Marcel: The Antagonist, The Sociopath.
The antagonist from Heaven Help Us is Marcel. His character is a borderline sociopath. Although he does not have all the personality traits, he is none the less a sociopath. Here is a list of most of the conditions of a sociopath:
1. There is no conscience or memory of doing something wrong. They always blame someone else for their mistakes. There is a lack of remorse, guilt or shame, and they make themselves look innocent of all wrong doing.
2. They have an oversized ego and inflated sense of self. They come first and leave the under-dog to fend for himself. They don’t notice the other person struggling. They have a subtle manipulative behaviour when they want something.
3. They are antisocial but charming when they are after something. These types are charismatic and friendly when they want something. They don’t have friends unless they can use them, and then drop them when their use is over.
4. They are great masters of disguise creating a different personality for their audience. They blend in. As expert con artists they always have a secret agenda.
5. They have a lack of empathy for the suffering of others. They are irresponsible and impulsive, jumping from goal to goal. The lose interest and change direction often.
6. They live for pleasure and seek stimulation being careful to avoid consequences. They don’t learn from their mistakes. Compulsive lying makes them hard to pin down.
7. They lash out without warning. The tiniest thing can set them off and cause a full-on outburst. They can remain very calm in scary or dangerous situations. They show no fear.
8. They don’t plan things and they don’t have a set victim. But if someone gets in their way they will walk all over them in public and humiliate them.
9. These people have intense eyes. It is difficult to keep eye contact with them. Normal people will break away first, a sign of weakness to the sociopath.
10. They don’t believe society’s rules and laws apply to them and break them without a second thought. Often sociopaths will exhibit a high IQ.
11. Due to their lack of emotional attachment, they have affairs and engage in questionable sexual activity without a care.
12. They are likely to have been a problem child and get bored easily. They are unreliable.
13. These people are usually quite successful in life and hold high positions as CEO’s and even Politicians.
14. Most sociopaths are not murderers, but it can happen.
The thin red line:
Psychopaths - are cool and calculating and set a plan to catch their victim. Their condition is like that of the sociopath but they have a plan, a victim in mind, and murder is the final purpose. Sociopaths do not have a plan or a victim and seldom murder.
Narcissism - The individual feels strong love and admiration toward themselves. Often this is from deep seated low self esteem problems. These are the attention seekers. They love an audience or to be on stage in front of millions of people. Their condition is like that of the sociopath. Unlike them, the narcissist lives for the limelight. They are compulsive liars and change their opinions often.
