Darkly Dreaming Dexter Character Analysis

Over the last 100 years, the figure of the psychopath has become increasingly central to fictional depictions (Bentham 2012: 7). Representations have made the portrayals of the psychopathic murderer as hero, as portrayed in American television drama series of Dexter derived from the novel Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) by Jeff Lindsay. Lindsay offers a unique perspective on this trajectory in that he places his psychopath in the central, heroic role, thus subverting traditional morality. Dexter Morgan, a blood spatter pattern analyst for Miami Metro Police Department who also leads a secret life as a serial killer, hunting down criminals who have slipped through the cracks of the justice system. Dexter is the embodiment of Kristeva’s abject notion of the

According to Julia Kristeva “any crime, because it draws attention to the fragility of the law, is abject, but premeditated crime, cunning murder are even more so because they heighten the display of such fragility” (2002: 232). This essay argues, that Dexter is an abject, as he attracts and disgusts, and transgresses both moral and physical borders. These elements of abjection are established by means of the narrative, as well as by technical codes and mise-en-scène codes.
The first indicator that shows an implication of the abject notion in this scene (Dexter. Season 6, episode 12) is ambiguity of Dexter in terms of attraction and disgust. As Kristeva states the abject is something “what does not respect borders, positions, rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite” (2002: 232). In this scene we see Dexter kills other serial killer Travis. The middle close-up camera shot focused on small table in front of Dexter, and exactly on weapons, which emphasized by bright lighting and suggests that he prepares for murder (0:11). Dexter himself is in the darkness, which suppose the audience to feel some mystery and fear. He wears apron and plastic sleeves, which intends that he knows how to work with blood and