Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho. The character was based on real-life killer Ed Gein. Bates was portrayed by Anthony Perkins in Alfred Hitchcock's seminal film adaptation of Bloch's novel. Perkins' performance is so iconic it seems to have become the basis for much of the myth of the modern serial killer. Bates was later played by Vince Vaughn in Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of the Hitchcock classic. This article is about the novel and the movies based on it. ... Image File history File links Norman Bates. ... The shield and spear of the Roman god Mars, which is also the alchemical symbol for iron, represents the male sex. ... European American is a term for an American of European descent, who are usually referred as White or Caucasian. ... Modus operandi (often used in the abbreviated form MO) is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as mode of operation. ... Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932–September 12, 1992) was an American actor best known for his role as the serial killer Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. ... Henry Jackson Thomas, Jr. ... Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American film actor. ... Alice, a fictional character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Robert Albert Bloch (April 5, 1917, Chicago-September 23, 1994, Los Angeles) was a prolific American writer. ... Psycho is a 1959 pulp thriller by Robert Bloch. ... Edward Theodore Gein (August 27, 1906 – July 26, 1984), was an American serial killer. ... Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932–September 12, 1992) was an American actor best known for his role as the serial killer Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. ... Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980) was a highly influential film director and producer who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres. ... Psycho is a 1960 suspense/horror film directed by auteur Alfred Hitchcock from the screenplay by Joseph Stefano. ... For religious icons, see icon. ... The word mythology (from the Greek μυολογία mythología, from μυολογείν mythologein to relate myths, from μύος mythos, meaning a narrative, and λόγος logos, meaning speech or argument) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use the supernatural to interpret natural events and... Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American film actor. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Psycho is a 1959 suspense novel by Robert Bloch, which describes the events surrounding the encounter of an embezzler and the profoundly disturbed motel proprietor Norman Bates. ...

Biography

-Warning! Plot spoilers follow!-

Both the novel and film explain that Bates suffered severe emotional (and, it is suggested, sexual) abuse as a child at the hands of his mother, Norma Bates, who preached to him that women and sex were evil. The two of them lived alone together in a very unhealthy state of emotional dependence after the death of Bates' father. When Bates was a teenager, however, his mother took a lover, making him insanely jealous. He murdered them both with strychnine and preserved his mother's corpse. Bates developed dissociative identity disorder, assuming his mother's personality, repressing her death as a way to escape the guilt of murdering her. Abuser redirects here. ... In religion and ethics, evil refers to the morally or ethically objectionable behaviour or thought; behavior or thought which is hateful, cruel, excessively sexual, or violent, devoid of conscience. ... Strychnine (pronounced (British) or (U.S.)) is a very toxic (LD50 = 10 mg approx. ... With regard to living things, a body is the integral physical material of an individual. ... Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is defined in the DSM-IV-TR as a condition where a single individual evidences two or more distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. ...

Bloch summed up his personalities in his stylistic form of puns: As "Norman" Bates, the little boy, he was dominated by his mother, and had to do what she told him. As "Norma" Bates, he dressed in her clothes, mimicked her voice, and killed anyone who threatened to come between her and her "Norman," especially attractive young women. As "Normal" Bates, he was a (barely) functioning adult who could run the motel and keep peace between the other two personalities. A pun (also known as paronomasia) is a figure of speech which consists of a deliberate confusion of similar words within a phrase or phrases for rhetorical effect, whether humorous or serious. ...

He was finally arrested after he murdered a young woman named Mary Crane (called Marion Crane in the film) and Milton Arbogast, a private investigator sent to look for her. Bates was declared insane and sent to an institution, where the "mother" personality completely took hold; he completely became his mother. Inmates at Bedlam Asylum, as portrayed by William Hogarth Insanity, or madness, is a general term for a semi-permanent, severe mental disorder. ...

Characterization

The characterization of Bates in the novel and the movie differ in some key areas. In the novel, Bates is in his mid-to-late 40s, short, overweight, homely, and more overtly unstable. In the movie, he is in his early-to-mid-20s, tall, slender, and handsome. Reportedly, when working on the film, Hitchcock decided that he wanted audiences to be able to sympathize with Bates and genuinely like the character, so he made him more of a "boy next door." In the novel, Norman becomes Mother after getting drunk and passing out; in the movie, he consumes no alcohol before switching personalities. Perhaps the most significant difference between the novel and the movie is that, in the novel, Mary Crane is "Mother"'s first victim; in the movie, Bates kills twice as his alternate personality before murdering Crane.

