Norma Bates (Psycho)

Psycho character
Norma Bates
Aliases	"Mother" Bates
Gender	Female
Born	1907
Died	1949 (42 years old)
Race	Caucasian
Relationships	Norman Bates (son) Emma Spool (sister) John Bates (husband) Dr. Constance "Connie" Forbes-Bates (daughter-in law)
Enemies	Men
M.O.	Taking over her son's mind, causing him to stab his victims to death while wearing Norma's clothing.
Weapon of Choice:	Kitchen knife
Portrayed by:	Paul Jasmin, Virginia Gregg, Jeanette Nolan (Psycho) Virginia Gregg (Psycho II - Psycho III) Olivia Hussey, Alice Hirson (Psycho IV: The Beginning)

Mrs. Norma Bates (née Spool) is a fictional character in the novel Psycho by Robert Bloch and the Universal Studios Psycho franchise starring Anthony Perkins, Psycho, Psycho II, Psycho III, Psycho IV: The Beginning and the TV spin-off Bates Motel. She is not strictly a character in the novel by Bloch, and her presence is indicated only as a voice and a corpse in the Psycho films. She is not depicted as a character until the fourth film installment (Psycho IV).

Character

Psycho

After the death of her husband John, Norma raises her son Norman Bates with cruelty, teaching him sex is evil and that all women except her are whores.

For many years, Norma and Norman live together as if there is no one else in the world. When Norman is a teenager, his mother meets a man, whom she begins dating, and plans to marry. Joe convinces Norma to open a motel. Norman grows insanely jealous of his mother, believing that she has abandoned him for her boyfriend, and poisons them with strychnine, making it look like suicide.

Unable to bear the loss of his mother, Norman steals Mrs. Bates' corpse and mummifies it, and speaks to it as if his mother were still alive. He also speaks to himself in her voice and frequently dresses in her clothes; he becomes his mother in order to escape the guilt of having murdered her.

When the "Mother" persona of Norman's mind is aware of Norman's desire for a certain woman, "she" goes wild with jealousy and kills the woman. One of Norman's victims is Marion Crane (Mary in the novel), who fled to the Bates Motel after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to marry her boyfriend, Sam. She draws the attention of private investigator Milton Arbogast to the motel and then the house, where Norman refuses to let him see his mother. Suspicious, he goes to the Bates house, where "Mother" kills him as well. Sam and Lila Crane, Marion's sister, soon arrive, suspecting Norman of killing Marion for the money. Lila discovers Mrs. Bates' corpse while searching the house; moments later, Norman attacks her while in his "Mother" persona, only to be subdued by Sam. Norman is then arrested and institutionalized.

Psycho II

Twenty-two years later, Norman Bates, now supposedly cured, is released from the institution and returns home to the Bates Motel and the Bates House. He is soon confronted by notes supposedly written by Mrs. Bates and phone calls by someone who claims to be his Mother. Norman takes a job at a local diner and befriends Mrs. Spool, the cook, and a waitress named Mary Samuels, who has boyfriend trouble and is left without a home. Norman offers a room at his house for Mary, and she reluctantly accepts. Then, mysterious murders are committed by a woman with a knife to people who come to the motel and the house.

Norman's sanity begins to unravel, as he starts to believe that it is his Mother's ghost that committs the murders. His psychiatrist Dr. Raymond, shows him Mrs. Bates's corpse and reveals to him that Mary Samuels is actually Mary Loomis, Lila Loomis' daughter, and is plotting with her mother to drive him crazy in order to get revenge for Marion's murder; they both dress up as Norman's mother and appear through the window of Mother's bedroom. Mary believes that there is someone else in the house, the one who is committing the murders, and when Norman explains to Mary that the woman-murderer might be his real mother, she speculates that he might have been adopted.

While Norman is at the swamp with the police where a car containing the corpse of the ex-manager of the motel is found, Lila sneaks in the house to dress up as Mother, but then the murderer comes in and finishes her. When Mary and Norman return to the house, with Norman slowly going mad again, he receives a phone call from Dr. Raymond but in his mind, the phone call is from Mother. Mary, disturbed, tries to convince Norman to stop answering the phone to mother by dressing up with a dress, a wig and bearing a knife to make him believe she is his mother. He still continues talking to no one on the phone, and when Mary accidentally kills Dr. Raymond who has come to the house to catch Mary, Norman drives her to the cellar believing she is Mother and tries to hide her (the police have arrived outside), Mary discovers Lila's corpse hidden in a pile of coal, and, convinced Norman is the murderer, tries to kill him. The police intervene just in time, however, and shoot her dead.

That night, Mrs. Spool visits Norman and reveals that she is his real mother, and that Norma Bates was actually his aunt; Mrs. Spool had been put in a mental institution shortly after giving birth to Norman, and her sister had adopted him and told him that he was her son. Mrs. Spool then reveals that she had committed the murders in order to protect Norman. Norman then nonchalantly bludgeons her to death with a shovel, and carries her body up to "Mother"'s room, where the "Mother" personality takes control of his mind once again.

Psycho III

In Psycho III, a reporter named Tracy Venable latches on to the history of the Bates/Spool families; her research leads her to the disturbing story of a love triangle between John Bates and the Spool sisters, Norma and Emma. John Bates had started an affair with both sisters, however, Norma succeeded in stealing him away from Emma. Driven mad with envy, Emma killed John Bates and abducted the young Norman, convincing herself he was the child she had with John Bates. Emma was apprehended and locked up, and Norman was returned to his mother.

By this point in the series, Norman has begun murdering young women again under the control of the "Mother" personality. He finds some hope for redemption when he meets and falls in love with a young woman named Maureen Coyle, but "Mother" eventually wins out and kills her. Venable finds Norman and tells him the truth about his parentage, and Norman attacks his mother's preserved corpse. He is arrested and sent back to the institution, but proclaims that he is finally free.

Psycho IV

Psycho IV ignores the revelations of the Psycho sequels and retells much of Norman's and his Mother's past from the original film. It is implied in the film that Mrs. Bates suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, which Norman inherits, although Bloch's novel doesn't mention such a plot point. The film also explains that Norman has been released from the institution and is now married. When Norman finds out that his wife is pregnant, he decides to kill her to prevent another of his "cursed" line from entering the world. He relents after his wife professes her love for him, however, and decides to rid himself of the past once and for all by burning down his mother's house. During this act, he sees visions of his mother mocking and tormenting him, but perseveres and destroys the house, finally free of his mother's voice, which demands to be let out.

Mrs. Bates appearances

Film

• Psycho (1960) - Appears as a corpse and a voice (voices by Virginia Gregg, Jeanette Nolan, and Paul Jasmin).
• Psycho II (1983) - Appears as a corpse, and as a voice in a flashback (by Virginia Gregg).
• Psycho IV: The Beginning (1990) - Appears as one of the main characters (played by Olivia Hussey), and also as a voice (Alice Hirson) and a corpse.
• Psycho (1998) - As corpse and voice.

Television

• Bates Motel (1987) - As a corpse (as Gloria Bates).

External links

• An overview of Augusta Gein, the inspiration for Norma Bates
• An analysis of the role of Mother in the Psycho franchise
• Norma Bates at the Internet Movie Database