The Repressed: Manifestation of the Oedipus Complex in Psycho

The theory of the repressed in film is conveyed as the impulses a character or characters have that have been muted because it juxtaposes societal values and beliefs. The Oedipus complex for example, is referred as the repression that emerges on a child’s desire to have sexual relations with the parent of the opposite sex. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory on human sexuality introduces this complex as an approach in understanding the relation between a son and mother. Freud’s analysis shows that Oedipus truly contained an incestuous nature, and seemingly this is expressed in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film “Psycho”, though Hitchcock does not state that the antagonist Norman Bates had any sexual relations with his mother it is rather suggested that his relationship with mother exudes enough factors to mirror the complex.

The Oedipal theme in “Psycho” is vividly expressed to the audience in the parlor scene with Norman and Marion’s conversation. He says to her, “Mother met this man, and he talked her into building this motel. He could have talked her into anything. And when he died too, it was just too great a shock for her. And, and the way he died”. Marion replies, “Except you”. Norman replies back and says, “A son is a poor substitute for a lover.” It should be noted that when Norman talks about his mother’s newfound lover by stating, “he could’ve’ talked her into anything” he frowns his face in the scene thus suggesting a hint of jealousy or annoyance at the man’s power over his mother. It is reasonable to assume that it was Norman who murdered his mother’s lover because of his attachment to her, which led to his insane psychosis. Hitchcock reaffirms the Oedipal idea when Norman states, “ a son is a poor substitute for a lover,” his implication suggests that a son is a substitute for a lover nonetheless, furthers the idea that he wants to be the only man in his mother’s life by replacing others, though it is short-lived. His realization that his love could not measure up to the same love a mother receives from someone outside her son can be the reason why he killed her. For if his love could not measure up to her lover’s love, then she would no longer be able to love again.

It should be noted that Norman says in the same scene, “A boy’s best friend is his mother.” Referring to himself as a child positions the audience to empathize with him. In this sense, his actions are now justified because the audience questions his motives. Does Norman’s actions stem from innocence and naivety in thinking he can be his mother’s only love? Or is this Hitchcock’s way of undermining the audience’s intelligence where Norman is well aware of his actions and claims naivety in order to gain the audience’s sympathy for what he’s done to his mother and Marion.   Author Robin Wood asserts this claim in his article “Psycho”. He writes, “We’re all in our private trap. We scratch and claw, but only at the air, only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it we never budge an inch: He is defining the psychotic state, the condition of a permanent anguish whence development impossible, a psychological hell” (145). Hitchcock is presenting Norman’s mental psyche as uncontrollable where the viewer understands his change of demeanor by attributing his actions to his mother’s own neurosis.

Norman’s intense attachment to his mother leads to his split alternate personality. Two souls exist in one body, where one is himself, and the other is mother. Interestingly enough, Norman’s mother makes him bear illusions. When mother controls him, he feels that the love they share is mutual so she then becomes jealous about the young women attracting her son. Consequently, the mother wants to kill them. Mother is presented as the castrating figure of the film that activates Norman’s psychosis. Norman’s desire to compensate for his mother’s lack is not motivated by love, but by fear. It is the fear of castration that Norman can only overcome by becoming the castrator, and that is mother.

In essence, Hitchcock expresses how the Oedipus complex transcends the boundary of only being a psychoanalytic critique by applying it to his character Norman Bates. Evidently, Bates is portrayed as being trapped by his stifling past where he is is taken over by his own vision of his mother, whom he murdered for sexual transgression. Yet it is in becoming his image of her where the audience witnesses the manifestation of the repressed take human form.  

Works Cited

Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. 1960.

Wood, Robin. "Psycho Hitchcock's Film's Revisited." (1989): 142-51. Web.