How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Unforgiven.
Quote #1
WILL: You remember Eagle Hendershot…No I saw him…His head was all broke open you could see inside of it. Worms were coming out.
This is the first of several very graphic descriptions from Will. Death is a harsh, gruesome reality ("head was all broke open," "worms…coming out") that the film will uncomfortably explore.
Quote #2
WILL: I seen him Ned. I seen the Angel of Death. I seen a river Ned. He's got snake eyes. It's the Angel of Death…I'm scared of dying. I seen Claudia too…Her face was all covered with worms. Oh Ned I'm scared. I'm dying….don't tell nobody. Don't tell my kids, none of the things I done.
Will's nightmares have him coming face to face with the reality of death and, for the first and only time, we see a vulnerable side of him, the one that is "scared of dying."
Quote #3
THE KID: It don't seem real, how he ain't never gonna breathe again ever. How he's dead. And the other one too. All on account of pulling a trigger…I guess they had it coming.
Up until this point the Kid has been living in a fantasy world. Now, the reality of death hits him hard. It's almost surreal for him. He can't believe that just "on account of pulling a trigger" he can kill a guy.
Quote #4
WILL: It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he's got, and all he's ever gonna have.
Death is the absolute end of everything. Everything one has achieved and will ever amount is suddenly and absolutely, taken away at the moment of death. Will, strangely, seems not to mind taking everything away from somebody.
Quote #5
WILL: We all have it coming, kid.
You can always count on Will to say something profound. He doesn't say much, but when he talks it counts. If one thing is certain, it's that we're all equal—we're all going to die no matter what.
Quote #6
THE KID: You want it, keep it. I'm never gonna use it again…I won't kill nobody no more. I ain't like you Will…Go on keep it. All of it. It's yours…I guess I'd rather be blind and ragged than dead.
After his first kill, the Kid is beside himself. Everything is in perspective, and he's suddenly afraid of a death in a way that he doesn't seem to have been previously. Death, for the Kid, is the worst possible scenario.
Quote #7
LITTLE BILL: I don't deserve this, to die like this.
WILL: Deserve's got nothing to do with it.
These semi-enigmatic lines express a profound point about death. Recall that earlier Will had said that, "we all have it coming." Death comes no matter what, whether one deserves it or not. Here, Will basically makes himself the engine of fate.