FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS:
NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER
AS SEEN IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
By
SUZANNE POPE
Integrated Studies Project
submitted to Dr. Emma Pivato
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts – Integrated Studies
Athabasca, Alberta
November, 2011 FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 2 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 4
The Diagnostic Criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder 5
The Increasing Prevalence of Narcissism in Daily Life 6
What Art Can Tell Us About Narcissistic Personality Disorder 8
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in To Die For 9
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in The Picture of Dorian Gray 12
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Othello 18
Conclusion 26
References 27 FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 3 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Abstract
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is more common and observable today than in past generations (Twenge and Campbell). Yet its features – a lack of empathy, a sense of entitlement, profound envy, and the like – have been noted in fictional characters for centuries. By studying certain works of theatre, fiction, and film, we may gain insights into NPD that would not be possible outside a prolonged experience of the disorder in a clinical setting. The fictional works analyzed are Shakespeare's Othello, Oscar Wilde's
The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the film To Die For by director Gus van Sant. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 4 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Full-Length Mirrors: Narcissistic Personality Disorder
as seen in Literature, Film, and Modern Life
The self-absorption and sense of entitlement associated with narcissism are easily observed in modern Western society. The Internet in particular supports self-importance and exhibitionism by giving ordinary people the ability to broadcast the most mundane images and announcements through Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites.
In addition, reality television programs attract thousands of prospective “performers” who do not seem aware that they are applying for a chance at international humiliation.
But the evidence of increased societal narcissism is not just empirical: Twenge and
Campbell analyzed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory scores of college students from
1982 to 2006, and found that scores had risen by 30% during that time. Pinsky further held that the narcissistic behaviour of Hollywood celebrities has become normalized and is now being mirrored by a fascinated public. From the example set by celebrities, the public might surmise that narcissistic behaviour goes unpunished, but clinicians know better: Narcissistic behaviours may allow for material success, but they are incompatible with success in human relationships. However, laypeople do in fact have access to the truth about narcissism without engaging in specialized study or in psychotherapeutic treatment. Narcissistic characters abound in works of fiction, and they have been drawn with remarkable insight for centuries. By examining these cautionary tales, clinicians can gain further understanding of narcissistic personality disorder, and laypeople can come to understand that stories of narcissism do not have happy endings. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 5 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
The diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder
To begin, it is important distinguish between the normal levels of narcissism observed in healthy individuals and the levels of narcissism needed to qualify for a diagnosis of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD). The Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) places personality disorders on Axis II of its five-axis examination system. Personality disorders were placed on their own axis in the
DSM to ensure they would receive adequate attention when patients presented with more urgent Axis I disorders (such as depression, et cetera). “Clinical syndromes were generally thought to be characterized by transient symptoms with biological causes and an unstable course; personality disorders were supposed by many to be characterized by long-standing personality traits, whose roots were primarily psychological, and a stable and unremitting course” (Ruocco, 1995). Put another way, personality disorders might render a person more susceptible to Axis I disorders, but they are seldom the reason a person presents for treatment.
NPD appears in Cluster B of the DSM’s three-cluster organization of personality disorders. Cluster B includes the disorders that are viewed as dramatic, emotional, or erratic. The disorder is marked by its “pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behaviour), need for admiration, and lack of empathy...” (Livesley, 1995, p.
205). A diagnosis requires that at least five of the following criteria be met:
• A grandiose sense of self-importance
• Preoccupation with fantasies of beauty, brilliance, ideal love, power, or limitless
success FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 6 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
• A belief in one's uniqueness that renders him or her fit only for persons or
institutions of rarefied status
• A need for excessive admiration
• A sense of entitlement around favourable treatment or the automatic granting of
wishes
• The exploitation of others to achieve personal goals
• A lack of empathy toward others
• Frequent envy or the belief that the patient is the subject of envy
• Arrogance or haughtiness in attitude or behavior
NPD first appeared in the DSM as part of DSM-III in 1980, but it is probable that even the authors of the diagnostic criteria would not have foreseen the rise of narcissistic features in the general public in the decades that followed.