While he entered the public consciousness as a villain (albeit one with some sympathetic qualities), he developed throughout the film's sequels into not only the series' protagonist, but also as a tragic victim of mental illness. One popular concept of the villain, meant to mimic the purposely distinctive visage of villains, initially from the stage plays of the 1880s. ... A protagonist is the main figure of a piece of literature or drama and has the main part or role. ... In general usage a tragedy is a play, movie or sometimes a real world event with a sad outcome. ... A mental illness or mental disorder refers to one of many mental health conditions characterized by distress, impaired cognitive functioning, atypical behavior, emotional dysregulation, and/or maladaptive behavior. ...

Norman Bates as "Mother" in the infamous shower scene

Image File history File links The shower scene from Psycho. ... Image File history File links The shower scene from Psycho. ...

In other media

In the sequel to the original film, Bates (once again portrayed by Perkins) was released from the institution 22 years later, seemingly cured of his multiple personality disorder. However, a series of mysterious murders occur, as well as strange appearances and messages from "Mother", and Norman is unable to hold his grip on sanity. The mysterious appearances and messages turn out to be a plot by relatives of one of Norman's (or Mother's) victims to drive "Norman" Bates insane again; the murders turn out to be caused by Norman's real mother -- the sister of Norma Bates -- who, of course, shares the family history of mental illness. In the end, Norman kills her and embalms her while assuming the "Mother" personality of yore. Psycho II is a 1983 sequel to Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho. ... Sanity considered as a legal term denotes that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ...

In the triquel, Norman continues to struggle, unsuccessfully, against "Mother's" dominion, but in the end attacks her corpse violently, attempting to break free of her control, and is again institutionalized. During the last minutes of the movie a reporter finds out the truth and explains that Emma Spool was his aunt not his mother. She had already been institutionalized for killing Norman's father and kidnapped him briefly. Apparently she had fallen for Norman's father and when Norma Bates had given birth to Norman, Miss Spool had taken Norman believing he was her son. This movie is considered the worst of the saga. Psycho III is a 1986 sequel to Psycho & Psycho II. The film stars Anthony Perkins (who also directed the film), Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey and Roberta Maxwell. ...

In the final sequel, however, he had been released from the institution, and married one of the hospital's nurses. During this film the viewer learns how Norman's father died. It delves deeper into the emotional abuse that he was forced to endure. When Norman's wife became pregnant, however, he lured her to his mother's house and tried to kill her; he wanted to prevent another of his "cursed" line from coming into the world. (The film implies that Bates' mother suffered from multiple personality disorder and passed the illness onto him.) He relented at the last minute, however, when his wife professed her love for him. He then burned the house down in an attempt to free himself of his past. A pregnant woman near the end of her term Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more embryos or fetuses by female mammals, including humans, inside their bodies. ... Overview In psychiatry, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is the current name of the condition formerly listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) and Multiple Personality Syndrome. ...

In the pilot episode of the failed TV series Bates Motel, Bates, who was never released from the institution, befriended Alex Kelly, a fellow inmate who murdered his stepfather, and willed ownership of the titular inn to him before dying of old age. As the pilot never developed into a series and bears almost no relation to previous novels or films, it is considered non-canon. A television pilot is a test episode of an intended television series. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Bates also died in the book Psycho II, Bloch's 1982 sequel to his novel. Psycho II is a 1982 novel that Robert Bloch wrote as a sequel to his 1959 novel Psycho. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake Psycho has comic actor Vince Vaughn in the role of Norman Bates. In this version, he is portrayed as a slightly creepy, homely man in his late-thirties/early forties, somewhat akin to Bloch's original vision of the character. The role is one of Vaughn's rare roles as a serious actor. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... In film, a remake is a newer version of a previously released film or a newer version of the source (play, novel, story, etc. ... Psycho is a 1959 suspense novel by Robert Bloch, which describes the events surrounding the encounter of an embezzler and the profoundly disturbed motel proprietor Norman Bates. ... Vincent Anthony Vaughn (born March 28, 1970) is an American film actor. ...

In 2006, Universal Studios made a Norman Bates motel at Halloween Horror Nights.

External links

• Horror Asylum: Norman Bates