Final Major Project - Qualities of a Psychopath

I decided to get a more detailed insight as to who Edward is and how he behaves it would make sense to research into psychopaths. Here is my initial findings as to the such. With each point from Hervery M. Cleckley's characteristics, I shall provide a short description of how Edward relates to each of these characteristics. Some fit in with his character, while others he has overcome.

The following characteristics of a psychopath, defined by Hervery M. Cleckley in 1941 in the book Mask of Sanity include:

• Superficial charm and average intelligence. - Edward is a fantastic actor. He is able to maintain a convincing persona to whomever he deems it is needed. However, he is of a superior intelligence, rather than just average, using it to his advantage of being able to read people and then play on how he should act around that person, helping him in awkward, possible threatening situations.
• Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking. - These aren't particularly absent when it comes to Edward, though he does suffer from delusional behaviour. Believing God talks to him is one, and he thinks very rationally.
• Absence of nervousness or neurotic manifestations. - Edward may play into being nervous or neurotic, but he keeps a very calm demeanour about himself. Thus fitting in with this particular characteristic.
• Unreliability. - Fits very well with Edward. He is not particularly reliable. If told to do one thing, he will usually do the opposite, whatever is fitting and suiting to him.
• Untruthfulness and insincerity. - While Edward doesn't believe in lying, he believes it is a sin, he does play in to not being sincere or truthful at times. This doesn't mean that he will always outright lie, it just means he won't always necessarily tell the truth, but he won't lie at the same time, he just doesn't say anything, or manages to manipulate the person in a way that he doesn't have to say anything/be truthful to get his point across.
• Lack of remorse or shame. - Edward feels nothing for the people he has shamed or murdered. He simply feels what he did was necessary.
• Antisocial behaviour without apparent compunction. - Edward is quite reserved. Talking to himself (God) may be considered anti-social, but as aforementioned, he has managed to come up with a tactic to make himself seem much more ordinary than he actually is.
• Poor judgement and failure to learn from experience. - Very true of Edward. He always takes things to the extreme. A good example is with his sisters boyfriend. His therapy should have taught him that if someone hurts him or gets in his way, he should 'forgive and forget' if it were. Instead, Edward believes that person should be convicted for their sins - be murdered. He never learns the otherwise, often jumping to the same result and conclusion.
• Pathological egocentricity and incapacity to love.  - Absolutely typical of Edward. While he comes across as loving his Sister and his butler, everything he does is completely in accordance to himself. He is a manipulator, convincing people to do things only because it is right for him. He fears no consequences of others or cares what it might do to them. After his sister joins him in the murders, he only feels that his plan is coming together, and doesn't care about how his sister might even feel about the entire situation.
• General poverty in major affective reactions. -Edward deals with a readiness of expression rather than a strength of feeling. While things do anger him and he may express it, it is more due to the fact that he is not being benefited in any way. He doesn't feel much, be it remorse, sympathy or anything of the such.  Essentially, everything is an act.
• Specific loss of insight. - Edward doesn't understand much about people or the world. Only himself. He doesn't quite grasp how his sister would feel if he murdered her boyfriend, and so on.
• Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations. - Unless it is something that truly gets on his nerves that he feels he must speak out on, Edward often responds to things with short answers, like he is constantly thinking something over. His interpersonal skills aren't great, as reflected by only calling his Aunt 'Aunt' and only calling Evelyn 'Sister'
• Fantastic and uninviting behaviour with drink, and sometimes without. - Edward doesn't drink, so not entirely relevant. Though he can be uninviting, especially when letting people into his own feelings.
• Suicide threats rarely carried out.  - Edward would never commit suicide. It is a sin.
• Sex life impersonal, trivial, and poorly integrated.  - Edward doesn't think of sex in any way. He doesn't think of it as a sin, but more doesn't believe in sex before marriage. With an incapacity for love, it remains something that may never happen for him, especially as he has never even thought about a reason to procreate.
• Failure to follow any life plan.  - Not so much with Edward. He has a life plan, and that is one given to him by what he believes to be God. Though his plan only seems to be to kill enough sinners so that he can go to Heaven, it is still none the less, his plan.

Hopefully that gives a better insight into Edward. As I do more research into the mind of a psychopath, I shall find more traits and characteristics which I will relate directly to Edward, in order to expand and evolve his character.