The Increasing Prevalence of Narcissism in Daily Life
Even a layperson’s understanding of narcissism is sufficient for recognizing how much more socially acceptable narcissism has become in recent years. Reality television, sex tapes, Twitter accounts, and visible tattoos on women are displays of the self that were rare, shocking, or nonexistent twenty years ago. Today, they are so common as to be unremarkable. Twenge and Campbell confirmed that the perceived increase in
Western society’s self-absorption could be measured. Analyzing college students’ scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the team determined that scores rose by 30% between 1986 and 2006 – as much, they note, as American rates of obesity. They also FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 7 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
proposed that the growth in young people’s narcissism is accelerating, given that the sharpest increase in the scores occurred between 2000 and 2006 (p. 30).
Twenge and Campbell disputed the common clinical position that narcissists struggle with deep-seated feelings of emptiness and worthlessness: “(T)hey like themselves just fine, and even more than the average person. Adults who score high on narcissism typically score high on self-esteem as well” (p. 26). However, Pinksy’s analysis was more in keeping with the prevailing view of narcissism as a mask for deep distress (p. 88):
Narcissism...springs from an opposite relationship with the self: not self-
involvement, but a disconnection with oneself. The key to understanding the
Narcissus myth is not that he fell in love with himself, but that he failed to
recognize himself in his own reflection. In other words, true narcissists are
not self-aware. A real narcissist is dissociated from his or her true self; he
feels haunted by chronic feelings of loneliness, emptiness and self-loathing
and seeks to replace that disconnection with a sense of worth and importance
fueled by others. Narcissism is also marked by a profound lack of empathy, a
fundamental inability to understand and connect with the feelings of others.
Pinsky sought to analyze the particular relationship between narcissism and celebrity in Western culture (specifically, the United States). Pinsky proposed that narcissists are predisposed to seek the limelight as an antidote to their self-loathing (p.
13), and that an increase in societal narcissism has boosted the numbers of people seeking fame in spite of having no discernable talents. But, as Pinsky noted, the general public is FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 8 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
as pathologically invested in celebrity as are the celebrities themselves. When celebrities flout societal norms (and even laws) with impunity, they effectively model that behaviour to an adoring international audience. The apparent absence of consequences for celebrities encourages ordinary people to mimic the attitudes and behaviours of celebrities in their own lives (p. 7), thus “causing damage to our relationships, our families, and the fabric of society” (p. 15). The public in due course becomes narcissistically envious of the very narcissists it admires, delighting in dethroning its idols, and fuelling the tabloid gossip industry that seeks to destroy reputations and careers.
What Art Can Tell Us About Narcissistic Personality Disorder
The findings of Twenge and Campbell confirm the gradual normalization of entitlement, exhibitionism, and self-involvement, behaviour that, in decades past, would have been considered inappropriate, and even offensive. Pinsky observed that much of this behaviour is effectively encouraged because of “the absence of responsible mitigating commentary” (p. 7). Indeed, apart from religious leaders and a handful of well-known commentators such as Pinsky, few recognized authorities have decried this growth in societal narcissism. And though celebrity narcissists are famous for their failed relationships and stints in addiction treatment, seldom are their troubled lives linked to their narcissistic tendencies. Self-absorption, selfishness and a narcissistic lack of empathy make successful relationships just about impossible, but only in clinical treatment would the average layperson have that reality brought to his attention. Thus, FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 9 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
the public sees celebrity narcissists receiving literal red-carpet treatment in a consequence-free world, and it reasonably infers that a narcissistic approach to life is a very good one indeed.
