'Hyper-Violent Tendencies In Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

Psychopathic and Hyper-Violent Tendencies in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange Since it was published in 1962 Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange has been a staple in psychological literature. With the use of main character Alex; a teenager driven by psychological illness, as a plot motivator, the novel offers insight into the mind of the psychotic. It becomes obvious throughout the course of A Clockwork Orange that Alex is a psychopath. Alex is a charming and likeable individual yet lacks all regard for other human beings, he displays acts of hyper-violence without remorse, and furthermore with the gain of his cure, loses his humanity and ability to interact with the world, only living truly as a psychopath. Psychopaths have an amazing control of how they are portrayed to other people. Most come off as charming, witty, and confident, successfully attracting the praise of their peers like bugs to a zapper. Such is the case with anti-hero Alex in A Clockwork Orange, who uses his charming persona as a ruse to gain power. He starts quickly by gaining control over his gang of friends, whom he refers to as “droogs”, and then quickly escalates to his parents and even prison guards. Although Alex has this extraordinary ability of persuasion, he uses it to do bad. This is the opinion shared by Gordon Banks, writer of “Kubrick’s Psychopaths.” In the article Banks (2010) says, “Alex is totally devoid of any empathy for other human beings. He has

The ice water in your veins is so bizarre, so completely outside of their personal experience, that they seldom even guess at your condition. (p.1)

What Dr. Stout is describing is the condition that afflects Alex, the apathetic stance on empathy. The strange reptilian feeling you detect within yourself when comparing to other people, all symptoms of a psychopath, and all symptoms held by