I remember back in my criminal justice 101 class, we had a three day discussion about the dark triad. The reason for this occurrence was because we were discussing serial killers and the three main traits, or personality characteristics that most repeat killers acquire. The dark triad focuses on three main traits; machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Machiavellianism is a term that comes from the Italian political philosopher, Niccolò Machiavelli. This attribute is when a person is so determined and concentrated about themselves, that they are willing to manipulate, deceive, exploit, and con other people to achieve their own goals and aspirations. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote a book in the 16th century called, The Prince. In this book …show more content…
In the film, American Psycho, the character Patrick Bateman is perceived to have a high self esteem, as well as being extremely narcissistic. I say perceived because at the beginning of the film he doesn’t show signs of lacking self worth or signs of self degradation. To make himself feel like he is his best self, he starts every morning off with an intense and rigorous morning routine. He wakes up and takes and eye mask out of the freezer to reduce any signs of swollen eyes and then heads to his living room to do an excessive workout. He does crunches, push ups, sit-ups, and then stretches when finished. After doing his workout, he takes a shower and uses expensive body washes, body scrubs, and exfoliating facial masks. Then when finished with his shower, he makes sure to apply a face mask, and copious amounts of moisturizers and anti aging creams. Doing all of these steps makes him feel good about himself, and heightens his self esteem. Bateman also has weekly massages, manicures, pedicures and tans to appear to be his best self. I believe he does all these things to feel confident and attractive, and without them he doesn’t feel as highly about