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PAGE 8
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HITCHCOCK'S
UNIVERSE OF GUILT
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Much
has been said and written about Hitchcock as a so-called Catholic movie
maker. No doubt, many of these allusions are misplaced. Yet, some elements
in Hitchcock's films are strikingly congruent with the themes and symbols
of the church in which he was raised. |
In
one clear way, Hitchcock's film are influenced by his religious background.
Earlier, I already addressed the separation in Hitchcock between public
and private guilt. The division corresponds to a distinction between formal
law and individual morality, which can also be expressed in terms of secular
versus higher order of normativity.
| In
the Paradine
Case (1947), a man defends a woman charged with killing her husband.
The woman is guilty and the lawyer loses the case. Yet, more grave is his
moral loss, because although he is a married man, he fell in love with
his client. |
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In Rich
and Strange (1932), a married couple suddenly gains a fortune and decide
to travel the world. Before they find happiness, they both cheat on each
other.
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| In Family
Plot (1976), a woman and her boyfriend manage to uncover a couple of
kidnappers. The woman is a fake medium and takes advantage of an aging
widow desperately looking for a family member. |
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Under
Capricorn (1949) is a movie about a man who in 1831 travels to Australia
and meets a potential business partner, Sam Flusky. While attending a dinner
party at Flusky's house, the man meets Flusky's wife Henrietta whom he
had also known as a child back in Ireland.
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| In Torn
Curtain (1966) a man lies to his girlfriend to hide his identity as
a double agent. He later kills a man. |
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In Topaz
(1969), an agent of the French secret service uncovers an espionage ring.
He cheats on his wife with an informant. His wife has been cheating on
him with a friend, who is later discovered to be the head of the spy ring.
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The
Victim's Guilt
There are many instances
in Hitchcock's work when the hero or victim is guilty in a moral sense.
In
Psycho,
the young woman who is killed is obviously also guilty in a legal sense
(she stole $40,000). However, she is also guilty in a moral sense: she
stole the money to be with her boyfriend with whom she has a secret affair.
In Strangers
on a Train, Guy is not guilty in any legal sense of the crime Bruno
has committed (in fact, neither is Bruno, who is clearly not sane). But
at some point Guy did want to strangle his wife. Also, he can never escape
the fact that Bruno's murder did free him of her.
Original
Sin
The examples above also show
that in Hitchcock's world, private guilt refers to a morality or ethics
that is of a sexual or otherwise highly personal nature. It is this private
guilt that applies to everybody. Whereas public guilt is confined, private
guilt is generalized. It is original sin. In Hitchcock's movies, nobody
is ever innocent in a moral sense.
In The
Trouble With Harry (1955), Hitchcock puts a humorous twist to the notion
of universal guilt. The trouble erupts in a small quiet New England town
when a boy finds a corpse. At some point during the story, almost everyone
in town thinks that they had something to do with his death.
In The
Lady Vanishes, several people are attacked by a gang of spies but none
of them are innocent. The young woman will leave her fiancee and run off
with a man she met on the train. The judge has an illicit affair with a
young woman. And two Englishmen offer no defense because they do not want
any time lost on their way to a cricket match.
In Dial
M for Murder, a man tries to kill his wife through a hired killer.
The wife is cheating on her husband with another man.
In Marnie
(1964), a woman is a frigid, habitual thief. She is caught by a man who
met her once before. Instead of turning her in, he decides to marry her.
One night on their honeymoon,
Marnie unsuccessfully tries to
reject her husband's advances.
Mathieu
Deflem
DeflemM@yahoo.com
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This
page is part of Hitchcockonline.org.
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