Introduction

Psychopathy has become an essential aspect of the modern society. It is a term that refers to a group of people who are diagnosed with abnormal traits. In fact, most people assert that psychopath is characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.  There are also elements of violence as witnessed in Titus Andronicus, Richard III, and Richard II by Shakespeare where most characters meet their death through violent means. This topic has attracted the attention of several authors who have portrayed this as a serious problem that is a result of both nature and nurture. Also, it is represented as a serious issue that requires immediate remedy and calls for collective responsibility in addressing the menace (Aharoni et al. 2014). The paper will look some of the notable authors who have made a significant contribution towards this topic.

Bibliographic analysis

Some authors have claimed that psychopath is associated with criminal behavior and or immorality especially in cases of ‘’career criminals’’. From previous studies, most of the career criminals have been engaging in criminal activities for long. It is asserted that most of these people engage in criminal activities at very tender age (Caldwell et al. 2015). A criminal is always associated with destruction and all manners of antisocial behaviors. This is also evident in the work of Shakespeare as Richard ii is portrayed.  He manages to kill eleven people carelessly without minding their plight. These are ruthless and callous deeds that are associated with a psychopath. However, there are some instances where authors have put across different views on this aspect. In fact, some argue that unacceptable behaviors vary widely across culture and hence making it difficult to make a precise definition of what is non-acceptable behavior. It is, however, imperative to note that there are some behaviors such as murder and rape that are widely held as unacceptable. Some crimes such as cheating may be classified as a grave offense in one culture while it is just considered as impolite in other cultures (Harenski and Kiehl, 2014 ).

Other authors have also associated psychopath with aggression and reduced empathy for others.  From these authors’ point of view, it is evident that most of the psychopath victims will be less concerned about the plight of others. They are only concerned with their plight and can easily harm others and to a great extent can cause death. This explains why Richard manages to inflict death to eleven people. Also, this suggests that psychopathic traits may to a great extent impair empathetic pain sensitivity. From Shakespeare’s work, Richard is portrayed as a stoic and psychopath character with no empathy for others and not remorseful. He is a character upon which the theme of tragedy is developed, and eventually his deeds lead to the death of eleven people. However, some authors have questioned this rationale since most of the characters with such traits do not harm themselves but have the tendency to inflict pain on others (Cohn et al. 2015). It has however been noted that the aggression from such characters is developed over the years and is transferred from adolescence to adulthood.  It is argued that psychopathic traits and aggression in children is far much greater as that of the adults. This is explained by the fact that there is reduced sensitivity to the sign of distress in others from the child’s point of view.  According to, emotional cues such as sadness and fear can be significant in reducing aggression from the victims.

Besides being a source of physical threat to the society, psychopaths can also be a financial threat especially at workplace and other financial dealings. There have been several cases of different people who have shamelessly abuse their co-workers and clients to get to higher heights.  Most of these people do not mind he consequences of their actions provided they are satisfied with their actions. Richard III is a case in point of how a psychopath can do anything to satisfy himself with little or no regard for the plight of others. In the work of Shakespeare, this character threatens one child and kills two just to ascend to power. It is through arrogance and insensitivity that a person can engage in such behaviors knowing very well that they will be caught at last (van Baardewijk et al. 2010). It is on this premise that some authors have described psychopaths as dangerous and elusive. Richard III had charismatic appeal and as a result, most people had great trust in him and ended up losing substantial amount (Pape et al.). These people are determined to commit a crime, and hence, people are advised to avoid such characters. Authors warn that psychopaths are not easily spotted and in most cases look normal and manipulative.

Some authors have also related psychopathic to conduct disorder that is prevalent among children. This is a childhood behavior disorder where aggressiveness and increased antisocial behavior amongst the teenagers are widespread.  Research has proved a correlation between the conduct disorder and psychopathic traits (Harenski, Harenski, and Kiehl, 2014).  It is prudent to note that victims of conduct disorder and psychopaths have similar traits of a callous-unemotional component and impulsive-antisocial component. The characters have little or no empathetic response to the distress of others and also experience deficits in decision making.  Nevertheless, there are some authors who have associated the aggressive behavior evident in conduct disorder to genetic and prenatal factors.  Social environment also makes a significant contribution towards the development of this vice. On this note, there are also assertions that these psychopathic traits are more prevalent in males as compared to females (Harenski and Kiehl, 2014). These traits are easily transferable from childhood to adulthood, and this explains why more male adults are more aggressive than their female counterparts. The raping of young females and maiming others in Titus Andronicus is a good explanation of aggressiveness amongst the males.

Some scholars have also strived to differentiate between psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, and sociopathy.  Though there are some people who fail to distinguish the terms, there are those who see a total distinction between the terms. For instance, sociopathy is defined as a personality disorder that has some traits of antisocial behavior.  On the other hand, psychopathy is explained as a disorder that is characterized by callous, aggressive and violent antisocial thought which manifests into behavior. There has been a distinction between the two terms, and they are no longer synonyms.

Conclusion

In conclusion, psychopathy is a real problem which is developed in childhood and transferred into adulthood. Childhood is considered as the critical stage where these antisocial behaviors or psychopathic behavior arise. Most authors have a conclusion that the psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity, insensitivity, irresponsible behavior, aggressiveness, callousness and remorselessness (Murata et al. 2010). All these traits are eminent in the work of Shakespeare as evidenced by characters; Richard, Titus, and King Richard. Although most authors have agreed these are the primary traits of the psychopathy, there is other who are against this generalizations. It is wise to note that while some authors totally agree to these primary traits, other totally disagrees. They argue that victims of these disorders have distinct traits and definition of anti-social behavior varies across different culture (van Baardewijk et al. 2010). Also, it is prudent to note that there is still a research gap since there is no enough literature that explains the causes of the discernible deeds prevalent in psychopaths.

Work cited

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