Norman Bates explained: who he is and how Mother took over
Spoilers ahead: this article discusses the ending.
Norman Bates explained begins with a quiet young man who runs an empty motel off the highway. In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), Norman (Anthony Perkins) seems shy, polite and dominated by the elderly mother who shouts at him from the house on the hill.
By the end, the film reveals that Mother has been dead for years and lives on only inside Norman. Here is who he is, how he was created and the scenes that shape him.
Norman Bates explained: who he is
Norman manages the Bates Motel, which has had few guests since the highway moved. His hobby is taxidermy,, and his work fills the parlour behind the office. He speaks warmly but nervously and seems devoted to a mother he describes as ill.
When Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) checks in, the two share a sandwich and a long conversation in the parlour. Norman says everyone is caught in a private trap they cannot escape. Writer Joseph Stefano said this scene, where Marion shows Norman a kind of maternal sympathy, makes the audience feel for him even after what follows.
Mother and the shower scene
Later that night a shadowy figure stabs Marion in the shower. Norman finds the body, cleans the bathroom with care and sinks her car in a swamp, apparently covering up his mother's crime. The audience, having lost the film's heroine, now shifts its sympathy to Norman.
That shift is the trick of the film. Hitchcock lets the viewer side with Norman as a frightened son protecting his mother, which makes the final reveal land harder.
What the ending reveals
When Marion's sister searches the house, she finds Mother in the cellar: a preserved corpse. Norman, dressed as his mother and holding a knife, is overpowered.
A psychiatrist then explains that Norman murdered his mother and her lover years earlier. Unable to bear the guilt, he re-created her as a second personality, Mother, and sometimes spoke and acted as her. By the end, Mother has completely taken over. In the last scene Norman sits alone in a cell while we hear Mother's voice in his head.
- Norman killed his mother and her lover years before the story.
- He preserved her body and created Mother as an alter ego.
- Mother is the one who kills, and in the end replaces Norman entirely.
Where Norman came from
Norman first appeared in Robert Bloch's 1959 novel Psycho. Many people link him to the Wisconsin killer Ed Gein, but Bloch said he was more interested in the idea that the man next door might be a monster no one suspects. Hitchcock bought the rights for 9,500 dollars and reportedly had copies of the book bought up to protect the twist.
The novel's Norman is short, overweight and balding in his forties. Hitchcock made him young, slim and likeable, a boy next door, which makes the darkness more unsettling.
How Anthony Perkins shaped him
Stefano initially found the character unsympathetic but became interested once Hitchcock suggested Perkins. Perkins brought a fidgety, boyish charm and improvised small touches, such as Norman's habit of eating candy corn. He played the role again in three sequels.
The American Film Institute ranked Norman the second-greatest film villain, behind Hannibal Lecter. His line about a boy's best friend being his mother is on the AFI's list of top movie quotes. The character returned in the television series Bates Motel, with Freddie Highmore as Norman and Vera Farmiga as Norma.
Questions people ask
Was Norman Bates's mother alive in Psycho?
No. She had been dead for years. Norman kept her preserved body and created Mother as a second personality.
Who killed Marion Crane?
Norman, acting as the Mother personality he created after killing his real mother.
Is Norman Bates based on Ed Gein?
Many link them, but Robert Bloch said he was more inspired by the idea of a hidden monster next door.
Who played Norman Bates?
Anthony Perkins, in Psycho and three sequels.