Analyzing the Evil Character of Nurse Ratched in 'The Cuckoo's Nest' - Novel vs. Play, Lecture notes of Theatre

Download Analyzing the Evil Character of Nurse Ratched in 'The Cuckoo's Nest' - Novel vs. Play and more Lecture notes Theatre in PDF only on Docsity! 1 The Monster Behind the Smile An Analysis of Nurse Ratched’s Character in Kesey’s One flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Wasserman’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest: A Play in Two Acts. Monstret Bakom Leendet En Analys Av Syster Ratcheds Karaktär i Keseys Gökboet och Wassermans Gökboet: En Pjäs i Två Akter. Julia Jansson Fakulteten för humaniora och samhällsvetenskap Engelska III 15 HP Handledare: Anna Swärdh Examinator: Åke Bergvall 2015-03-19 2 Abstract One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) written by Ken Kesey tells the story at a ward where the patients who reside at the ward are exposed of oppression and humiliation by Nurse Ratched. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest: A Play in Two Acts (1963) written by Dale Wasserman is a theatrical play which is based on Kesey’s novel. The purpose of this essay is to argue that Nurse Ratched’s character is pictured as more evil in the novel than the play. In this essay, Ratched’s personality and outer looks was discussed as well as her methods she uses to humiliate and control the inmates. It was argued that Wasserman may have excluded information about Ratched’s character, so the actors have a chance to develop a personal view of Ratched. It was also argued that Ratched may have appeared as unnaturally evil if Wasserman had included all her evil traits, and thus picture her as a larger than life character. 5 in his article that Kesey created Ratched as a hideous creature: “Kesey created Big Nurse as a monstrous figure in every respect. Nurse Ratched’s presence is seen as very intimidating, not only in her omnipresent surveillance of men, but in her near gothic physical proportions” (199). One learns that she has driven away all the former doctors until she settled with a doctor who succumbs to her. At the ward she uses methods to humiliate and degrade the patients who reside there, and Daniel J. Vitkus explains one of her procedures: “The ward is run by Nurse Ratched, who controls the process of turning men into machines. This process of transforming the patients into obedient automatons involves the loss of their sexuality, their masculinity, and their individuality” (65). The methods she uses involve a loss of the patients’ individuality, and thus their personality as well. It seems that her wish to be seen as an emotionless caretaker without any features goes hand in hand with the techniques she uses to suppress the inmates. Since she has the aim to transform the patients to soulless creatures by using their personality against themselves, she has dehumanised herself by making herself appear like a robot or a living doll. She has also desexualised herself. One learns that she wears a uniform that is a few sizes bigger to conceal that she is a woman towards the end of the novel (Kesey 251). Furthermore, when one is given the description of her appearance she is very disappointed of her breasts because of their big size: “A mistake was made somehow in manufacturing, putting those big, womanly breasts on what would of [sic] otherwise been a perfect work, and you can see how bitter she is about it” (Kesey 11). It seems that she wants to eliminate any trace of her humanity and individuality. Moreover, as the patients lose their humanity and sexuality, they become easier to wear down. An example when Ratched uses their sexuality against the patients is when she asks the stuttering Billy Bibbit about his former fiancé: “‘Your mother has spoken to me about this girl, Billy…What would you speculate it was about her that frightened you?’ ‘I was in luh-love with her’” (Kesey 108). Ratched plays on Billy’s weakness, which is his mother and women in general and Ratched makes him feel ashamed of himself. It is shown in Chief Bromden’s thoughts on Ratched’s comments about Billy’s fiancé that he becomes humiliated and ashamed into nothing: “… as far as the nurse is riding you like this, rubbing you nose in your weakness till what little dignity you have left is gone and you shrink up to nothing from humiliation” (Kesey 108). At the same time it should be noted that Ratched uses the patients’ sexuality against the staff. For example, she makes one of the nurses, Miss Pilbow, believe that McMurphy is a sexual predator: 6 She is watching McMurphy walk away from the card table in the dark day room...she’s probably been warned about him beforehand by the Big Nurse (“Oh, one more thing before I leave it in your hands tonight, Miss Pilbow; that new man sitting over there, the one with the garish red sideburns and facial lacerations- I’ve reason to believe that he’s a sex maniac.”) (Kesey 68) As a result Nurse Pilbow becomes terrified of McMurphy, and when he looks at her she drops the water pitcher she is holding to pour up water. Here one can make the assumption that Ratched tells the nurses repeatedly that the patients at the ward are not to be trusted. Ratched does not merely use humiliation techniques to prove that she is the one who is in charge. When McMurphy participates in group therapy for