El monstruo y el asesino en serie

Criminals like Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy have captivated the common imagination, introducing the archetype of the serial killer to the vast pantheon of cultural references that we understand as the mythology of the 21st century. But where does our macabre obsession with these figures lacking morality come from? How has artistic production influenced the development of the scientific category of the psychopath and the serial killer? Research advances in recent decades bring together the different causes of psychopathy, however, it is in classic Gothic literature where we can see the first signs of this disturbing condition. Surprisingly, this genre provided literary monsters with some defining facts of the criminal and serial psychopath that science has validated over time. In the canonical texts of the 19th and 20th centuries, the chameleonic figure of the monster takes shape, bewitching readers with its lack of scruples. Just think of Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula or The Picture of Dorian Gray. Since reflection on our psychological and moral condition began, more authors have explored through literature and cinema the inexplicable cruelty that drags down human beings, such as The Island of Dr. Moreau, whose protagonist advocates the Nazi atrocities of Dr. Mengele, or The Silence of the Lambs, which forever renewed the psychokiller universe.