While the blunt truths about narcissism are notably absent from public discourse, they abound in the arts, and have for centuries. In literature and theatre, the conflict necessary for dramatic tension is often triggered by the character flaws of central characters – and narcissism is a frequent choice for a character flaw. The supreme self- assuredness of narcissistic characters allows them to reach lofty heights, but that same blind belief in personal omnipotence creates the preconditions for their downfall. The remainder of this paper is devoted to the analysis of three fictional works with narcissistic central characters: Shakespeare’s Othello, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the film To Die For by director Gus van Sant. In all three works, narcissism drives the action, with calamitous results.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in To Die For
To Die For is a 1995 motion picture directed by Gus van Sant. The film stars
Nicole Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a small-town girl with near-delusional fantasies of becoming a television news correspondent. Though the film was made well before the
Internet’s explosive growth, it seemed to anticipate ordinary people’s obsession with fame and appearance in the era of social media.
Unlike the other fictional characters to be discussed in this paper, Suzanne Stone appears quite uncomplicated and unruffled by inner turmoil. There is no back story of FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 10 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
conflict or abuse; she wants only to be famous in ways that bring to mind the famous quotation attributed to Dorothy Parker: “Way down deep, I'm very shallow.”
Suzanne Stone believes that all of life’s problems can be solved by making oneself attractive enough to appear on television. She shares this point of view with anyone who will listen, and even with those who don’t care to. As she tells her future sister-in-law, “I think you have to maximize your positive features...What I'm saying is that a qualified plastic surgeon could just snip away those little beauty spots, or facial blemishes, and you'd see how much better you'd feel about yourself.” Suzanne believes that even world leaders could benefit from a makeover:
I believe that Mr. Gorbachev – the man who ran Russia for so long? I believe
that he would still be in power today if he'd done what many people
suggested and had that big purple thing taken off his forehead. I firmly
believe that. Someday I hope to interview him, and we'll discuss that, along
with other more pertinent international things.
As ridiculous as it is for an aspiring reporter to care about Gorbachev’s birthmark, it makes sense that a narcissist would take such imperfections personally. As Golomb notes, “A narcissist is interested only in what reflects on her” (p. 18). Suzanne the narcissist cannot tolerate blemishes in others any more than she can tolerate them in herself.
To Suzanne, television is much more than a glamorous career. As she tells us, it is the means by which her identity and core value as a person will be established:
FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 11 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
You're not anybody in America unless you're on TV. On TV is where we
learn about who we really are. Because what's the point of doing anything
worthwhile if nobody's watching? And if people are watching, it makes you
a better person.
The parody of the fame-obsessed is initially laughable, but becomes sobering when one considers how accurately it reflects much of the public’s view of celebrity. Indeed, the perceived validity of the statement partly explains why reality-television producers can so easily recruit cast members for their programs, and why these aspiring “talents” seem so oblivious to their own humiliation.
When Suzanne concludes that her husband will block her path to national fame, she literally seduces three teenaged outcasts into murdering him on her behalf. She promises the lovesick teens (two heterosexual boys and a homosexual girl) that the four of them will set up house together, but once her husband is dead, Suzanne cruelly dismisses them from her life. Suzanne is eventually tried acquitted of the killing, but she does not escape the consequences of her crime: Her dead husband’s parents arrange for
Suzanne to be killed by a mob hit man, who easily lures her to her death by posing as a network executive who wishes to offer her an on-air position as a television news reporter.
Although there is no direct evidence that Suzanne is writhing in shame-filled turmoil, her willingness to exploit teenagers and murder her husband points to a need for fame that is pathologically linked to internal emptiness. In any case, there is nothing surprising about a narcissist who appears not to suffer for the trouble she causes others. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 12 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
As Miller and Pilkonis found,
the strongest impairment associated with NPD is the distress or “pain and
suffering” experienced not by the narcissist but by his or her significant
others. In fact, the suffering experienced by others is uniquely predicted by
NPD when controlling for other (personality disorders). (p. 7)
Suzanne Stone easily satisfies the criteria for a diagnosis of NPD. In particular, she is preoccupied with fantasies of fame and success, and she feels no compunctions about exploiting the most trusting people in her midst. Indeed, the diagnosis of NPD is so fitting in her case that psychology students had no difficulty reaching it when viewing the film to hone their diagnostic skills (Hesse, Schliewe, and Thomsen).
