Nurse Ratched
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| - | ===Abusive care providers=== | ||
| - | Unlike the ''femme fatale'' and the lesbian vampire, the abusive or sadistic care provider often has little or no sexual allure to those around her. Instead, this type of female psychopathic character exploits the trust that is generally reserved for women in such social and professional roles as [[nannie]]s, [[nurse]]s, and [[schoolteacher]]s, as well as the traditionally sanctified family roles of mothers, daughters, and sisters. This type of female psychopathic character victimizes those persons who are placed in her care such as children, the elderly, or the infirm. | ||
| - | Unlike male psychopathic characters, whose anti-social personality traits are often manifested in — and obviated by — aggressive criminal behavior, realistic female psychopathic characters (i.e., female characters presenting personality traits and behavioral tendencies most resembling those of actual clinical sociopaths) like the abusive care provider seem to be [[hiding in plain sight]]; they wear the putative "mask of normalcy" with greater ease and subtlety. As a result, female psychopathic characters are much more likely to inspire the trust of those around them, including their intended victims. | + | '''Nurse Ratched''' <!--she is not called Mildred in the book--> (full name '''Mildred Ratched''' in the movie, also known as "'''Big Nurse'''") is a [[Character (arts)|fictional character]] and the main [[antagonist]] of ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', first featured in [[Ken Kesey]]'s [[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)|1962 novel]] as well as the [[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|1975 film adaptation]]. A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a [[Battle-axe (woman)|battleaxe]]. She has also become a popular [[metaphor]] for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in [[bureaucracy|bureaucracies]] such as the psychiatric treatment center in which the novel is set. |
| - | Examples of the abusive care provider include | + | Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at the [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]] State Hospital, a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to [[medication]]s, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn a blind eye because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through [[antipsychotic]] and [[anticonvulsant]] drugs or her own brand of [[psychotherapy]], which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding. Her tyrannical rule and her cruel personality stems from her time as an army nurse during [[World War II]]. |
| - | * Miss Minchin in ''[[A Little Princess]]'' (Katherine Griffith in [[The Little Princess (1917 film)|1917 film version]]; [[Mary Nash]] in [[A Little Princess (1939 film)|1939 film version]]; [[Eleanor Bron]] in [[A Little Princess (1995 film)|1995 film version]]) | + | ==Creation== |
| - | * [[Baby Jane Hudson]] ([[Bette Davis]] in ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?]]''; [[Vanessa Redgrave]] in 1991 television version) | + | Author Kesey stated that he based Ratched on the head nurse of the psychiatric ward where he worked. He later ran into her at an aquarium, realizing "She was much smaller than I remembered, and a whole lot more human." The 1940s hairstyle was, according to Louise Fletcher, "a symbol that life had stopped for her (Ratched) a long time ago". |
| - | * Mrs. Trefoile ([[Tallulah Bankhead]] in ''[[Die! Die! My Darling!]]'') | + | |
| - | * Martha Beck ([[Shirley Stoler]] in ''[[The Honeymoon Killers]]'') | + | |
| - | Note: [[Salma Hayek]]'s more glamorous characterization of Beck in the recent film, ''[[Lonely Hearts (film)|Lonely Hearts]]'', is in the traditional [[crime fiction]]/''[[film noir]]'' mold of the [[Fictional portrayals of psychopaths#Femme fatales|''femme fatale'']]. | + | |
| - | * [[Nurse Ratched]] ([[Louise Fletcher]] in ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'') | + | |
| - | * Margaret White ([[Piper Laurie]] in ''[[Carrie (film)|Carrie]]'') | + | |
| - | * Peyton Flanders ([[Rebecca De Mornay]] in ''[[The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (film)|The Hand That Rocks the Cradle]]'') | + | |
| - | * [[Annie Wilkes]] ([[Kathy Bates]] in ''[[Misery (film)|Misery]]'') | + | |
| - | * Barbara Covett ([[Judi Dench]] in ''[[Notes on a Scandal]]'') | + | |
| - | Of the three main fictional types, the abusive care provider probably comes closest to accurately representing the personality and behavior of the clinically recognized female sociopath. The stock character of the [[wicked stepmother]] in fairy tales, such as in ''[[Snow White]]'' and ''[[Cinderella]]'', seems a kind of prototype for the contemporary portrayal of the abusive female care provider, which often tends toward [[Grotesque#Literary grotesques|grotesquerie]] and melodramatic villainy. | + | In Ken Kesey's novel, Nurse Ratched is described by Chief Bromden as having a face that is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils. The only features that do not match her perfect appearance are her lips and fingernails that are both red-orange, along with carrying massive breasts. She wears a heavily starched, white nurse uniform that conceals her oversized bosom to hide her femininity; she has a stiff walk with high heels on her feet and sometimes carries a wicker bag. |
