ready and fully done by pulling a single trigger and dying. Wrath is a motion, a journey, a series of emotional steps, until it explodes in any form.