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in The Picture of Dorian Gray
A fairly literal treatment of the myth of Narcissus is found in Oscar Wilde’s 1890 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Dorian Gray, a beautiful and wealthy young hedonist in 19th Century London, makes a Faustian bargain in which he stays young while his portrait bears all the marks of time’s passage. He embarks on a life of debauchery, and his portrait becomes more grotesque with each sin or crime that he commits. Finally,
Dorian’s disgust with his life drives him to destroy the portrait, but he ends up taking his own life, while the portrait – now restored to its perfect, original state – remains unscathed.
The Picture of Dorian Gray has particular relevance today, a relevance that Wilde could not possibly have anticipated. In the fantasy world of his novel, Wilde presented FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 13 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
the possibility of making time stand still for a man who wishes to be forever at his most youthfully attractive. Modern medical techniques have made this fantasy somewhat closer to reality, and though the results of plastic surgery are often unconvincing and even alarming, it remains a popular option for those who share Dorian’s fantasy. Indeed, just as Dorian’s face was frozen in time, modern narcissists often elect to freeze their faces by rendering them virtually unmovable with Botox.
Dorian Gray, like Suzanne Stone, may be readily “diagnosed” as a narcissist. His preoccupation with appearances and beauty triggers the action of the novel, and it is mentioned on virtually every page of the book. Questions of appearances are simply a matter for philosophical discussion at the start of the book, but in due course they become far more consequential. Once his portrait has been painted, Dorian becomes fascinated with a penniless young actress named Sibyl Vane (whose surname can be read as a pun for either “conceited” or “fruitless”). Her performances are brilliant, and her talent places her head and shoulders above those with whom she shares the stage. Dorian and Sibyl become engaged, but the sincerity of Sibyl’s love for Dorian becomes her undoing. Her devotion to Dorian causes her to lose all interest in her acting career, and the sudden mediocrity of her performances leaves Dorian embarrassed and outraged. He brutally rejects her, and by the time he regrets his harshness, it is too late; Sibyl has already committed suicide. It is at this time that Dorian first detects a subtle change in his portrait, a sneer of cruelty that had not been there before.
There are a couple of points about this episode that have particular significance in a discussion of NPD, and they both concern the importance of superficial appearances in FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 14 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
the pathology. Sibyl never learns Dorian’s name, and never insists on it. She is happy to call him by the idealized name of “Prince Charming.” Moreover, the discovery that Sibyl is no longer a good actress ought to be irrelevant to her value as a wife, but to Dorian the narcissist, it is as shocking a betrayal as infidelity would be. In point of fact, the reader must conclude that Dorian never actually cared about Sibyl the person at all; Dorian marvels at the range of roles she can play, and when a friend asks, “When is she Sibyl
Vane?” Dorian answers, happily, “Never” (p. 93). The narcissist’s obsession with superficiality and artifice would come as no surprise to Golomb. Though she wrote here of a narcissist’s relations with mates and children, the description also applies to Dorian expectations of Sibyl:
Because his life is organized to deny negative feelings about himself and to
maintain an illusion of superiority, the narcissist’s family is forcibly
conscripted into supporting roles. They have no other option if they wish to
get along with him....Here the tragedy begins. A narcissist cannot see he
children as they are but only as his unconscious needs dictate. He does not
question why his children are incredibly wonderful (better than anyone else’s)
or intolerably horrible (the worst in all respects) or why his view of them
ricochets from one extreme to another with no middle ground. It is what they
are. When he is idealizing them, he sees their talents as mythic, an inflation
that indicates they are being used as an extension of his grandiose self. When
he hates them and finds their characteristics unacceptable, he is projecting
hated parts of himself onto them. (p. 12) FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 15 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
There is nothing surprising or new in seeing Dorian Gray as a fictional case study in narcissism. However, a deeper reading by Rashkin drew attention to brief passages in the text, passages referring to the rejection suffered by Dorian at the hands of his abusive maternal grandfather. The back story of Dorian’s childhood is this: His mother, the daughter of the wealthy Lord Kelso, met and married a man beneath her station, a man whom she loved. The young man was a “penniless young fellow, a mere nobody...a subaltern in a foot regiment, or something of that kind.” Kelso, “a mean dog” who mistreated underlings, had his new son-in-law murdered and the “ugly story” hushed up
(Wilde, p. 73). Kelso forced his daughter to return home with him, but she never forgave him and died soon after Dorian was born. The attic where Dorian hides the disfigured portrait also played a role in his childhood. The room was built by his grandfather “for the use of the little grandson whom, for his strange likeness to his mother, and also for other reasons, he had always hated and desired to keep at a distance” (p. 155). The feeling is mutual, as we see when Dorian’s manservant mentions the late Kelso: “He winced at the mention of his grandfather. He had hateful memories of him” (p. 152).
