Laura said:
Killary and Willie sure did protect Chelsea and that always made me think there might be something decent about them.
Frankenstein's description of psychopathy, particularly the lack of boundary between the psychopath and the rest of the work, might explain better the protectiveness displayed by psychopathic parents towards their children:
Ego inflation means that the ego, instead of fulfilling its task as the mediator between inner and outer reality [...] becomes and end in itself. Whereas normally the ego fulfils its function by facing and recognizing the non ego [the rest of the world] as its counterpole, that is, as an independent reality , the psychopath conceives of the non-ego as of an actual or potential part of himself, to be "incorporated" at will.
From this perspective, a psychopath might consider his child as a part of himself and therefore exhibit strong protectiveness toward the child, like an individual would protect one of his limb or his car, like a hyena would protect its piece of meat from other predators.
In this sense, this is not a love-based protection but an ownership-based protection.