| - | [[Count Olaf]], the main villain of [[Lemony Snicket]]'s ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' is an example of a male abusive care-provider. Evil stepfathers are less common than the Wicked Stepmother archetype but are not unheard of. | + | ==Character biography== |
| + | When [[Randle McMurphy]] arrives at the hospital, however, he flouts her rules with impunity and inspires other patients to follow. Her attempts to cow him into submission—at first with threats and mild punishments, then with [[Electroconvulsive therapy|shock therapy]]—are unsuccessful, serving only to fuel his defiance. | ||
| - | A certain female psychopath whom does not fit any of these specific categories and should be brought to attention is the character of Isabelle "Izzy" Huffstodt on the Showtime series Huff as portrayed by actress Blythe Danner. Though Izzy may be considered close to the "Abusive Care Provider", she mostly fits in an "Eccentric Overbearing Mother" stereotype as far as a confident category of female psychopath. Izzy was an obvious spoiled brat her whole life, whom is cold, crude, cruel, selfish and, at times, cunningly manipulative. She is a bully at heart and is most often ignorant in her superficial opinions and thoughts towards current situations and society, as she views only her own lifestyle as acceptable as opposed to everyone else's. | + | McMurphy helps organize an unauthorized party late one evening, and they invite two prostitute friends, Sandra and Candy, into the asylum. After noticing fellow patient Billy Bibbitt has a crush on Candy, McMurphy encourages her to have sex with him. Ratched catches Billy and Candy in the act. Furious, she threatens to tell his mother. He begs her not to, blaming McMurphy and the other patients for orchestrating the event. |
| + | Ratched sends him to wait in the ward doctor's office as the authorities are called. When Dr. Spivey finally arrives, he finds Billy has killed himself. When Ratched tells the inmates that "the best thing we can do is to go on with our daily routine", McMurphy attacks her in a fit of rage, nearly strangling her. Despite having McMurphy [[lobotomy|lobotomized]] in retribution, the attack leaves Ratched weakened and bruised, now unable to control the ward any longer because the patients no longer fear her. | ||
| - | <hr> | + | ==Other portrayals== |
| + | A stage adaptation by [[Dale Wasserman]] made its Broadway debut in 1963 with [[Joan Tetzel]] as Nurse Ratched. [[Amy Morton]] portrayed Ratched in the 2001 Broadway revival. | ||
| - | In an unnamed world, [[Joko]], much like in Kafka's ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' is the [[provider]] in a family of a father (who collects advertisements and is invalid), a mother and two sisters. Joko works at the '[[Reservoir]].'. | + | The character was famously portrayed by [[Louise Fletcher]] in the film adaptation, whose performance earned her the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]]. Fletcher, who, up to that point, had only had a brief television career in the 1950s and early 1960s and had only appeared in two films (one uncredited), was cast after [[Anne Bancroft]], [[Angela Lansbury]], [[Geraldine Page]], [[Colleen Dewhurst]], and [[Ellen Burstyn]] turned down the role. Director [[Miloš Forman]] considered Fletcher for Ratched when he saw her in the 1974 film ''[[Thieves Like Us (film)|Thieves Like Us]]''. |
| - | One day, while going to work, Joko is jumped by a man who wants to piggyback Joko as if he were a taxi. | + | Nurse Ratched was a recurring character in the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] series ''[[Once Upon a Time (TV series)|Once Upon a Time]]'' from 2012 through 2017. She was portrayed by [[Ingrid Torrance]] and works for the [[Evil Queen]] as a nurse in the Storybrooke Sanitarium. |
| + | [[Sarah Paulson]] portrays Nurse Ratched in [[Ryan Murphy (writer)|Ryan Murphy]]'s [[Netflix]] television series ''[[Ratched (TV series)|Ratched]]'', a [[prequel]] to the ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' film, the first season of which debuted September 18, 2020. Isabelle JoLynn Murphy portrays a young Ratched. | ||
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| + | ==Legacy== | ||
| + | Fletcher won the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]] for her portrayal of Ratched in the film. Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind the [[Wicked Witch of the West]] of ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'') by the [[American Film Institute]] in their series [[AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains|100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains]]. | ||
| - | " "wanda" "barnett" "pozzi" "krank" "pan ton" "fersen" | ||
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Nurse Ratched (full name Mildred Ratched in the movie, also known as "Big Nurse") is a fictional character and the main antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, first featured in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel as well as the 1975 film adaptation. A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in bureaucracies such as the psychiatric treatment center in which the novel is set.
Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at the Salem State Hospital, a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to medications, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn a blind eye because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs or her own brand of psychotherapy, which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding. Her tyrannical rule and her cruel personality stems from her time as an army nurse during World War II.
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Creation
Author Kesey stated that he based Ratched on the head nurse of the psychiatric ward where he worked. He later ran into her at an aquarium, realizing "She was much smaller than I remembered, and a whole lot more human." The 1940s hairstyle was, according to Louise Fletcher, "a symbol that life had stopped for her (Ratched) a long time ago".
In Ken Kesey's novel, Nurse Ratched is described by Chief Bromden as having a face that is smooth, calculated, and precision-made, like an expensive baby doll, skin like flesh-colored enamel, blend of white and cream and baby-blue eyes, small nose, pink little nostrils. The only features that do not match her perfect appearance are her lips and fingernails that are both red-orange, along with carrying massive breasts. She wears a heavily starched, white nurse uniform that conceals her oversized bosom to hide her femininity; she has a stiff walk with high heels on her feet and sometimes carries a wicker bag.
Character biography
When Randle McMurphy arrives at the hospital, however, he flouts her rules with impunity and inspires other patients to follow. Her attempts to cow him into submission—at first with threats and mild punishments, then with shock therapy—are unsuccessful, serving only to fuel his defiance.
McMurphy helps organize an unauthorized party late one evening, and they invite two prostitute friends, Sandra and Candy, into the asylum. After noticing fellow patient Billy Bibbitt has a crush on Candy, McMurphy encourages her to have sex with him. Ratched catches Billy and Candy in the act. Furious, she threatens to tell his mother. He begs her not to, blaming McMurphy and the other patients for orchestrating the event.
Ratched sends him to wait in the ward doctor's office as the authorities are called. When Dr. Spivey finally arrives, he finds Billy has killed himself. When Ratched tells the inmates that "the best thing we can do is to go on with our daily routine", McMurphy attacks her in a fit of rage, nearly strangling her. Despite having McMurphy lobotomized in retribution, the attack leaves Ratched weakened and bruised, now unable to control the ward any longer because the patients no longer fear her.
Other portrayals
A stage adaptation by Dale Wasserman made its Broadway debut in 1963 with Joan Tetzel as Nurse Ratched. Amy Morton portrayed Ratched in the 2001 Broadway revival.
The character was famously portrayed by Louise Fletcher in the film adaptation, whose performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Fletcher, who, up to that point, had only had a brief television career in the 1950s and early 1960s and had only appeared in two films (one uncredited), was cast after Anne Bancroft, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst, and Ellen Burstyn turned down the role. Director Miloš Forman considered Fletcher for Ratched when he saw her in the 1974 film Thieves Like Us.
Nurse Ratched was a recurring character in the ABC series Once Upon a Time from 2012 through 2017. She was portrayed by Ingrid Torrance and works for the Evil Queen as a nurse in the Storybrooke Sanitarium.
Sarah Paulson portrays Nurse Ratched in Ryan Murphy's Netflix television series Ratched, a prequel to the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest film, the first season of which debuted September 18, 2020. Isabelle JoLynn Murphy portrays a young Ratched.
Legacy
Fletcher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ratched in the film. Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind the Wicked Witch of the West of The Wizard of Oz) by the American Film Institute in their series 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains.