Though some writers, including Freud, have linked NPD to over-indulgent parenting, more recent thinkers (such as Broucek) stress the role of imposed shame in early childhood:
Primitive shame experiences may occur in the first one and a half years of life
before objective self-consciousness is acquired. They occur in the context of
interest, joy or excitement when inefficacy experiences or unexpected events
result in a sudden attenuation of such positive affects. Shame seems always to FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 16 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
involve an element of cognitive shock – a discrepancy between expectation
and actuality...Shame experiences disrupt the silent automatic functioning of
self, and shame is therefore considered to be the basic form of unpleasure in
disturbances of narcissism. The grandiose self is viewed as an evolving
compensatory formation instigated in large part by primitive shame
experiences. (Broucek, p. 376)
Broucek’s analysis seems tailor-made for explaining the etiology of Dorian Gray’s narcissism. We know that the grandfather effectively stored Dorian in the attic for the duration of his childhood so as to avoid having to look at him. We know also that Kelso’s rejection of Dorian was based on appearances in every sense of the word: Dorian’s mother failed to “keep up appearances” to Kelso’s expectations, and Dorian’s appearance strongly reminded Kelso of his late daughter. Thus, in keeping with the normal narcissism of early childhood, Dorian would have seen himself – and particularly his unusual beauty – as being responsible for all kinds of calamity. It is no coincidence that
Dorian himself stores his likeness in the attic to avoid having to see it. Of course, Dorian hides it to avoid its shameful hideousness, not its beauty, but to the rejected child Dorian, his beauty was his shame. Childhood traumas echo well into adulthood, as Pinsky noted:
When trauma occurs to a child under the age of twelve, it triggers a
characteristic – and normal – thought process. The child will first believe that
he has somehow invited the traumatic actions; that they are all his fault. This
grandiose thought becomes fixed in his mind, resulting in a deep sense of
shame. One of the most confusing aspects of the typical response to trauma is FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 17 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
that it results in an unconscious urge to seek out reenactment of the
traumatizing event. (p. 95)
Dorian’s decision to return himself (in portrait form) to the attic can be seen as a sort of reenactment of his original banishment by his grandfather. But hiding traumatic memories in an isolated compartment does not work any more effectively than hiding an abscess under a bandage. As Alice Miller so famously explained:
The truth about childhood is stored up in our body, and although we can
repress it, we can never alter it. Our intellect can be deceived, our feelings
manipulated, our perceptions confused, and our body tricked with medication.
But someday the body will present its bill. (p. 315)
Indeed, Dorian’s portrait becomes an ever-mounting bill for the childhood account that he is unwilling or unable to settle.
Dorian never knew his mother or his father. His grandfather, Kelso, was effectively his father and, through his cruel rejection of Dorian, was the creator of his shame and self-loathing. Thus, it is not surprising that Dorian effects a symbolic killing of his grandfather, even though the grandfather has already died of natural causes. When
Dorian murders the portrait’s painter, Basil Hallward, he is effectively avenging himself against his grandfather, the other author of Dorian’s shame.
