Soul in Suspense

Neil Hurley demonstrates Hitchcock's covert preoccupation with spiritual themes—conscience, guilt, false accusation, crises as catalysts of character development, personal romance, the salvation of nations, and the "unjustly accused." This last theme is linked in profound ways to Hitchcock's secular Christ types, who find purpose and undiscovered courage and companionship in having to disprove falsely imputed guilt in I Confess, The Wrong Man, Veritgo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, and Frenzy. (The last three also feature feminine Christ parallels who undergo Passion/Resurrection experiences marked with visual religious clues.)