by Victoria Tiegert

Created on: September 14, 2008   Last Updated: September 20, 2008

There are several dark themes that run through the classic Hitchcock film, "PSycho". The first that we are introduced to is the theme of coveting that which isn't yours. It is in the beginning and runs throughout the movie. Marian Crane, a secretary for a real estate firm, covets the money that a client bring in to purchase a home. When she is directed by her employer to put it in the safe deposit box, she instead keeps it as her own. She desires a new life, running away and leaving the old behind. She takes the money and takes her leave, setting off to anywhere but where she is.

As Marion desired a new life, so the owner of the hotel she ends up at desires her. Desire is a strong emotion and Alfred Hitchcock has incorporated this theme in his story as well. Norman Bates is the sole owner of the establishment and in his desire to possess Ms. Crane, ends up killing her.

Voyeurism is perhaps the most prevalent theme in this Hitchcock classic. We see it as Marian's boss watches her cross the street after she had left work early with a headache. We see it as a private investigator looking for her watches Mr. Bates. And, most disturbing, we see it as Norman watches Marian shower through a hole in the wall of the hotel room. Interestingly, Hitchcock also places stuffed birds on the wall of Bates' office. The birds seem to be staring through dead eyes at Bates and Marian as they share a meal and conversation. The controlling mother of Norman, Mrs. Bates, also is watching, though she is dead. Norman feels her eyes upon him at all times.

The Bates Hotel is a dark and dreary place, not well-kept, and placed in front of an enormous, equally dark, house on a hill that seems to be looking down on the little hotel. Another aspect of the movie that seems to place one thing looking upon another and watching, always watching.

We learn at the end of the movie that Norman had killed his mother and we are met head-on with the fact that he has also taken on her likeness and her voice, believing himself to be his mother at crucial times. Mr. Bates apparently cannot live without the control and domination of the mother he despised anymore than he could live with her. When he is finally brought to light for what he really is, a murdering schizophrenic psychotic, we see that Norman has taken on the role of the mother, most likely for the rest of his life. In his jail cell, he is speaking with her voice, explaining that he (now she) "wouldn't even hurt a fly" as one buzzes about the small cell with him.

Learn more about this author, Victoria Tiegert.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.