In her psychoanalysis of Dorian, Rashkin posited an intriguing theory based on the book’s mysterious final pages. The novel’s narrator tells us that the debauched Dorian is finally so overcome with shame that he destroys his portrait with the same knife he used to kill Basil. Dorian’s servants hear a scream and a crash, and when they arrive on FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 18 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
the scene, they see the portrait as it was originally painted, with the elderly and decayed
Dorian lying dead on the floor, identifiable only by the rings on his fingers. Rashkin proposed that the entire story of Dorian was, in fact, a sustained hallucination in which his portrait gradually came to reflect Kelso’s hateful view of him.
The Picture of Dorian Gray presents the fantastic notion that a portrait, once painted and dry, can continue to change on its own as a sort of running commentary on the action around it. This idea actually stands as a most fitting metaphor for NPD itself.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder is a disorder of paradoxes. Behind a grandiose façade, there lies a terribly fragile inner reality. Underneath the demand for admiration is the belief that no admiration is deserved. As Morf and Rhodewalt noted, “The narcissistic self is perpetually ‘under construction,’ as if the construction site were on quicksand”
(Otway and Vignoles, p. 104).
Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Othello
In any discussion of narcissists in literature, Shakespeare’s Othello makes for fascinating study. It arguably involves two narcissists instead of one, and both those characters have been the subjects of extensive psychoanalytic interpretation.
The tragedy concerns the interaction of Othello, a black general in Venice, and
Iago, his ensign. When the jealous and resentful Iago is passed over for a promotion, he plots to dupe Othello into believing that his new bride, Desdemona, has been unfaithful to him with Cassio, the newly promoted lieutenant. The narcissistic Othello is only too willing to believe Iago, with disastrous consequences. He conceives of a plan to strangle
Desdemona in her bed and, when he discovers his mistake, commits suicide. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 19 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Psychoanalytic interpretations of Othello devote a great deal of attention to his truncated relationship with his mother, and the unresolved Oedipal conflict that attended it (Faber). There has also been much speculation that Othello’s exaggerated jealousy around a supposed love affair between Desdemona and Cassio was, in fact, his defense against his own homosexual attraction to Cassio (A.B. Feldman, quoted in Reid). In any case, it is clear that the narcissistic quality most evident in Othello is that of intense jealousy. When Iago hints at Desdemona’s infidelity, Othello is absurdly quick to believe the lie, especially when one considers that the two have been married for only three days
(thus posing a formidable challenge to even the most determined adulteress). And, once the lie is believed, Othello jumps immediately to the unyielding position that his bride must die. There is nothing in the DSM-IV that specifically portrays narcissists as unforgiving, but in an analysis of six different studies, Exline et al found narcissistic entitlement to be a robust and distinct predictor of the unwillingness to forgive:
“Entitled narcissists are readily offended, and they are eager to save face and to defend their rights. As such, they tend to see forgiveness as a costly and morally unappealing option” (p. 908).
While it is clear that Othello has endured a narcissistic injury, it is less certain what the true nature of that injury might be. Reid outlined Freud’s position on the three grades of jealousy (normal, projected, and delusional), and concluded that, in Freud’s view, Othello’s jealousy would likely be of the delusional variety. Reid presented the argument that Othello cannot accept his desire for Cassio, quoting Freud thus: FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 20 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Delusional jealousy is what is left of a homosexuality that has run its course,
and it rightly takes its position among the classical forms of paranoia. As an
attempt at defence against an unduly strong homosexual impulse it may, in a
man, be described in the formula: “I do not love him, she loves him!” In a
delusional case one will be prepared to find jealousy belonging to all three
layers, never to the third alone” (p. 274)
Desdemona reports her husband to be utterly without jealousy (III, iv, 29-31), which, to
Freud, makes him even more susceptible to its dangers:
Jealousy is one of those affective states, like grief, that may be described as
normal. If anyone appears to be without it, the inference is justified that it has
undergone severe repression and consequently plays all the greater part in his
unconscious mental life. (p. 278)
Though Reid convincingly outlined the argument for Othello as a self-loathing homosexual, he ultimately dismissed it in favour of his preferred hypothesis (also embraced by Faber) that Othello was in the grip of a jealous rage toward a mother who was initially loving but who eventually rejected him. To Reid, this left Othello conflicted by “an idealization of women which masked the unacceptable anger at his mother’s treachery and a singular lack of fear of men. Othello rejects women and has (in part at least because of this rejection) little cause to elicit hostile impulses in men” (p. 277).
