Biographical Criticism Of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo

Hitchcock’s Journal: Biographical Criticism of Hitchcock in His Films Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963) Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, England during the Edwardian Era. His parents, William and Emma Hitchcock, instilled the ideas of guilt and punishment into him from an early age. They were devout Catholics and sent their son to a strict religious boarding school. He was taken out of school, however, at the age of fourteen because of his father’s death. Due to his upbringing, Alfred developed a fear of punishment at a young age. His fear transformed into a morbid interest as he grew older. His fascination for guilt and punishment shaped the way his films were made.

He has always been the shadowy figure or the familiar face in the background of one of his films. He has masked himself behind routines and monotone expressions. He also refused to disclose information about his personal life with the public. The intimate parts of his life, however, are on display for the public in the form of motion pictures. In his films, Hitchcock expresses his unspoken desires, frustrations, and relationship problems. The films, Vertigo and The Birds reflect elements from Hitchcock’s private and inner thought life.
Hitchcock desires to have a beautiful blonde counterpart. He believes that the love he sought is unattainable, therefore he plays out his fantasies through fictional characters (Jhirad 31). The ‘Hitchcock blondes’ represent Hitchcock’s fantasy woman. She is unreachable, seductive, mysterious, and seems forever young; the female lead in Vertigo is not an exception. In Vertigo, Scottie is a detective who is hired to

Her rejection puts Hitchcock in a frustrated and sadistic mood; his love for her shattered. Out of spite he sent her five-year-old daughter a doll that resembled her mother in a coffin shaped box. He also threatened to wipe Hedren’s face from stardom. The cruelest action Hitchcock committed in his revenge game was he replaced the mechanical birds with live ones in the film The Birds. He plays out his own mini film as he punishes Hedren for rejecting him. When watching the scene where Hedren in being attacked in the upstairs room, one will notice the bleeding of her face and her absolute terror. Her acting was not so much as acting as it was emotions expressed from real fear. Hitchcock took a week to film the one scene, and it led to Hedren passing out and having a bloody face. During the making of Marnie, Hitchcock tries one more time to have Hedren’s love by asking her for sexual favors. Hedren rejects Alfred and leaves the Hitchcock filming industry after the making of