the first time she calls him McMurry, while reading from a folder which contains his file (Kesey 39). A file with medical information should not have any misspellings. One can interpret Ratched’s incorrect pronunciation of McMurphy’s last name as yet another method she uses to show that she is superior to the inmates, and that she can do anything to him if she wants to, even changing his name. Moreover, by deliberately changing his name, she does not merely imply that she can do whatever she wants. It may also imply that she can reduce his personality and then change him into a person she seems fit by her standards. Denying his real name and then give him another may be a signal that he must succumb to her version of himself. Manuel Muñoz discusses Ratched’s character and argues that “The novel swiftly renders Nurse Ratched not as a powerful woman, but more as a networked monster” (699). Ratched is indeed a very malicious woman with her cruel intentions of humiliating the patients and the staff to submission. Having discussed how Ratched is described in the novel I will now analyse her character in the play One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest: A Play in Two Acts. The method she uses to humiliate the patients is included in the play as well. When Ratched discusses Harding’s relationship to his wife, it is clear that she has the aim to degrade him as much as possible: NURSE RATCHED. He [Harding] has also been heard to say that he may give her [Harding’s wife] reason to seek sexual attention elsewhere. What reason Dale? HARDING. Well…I can’t say that I have been notably ardent… NURSE RATCHED. Do you mean sexually inadequate? 7 CHESWICK. Maybe she’s just plain too hot for him. That it, Harding? ... NURSE RATCHED. I see Mr. Harding has also stated that his wife’s bosom gives him a feeling of inferiority. SCANLON. So why does he marry a broad with such big knockers to begin with? CHESWICK. (Wisely.) I’ll bet he’s got a mother fixation. ... HARDING. (Goaded…and MCMURPHY is taking it in with growing incredulity.)That’s not so! I wanted a womanly woman. One who would not compete, but who might help me to…(His hands wave.) NURSE RATCHED. (Referring to notes.) She has commented, Dale, that she finds you less than masculine. (Wasserman 24-25) When the other patients start to mock Harding, Ratched does not tell them to stop, but keeps on telling him that his marriage has failed because of him. He reveals that he is not very passionate in the bedroom, which may refer to possible impotency. When both Ratched and the patients have started to wear him down, he finally admits that he is insecure about his masculinity. Ultimately, Ratched delivers a final attack where she tells that Harding’s wife finds him less than masculine, which causes Harding to break down and cry ( Wasserman 25). However, McMurphy strongly dislikes what Ratched and the inmates are doing to Harding: McMURPHY. (Up out of his chair with a roar.) Awright, knock it off! NURSE RATCHED. Mr. McMurhpy. McMURPHY. Leave the guy alone! NURSE RATCHED. Sit down. (Wasserman 25) When one looks at the interaction between McMurphy and Ratched one discovers that Ratched does not want to help Harding with his problems, but she wants to humiliate him to submission. When the men start to pick at Harding, she does not interrupt them but joins in and is actually the person who starts to discuss Harding’s "non-existent" masculinity. In contrast to the play, one does not witness the therapy session itself and what is said in the novel, but one gets the information that Harding becomes exposed to humiliation and harassment by the patients and Ratched as well (Kesey 48). 10 when it’s revealed that she’s a workaholic who spends most of her time in the asylum. McKenzie is matronly, detached, steely and always in control of her temper; you dislike her intensely because you don’t agree with her methods. Orme claims that other actors who have acted in other performances of the play have added sexiness to Ratched’s character. In the novel, it is clear that Ratched wants to conceal that she is a woman, where an example is that she wears a dress which is too big to conceal her womanly figure. A huge and important part of Ratched’s character in the novel and play is her wish to appear less than human. If sexiness is added to her role she may appear less cold which is an essential feature to her persona. Moreover, FresnoBeehive’s Donald Munro wrote the 2nd of July 2013 that: “What I wished I could have seen more of from her [Ratched], at the performance I saw, was more of a crack in her facade as her encounters with McMurphy grow more intense”. Similar to Orme, Munro writes that there is something with Ratched’s character that does not agree with her personality and features she acquires in the novel. As mentioned above, Orme writes that other actors had added a sensual touch to Ratched’s personality. Since it is very clear that she has rejected any trace of womanhood in the novel, her character can be seen as slightly more humane in the productions Orme and Munro watched. Moreover, in the performance Munro saw, he wanted the actor who played Ratched to show how the perfect finish of Ratched eventually cracked open. The demolishing of Ratched’s perfect surface is very important in the whole story itself to show that she in