Indeed, Reid’s thesis is supported by the observations of another character in a fitting description of the Othello who once seemed unlikely to ever marry:
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Is this the noble Moor whom our full Senate
Call all in all sufficient? Is this the nature
Whom passion could not shake? whose solid virtue
The shot of accident nor dart of chance
Could neither graze nor pierce? (IV, i, 275-279)
This description lends further credence to the notion of Othello as a narcissist, in that it presents him as the model of superior self-sufficiency that is part of the narcissistic personality type.
Though Reid conceded his position to be a speculation (p. 277), there is plenty of circumstantial evidence to support it. From a psychodynamic perspective, for example, it is clear that Othello feels ambivalence and anxiety around consummating his marriage. It has been postponed not once but twice, and it is a topic of conversation among the entire military community. When they finally reunite, as Reid noted, Othello’s joy has an exaggerated, gushing quality that seems out of place in a military man known for his composure and restraint:
If it were now to die,
’Twere now to be most happy; for I fear
My soul hath her content so absolute
That not another comfort like to this
Succeeds in unknown fate.
Quite appropriately, Desdemona is more aware of the hint of doom than she is of the declaration of love: FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 22 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
The heavens forbid
But that our loves and comforts should increase
Even as our days to grow. (II, i, 205-212)
Further evidence of Othello’s struggle to reconcile the role of his mother with the role of his wife is found in his obsession with Desdemona’s handkerchief. It is the disappearance of the handkerchief that Othello accepts as incontrovertible evidence of
Desdemona’s betrayal. We learn that Othello’s mother gave this handkerchief to him on her deathbed, with the instruction that it should one day be given to his bride. To Faber, the embroidered strawberries on the handkerchief symbolize the less-than-nurturing breast of Othello’s mother. Othello’s own description of the handkerchief hints even more strongly at his conflict and distress. He describes it as a gift from an Egyptian
“charmer,” a gift that would keep his father faithful to his mother (III, iv, 65-75). He describes the thread in the strawberries as having been dyed with the blood of virgins (III, iv, 86-87), a clear allusion to the bloodstains on white sheets after a marriage is consummated. In Othello, the power of the handkerchief moves it far beyond a mere sentimental gift; its significance to Othello elevates it to the status of a fetish, one that perfectly symbolizes his conflicted feelings about women.
Iago seems to detect Othello’s conflict, and exploits it even when suggesting how
Desdemona should be murdered:
IAGO: Do it not with poison. Strangle her in her bed,
even the bed she hath contaminated. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 23 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
OTHELLO: Good, good. The justice of it pleases.
Very good. (IV, i, 226-229)
As Faber pointed out, the bed is both the place where infants are fed by their mothers and where men are pleasured by their wives. Further, the decision to strangle Desdemona was seen by Faber as evidence of Othello’s pre-genital concern with organs of feeding and breathing. As Othello says, “The justice of it pleases.”
This comingling of conflicts around sexuality and nourishment supports the
Oedipal interpretation of Othello, and it has a clear place in examination of NPD. The apparently self-reliant narcissist is actually profoundly needy, since he feels empty and unworthy inside. But to admit to his need for others would make him intolerably aware of what he lacks. Thus, as Golomb wrote (p. 21), he occupies a one-person world, a world that presents him with a dilemma: How can I get fed without acknowledging the feeder?
The narcissist’s solution is to reduce other people to the function or organ that serves the need of the moment. And if the feeder demands attention for whatever reason, she must be removed from the scene.
