John Wilkes Booth was suffering from paranoia and his murder of Lincoln was a compulsive act, representing not only a patricidal impulse, but unconscious suicide as well. Wilson believes that Booth identified Lincoln with his father, and the South with his mother and sister. With the return of the South to the Union, Booth's repressed hatred was reactivated and he developed the fantasy of rescuing the oppressed mother. Booth's father was an actor who had gained considerable fame in the rôle being played on the stage at that time. That Booth unconsciously committed suicide is borne out by the fact that he made no attempt to disguise his identity and that he hoped to be acclaimed a hero.