Exploring Appearances in The Landlady & Psycho - Paper Example

Introduction

The purpose and target of a work of art are fundamental. Whether a film or a short story, it must resonate with the persons targeted by the author or director. In the title “The Landlady” by Ronald Dahl and the film series Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, there is a considerable chunk of similarity on the purpose of the two. The author of “The Landlady” and the director of Psycho had a youthful audience in mind. The purpose of the two pieces of art is to explore the concepts of appearance and reality. Psychologists argue that appearance could be deceiving, as it may not mirror the actual reality. The film and the story are created with an element of darkness to them and are presented as horror shows. In that case, they converge at a point when it comes to their purpose. The stories in the two pieces are made within the concept of horrifying events, which brings their audience into unison.

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Psycho explores the dual nature of humans. This means that every man has a good part about them and an evil part about them. In most cases, it is one of the sides of human nature that is self-revealing and observable by other people. “The Landlady” on its part implores the concept of appearance versus reality. Whereas the deception of appearance may mask the truth of reality, in most cases, the latter is known at the end. Tying that to what Psycho is presented; either the evil or the good of a person comes across as the appearance. However, in reality, there exists another side of that individual that cannot be ignored. A young audience would be thrilled by the horrific events sprayed across the two stories, and relate to the main characters very well. The stories take the form of edgy events, keeping the audience entertained all through.

Ideas and Themes

There are a variety of themes that come across distinctively in the two texts, “The Landlady” by Ronald Dahl and the film series Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock. Psycho’s central theme is criminality. In the whole story, there are two prominent criminals in the shape of Marion Crane and Norman Bates. Whereas Marion is a criminal courtesy of stealing money, Norman is one because of mass murders. The same theme of criminality is also developed in “The Landlady,” where Billy Weaver is poisoned by the landlady of the cozy lodgings. The latter is, in reality, a taxidermist. By any means, stuffing people’s bodies for display is criminal by any definition. The landlady told Weaver, “I stuff all my little pets myself when they pass away. Will you have another cup of tea?” (475-477).

Another revealing theme in both The Landlady” and the film series Psycho is internal darkness. The face value of everything in Psycho is very different from the real value of whatever one observes. Arbogast at one point states about the Bates Motel that, “This is the first place that looks like it’s hiding from the world.” He makes that reference because within that place is Cassidy who does not pay taxes, Marion and Sam fooling around in lunch hours, and Norman who commits mass murders. On the part of “The Landlady,” the woman in-charge appears like a good person and a reflection of the coziness of the lodgings as they are seen from outside. However, there lies a mountain of criminal acts where people are taken as pets and their bodies stuffed for display. When Weaver walked into the lodgings to find a good night’s sleep, he would never have thought of being deliberately poisoned. The pull to get into the lodgings even with a queer feeling of displeasure I well described by Dahl.

““Please come in,” she said pleasantly. She stepped aside, holding the door wide open, and Billy found himself automatically starting forward into the house. The compulsion or, more accurately, the desire to follow after her into that house was extraordinarily strong” (127-133)

Whereas Psycho is built around the theme of duality and conflict in many ways, one can pick innocence versus adulthood as the concept of a double life in “The Landlady.” Duality in Psycho is demonstrated many times, albeit even literary. Marion is placed in front of a mirror more than once by the director, but she cannot get a foothold of her flaws. In another instance, Lila is placed in front of a mirror in the Bates house, and she is scared it her reflection. She is a perfect example of the dual nature of the lives of the characters in the play. In “The Landlady” Weaver is getting exploited and misused by the landlady at the lodgings. It is a generational conflict that excruciates Weaver to a great extent. As a seventeen-year-old, he would have looked up to the landlady for guidance and help. However, the latter takes advantage of the kid’s innocence to exploit him.

Stylistic Features

Both the short story and the film are rich in stylistic features that allow the audience to derive meaning and relate to the story much better. In any literature work, characterization is crucial; in both pieces, the artists do a great job to ensure that characters are well developed. In Psycho, the author uses mirrors several times in the underlining dual nature of humans. He does this by putting Marion in the frame, plus her reflection many times. While both at home and at the hotel, Marion thinks of herself with Sam, unfortunately, things change after stealing money as she does not regard her image even when standing in front of a mirror in Cabin and Bates Motel Office. It means that she does not believe that she would do something like stealing money from a customer in the company where she has been working intending to help his boyfriend settle debts. She becomes an unhappy soul, and she dies after frustrating attempts of trying to return the money.

Billy Weaver in “The Landlady” starts out as a confident and daring young man. He is ready to explore and do business, charting a path of his own. However, fate would have it that none of such a dream would ever come true. His vulnerability, innocence, and naivety drive him where he could never have desired all his life. His naivety is evident in different situations. In one instance, Dahl writes;

“She seemed terribly nice. She looked exactly like the mother of one’s best school friend welcoming one into the house to stay for the Christmas holidays. Billy took off his hat and stepped over the threshold” (160-165).

This not only shows how naïve he was with the landlady but also the undeniable vulnerability. He felt at home and comfortable in the presence of a woman who was preying on him, showing the level of innocence in Billy Weaver.

Another well-employed stylistic feature is foreshadowing, where the author warns and hints of what will happen to a character at some point. The stuffed animals at the landlady’s lodgings are a forewarning of what she does. When Billy weaver was taking the tea, it was bitter. This was a precursor of the bitter ending that he would experience death. Dahl writes, “The tea tasted faintly of bitter almonds, and he didn’t much care for it” (478-480). In Psycho, Norman stuffs animals. In the room, Norman has stuffed birds. Marion’s second name was Crane, which in essence is the name of a bird. Therefore, this foreshadowed the fact that Marion would die just like the other birds. Eventually, fate had it that she died before she could achieve her goal of returning stolen money. Therefore, the author’s use of foreshadowing plays a significant role in foretelling the fates of characters. It also clearly tells of Norman’s character as a mass murderer. With all the birds in the room, each could have symbolized a murdered person.

References

Dahl, R. (2012). The Landlady (A Roald Dahl Short Story). Penguin UK.

Hitchcock, A. (1960). Psycho [Film]. Hollywood; Universal Pictures.