In Pulp Fiction, what was in Marsalis Wallace's briefcase?!


Question: The briefcase is what is known as a MacGuffin, is a pure plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but has little or no actual relevance to the story.

Tarantino has stated that their is no definitive answer to whats in the briefcase. There are many creative guesses at to what its, which Tarantino neither confirms or denies.

One of the most popular is that it is Marsellus Wallace's soul.
Clues for this theory:
1) combiation is 666 - the sign of the devil (to whom Wallace would have sold his soul to)
2) their is an old legend that states when the soul leaves the body it exits through the back of the head hence the obvious band-aid on the back of Marcellus' head in the scene where he is talking to Butch in the bar

But lets get this straight! Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino has stated several times that he will never tell and that no one else knows and wouldnt tell even if they did! IT IS NOT DEFINETLEY HIS SOUL, thats just a theory. He prefers just to think of it as a MacGuffin and thinks its funny that so many people want to know what it really is.
Like so many elements of Tarantino's films, he took the idea from another film, sort of paying homage to them. Strong similarity has often been observed with the 1955 film noir "Kiss Me Deadly" which features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive and a similar one with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) at the opening of the Ark of the Covenant.


Answers: The briefcase is what is known as a MacGuffin, is a pure plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but has little or no actual relevance to the story.

Tarantino has stated that their is no definitive answer to whats in the briefcase. There are many creative guesses at to what its, which Tarantino neither confirms or denies.

One of the most popular is that it is Marsellus Wallace's soul.
Clues for this theory:
1) combiation is 666 - the sign of the devil (to whom Wallace would have sold his soul to)
2) their is an old legend that states when the soul leaves the body it exits through the back of the head hence the obvious band-aid on the back of Marcellus' head in the scene where he is talking to Butch in the bar

But lets get this straight! Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino has stated several times that he will never tell and that no one else knows and wouldnt tell even if they did! IT IS NOT DEFINETLEY HIS SOUL, thats just a theory. He prefers just to think of it as a MacGuffin and thinks its funny that so many people want to know what it really is.
Like so many elements of Tarantino's films, he took the idea from another film, sort of paying homage to them. Strong similarity has often been observed with the 1955 film noir "Kiss Me Deadly" which features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive and a similar one with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) at the opening of the Ark of the Covenant.

They never said or showed it.

It was his soul.

His soul. My brother read some book that explained the whole movie. The band aid on the back of his head is where they extracted his soul.

marsalis's soul i think

It was his soul. One can assume he made a deal with the devil, and wanted to buy his soul back. First shot of Marsellus is from the back of his head, with band-aid. Combination was 666. Divine intervention when Jules and Vincent were trying to save the soul.

Its whatever you want it to be, like the pit in "The Pit and the Pendulum."

It did not matter what was in the briefcase, the briefcase itself was a MacGuffin. A MacGuffin is a plot device used to motivate the story along. Therefore, whether it was his soul, the 2nd draft of the script, some gold, or pure evil in the briefcase, its non-revelation keeps us interested in the plot.



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