Another psychoanalytic interpretation of Othello placed Iago in the role of a reprojected superego. In Orgel’s analysis, stealing Desdemona away from her father is, to the conflicted Othello, the equivalent of living out the Oedipal fantasy of stealing his mother away from his father. But the fantasy cannot be fulfilled without punishment, and so Othello must arrange to pay for his unspeakable sin. The superego “observes, judges, criticizes” (Orgel, p. 259), and Iago is the perfect man to assume that role. As Iago says of himself, “I am nothing if not critical” (II, i, 117). Orgel commented on Iago’s FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 24 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
particular genius for taking what he observes and overhears and using it to control
Othello:
The commands and interpretations of the “enforcing” superego cannot be
disputed by any logic and conscious knowledge...Where the...unscrupulous
parent-substitute “brain washer” can replace the subject’s own superego, he
can assume an omnipotence, and is granted an omniscience which only the
early parent has exercised. Iago knows all this. He does not and cannot fail as
long as everyone believes he is unfailingly honest. (p. 259)
In some ways, Othello is scarcely about Othello at all. Iago is effectively the star of the play, given that he has most of the play’s lines and is the one who manipulates most of the action. Thus, any discussion of Othello’s narcissism will have to consider
Iago’s narcissism as well.
If jealousy and haughtiness are the calling cards of narcissism, Iago certainly qualifies for the diagnosis. Beyond being jealous of Cassio’s promotion, Iago shows himself to be jealous of other people’s sexual activity as well. Even before Othello and
Desdemona consummate their marriage, Iago is sharing his vivid fantasies of the act with anyone who will listen:
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe. (I, i, 97-98)
FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 25 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
And a minute later:
I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter
and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs. (I, i, 129-131)
There is also pronounced misogyny in Iago’s vulgar and cynical dismissal of women:
You rise to play, and go to bed to work. (II, i, 128)
Iago makes no secret of the fact that he resents Cassio’s promotion, but the viciousness of his revenge raises the question of whether Iago is more jealous of Cassio’s new rank, or of his new closeness to Othello. The possibility of Iago’s being homosexual was explored in Freudian terms by Faber and Dilmot, who noted Iago’s oft-repeated exhortation to “put money in thy purse.” The line appears six times in Othello, which is an extraordinary amount of repetition for an artist as fresh and inventive as Shakespeare.
The line is clearly intended to be significant. Literally, Iago is encouraging the lovelorn
Roderigo to impress Desdemona by amassing wealth, but symbolically, he is doing much more. As Faber and Dilmot pointed out, “money” in Shakespeare’s day was slang for semen, “purse” stood for scrotum, and ejaculation was informally described as “paying out” or “spending.” The authors also quoted Freud on the easily interchangeability of
“money,” “baby,” and “penis” in the unconscious mind, and on the similarity of civilized people’s treatment of sexual matters and money matters (p. 87). Whatever drives Iago to such an elaborate scheme for revenge, we can be sure it involves more than simply being passed over for a promotion. But as is so often the case with pathological motivations,
Iago secures his own destruction as surely as seeks Othello’s. FULL-LENGTH MIRRORS: NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER AS SEEN 26 IN LITERATURE, FILM, AND MODERN LIFE
Conclusion
There is a strong possibility that Narcissistic Personality Disorder will be eliminated as a diagnosis from the forthcoming DSM-5. That this is a source of great controversy is not surprising. The most cursory examination of today’s popular culture will provide speedy confirmation that narcissism, while not attractive, has become common. Indeed, Facebook’s fastest growing demographic is now women over 55
(Smith), suggesting that middle-aged people are rapidly joining the young in abandoning any reticence around publicizing the mundane details of their lives. Clinicians who wish to warn of the dangers of narcissism can draw on roughly a century of scholarship on the topic. However, the insights of artists have provided cautionary tales about narcissism for hundreds of years. The composer Igor Stravinsky is said to have described the role of music theory as “Hindsight. It doesn't exist. There are compositions from which it is deduced” (Moss). So it is with the study of psychopathology. Long before Freud, authors and playwrights observed life with enough insight to comment on the likely outcome of a life lived in a state of self-absorption. In the case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, misery and isolation are safe predictions, as Shakespeare, Wilde and van Sant have shown us. Narcissism might have assumed startling new forms in recent years, but as centuries of literature have demonstrated, the condition is as old as humanity itself.
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