Murdock Cooper is a local rancher who tries to feel more comfortable about Matthew Shepard’s murder by dwelling on the possibility that, if Matthew hit on Aaron McKinney, it may have been partially his own fault. Murdock Cooper’s reaction represents one of many homophobic ways of perceiving Matthew’s murder that circulated as the community tried to process the tragedy.
Murdock Cooper Quotes in The Laramie Project
The The Laramie Project quotes below are all either spoken by Murdock Cooper or refer to Murdock Cooper. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Dramatists Play Service edition of The Laramie Project published in 2001.
Act 2: Live and Let Live
Quotes
Some people are saying he made a pass at them. You don’t pick up regular people. I’m not excusing their actions, but it made me feel better because it was partially Matthew Shepard’s fault and partially the guys who did it… you know maybe it’s fifty-fifty.
Related Characters:
Murdock Cooper (speaker), Matthew Shepard, Aaron McKinney, Russell Henderson
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Laramie Project LitChart as a printable PDF.
Murdock Cooper Character Timeline in The Laramie Project
The timeline below shows where the character Murdock Cooper appears in The Laramie Project. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 2: Live and Let Live
...strong objection to homosexuality, saying he would tell his children it is “what animals do.” Murdock Cooper , another resident, says that there are more gay people in Laramie than meets the...
(full context)