Who Exactly is Nicola Six?: Identifying Psychopathic Traits of the Female Psychopath in London Fields by Martin Amis

Abstract

Objectives: This study delves into the overlooked realm of female psychopathy and its depictions in contemporary crime fiction, focussing on London Fields (1989) by Martin Amis. It explores the notion of female psychopathy through its female protagonist, Nicola Six, and examines the degrees of psychopathy and antisocial disorder symptoms reflected through Nicola’s diverse psychopathic manifestations.

Methods: While existing scholarship on this novel has primarily concentrated on male characters, this study employs the psychoanalytic approach to examine the psychological complexities of the female character, Nicola. Employing textual analysis, it utilises the Psychopathic Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (1991) by Robert D. Hare to analyse the issues of antisocial personality disorders from a psychological perspective.

Results: Nicola displays her psychopathic nature at an early age by utilising her beauty and intelligence to control all men in her life for her own design.

Conclusions: Nicola is an example of a mentality-disturbed female character that upholds her femininity all while using her beauty and intelligence to abuse and control others. Nicola also embodies both the two “personality traits” and “antisocial” factors listed in the PCL-R checklist. In future studies, an analysis of psychopathic female characters can be conducted by employing Hare’s PCL-R checklist to examine contemporary portrayals of female psychopaths as working and functioning individuals in society.