fact is a sinister figure rather than the doll like person she wants to be seen as. These small, but yet important details play an important role when it comes to impersonate Ratched. Even if Wasserman gives her character the same behaviour and coldness as she acquires in the novel, some differences occur when it is played by actors who add a personal touch to Ratched when they are given the role. An important difference between the novel and play may further affect our impression of Ratched as less evil in the play. In the novel it is her devilish inside which plays the most important role when it comes to measuring the degree of her wickedness. It becomes evident in the very beginning of the novel that Ratched hides a hideous creature underneath the starched dress because of the information Chief Bromden provides. As mentioned before he defines Ratched as a demon with an inside that boils with evil, rather than a thoughtful nurse. When her façade eventually starts to crack in the novel, the patients become more familiar with her true self which is monstrous. Her malevolent, true character is one major factor that forms an important difference between her character in the novel and the play. Chief Bromden 11 does not comment on Ratched’s hideous side at all in the play. Of course, Ratched behaves horribly to the patients and the staff in the play, but the audience does not come in touch with her hellish inside. Her inside is seldom mentioned in the play, whereas one finds out very early in the novel that she hides her hideous self under the cold and calm smile she always wears. She is still cold, and does everything to maintain her superior position in the play. However, it appears that she does not have a devilish inside in the play as she has in the novel. When information such as this is not included in the script, Ratched may not appear as evil as she is depicted in the novel. Broadway Reviews’s Thomas Burke wrote the 9th of April 2001 in his review that: “Both Sinise [McMurphy] and Morton [Ratched] develop well rounded characters, even though they at times seem to be approaching them from unexpected directions”. With an observation where Burke claims that the actor who plays Ratched has approached her character from a different angle it can imply that the performer may have acted “less” evil. However, Burke does not spell out what kind of unexpected approach the actor adapted to her role. When Ratched’s character differs from actor to actor, one may assume that information about her personality has been excluded so the actor has a chance to develop the character on a personal level. This goes hand in hand with Ratched’s decreased evilness as well, and this will be discussed in this passage. Firstly, Wasserman may have left out information about Ratched’s character so actors will have the chance to use their imagination. From there they are given the chance to create their own image of how Ratched would act and be towards the patients and personnel. However, this may also be a reason why Ratched may not appear as evil. The actors may create a milder version of Ratched, and thus she does not appear as devilish. Moreover, as mentioned above, Ratched’s hellish inside is rarely mentioned in the play and if the actor has not read the novel, they may think that she is as cold on the inside as on the outside. On the other hand, the major reason why I believe that Wasserman has excluded information about Ratched’s character is because of the fact that she would be a larger-than- life personality on stage. I believe that if he had included that Ratched is a demon behind the controlled surface her character may have turned out too exaggerated. Expressions and feelings are overstated in theatre so the audience will receive the message. If Ratched were to be personated as a demon as well as a manipulating nurse who does everything to maintain her superior position it would be possible that the audience would find her too evil and overstated. Even if the spectators watch a play, they may want to experience a character that might exist in real life. This may be a reason why Wasserman has kept most of the situations 12 where Ratched uses her techniques and methods, where she deliberately makes the patients feel humiliated and ashamed to take advantage of their weakness. These particular situations are likely to happen in real life, and as a spectator, one may recognise oneself where one may have been exposed to any of the methods Ratched uses. Thus, the spectator may become more interested in the play because he or she recognises themselves in the situation. When one spectator becomes fascinated by the play, he or she may come to watch the play again or develop a deeper interest with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The spectator may even become inspired to confront a hector that uses similar methods as Ratched. To let some of her malicious abilities fade thus creates a more humane character, and then she may become more trustworthy and be seen as a person who could actually exist in real life. So, even if Ratched’s character becomes more trustworthy, she actually loses some of the prominent features she has in the novel. Of course, to actually see the play and witness how she actively degrades the patients can have a strong effect as well. Moreover, her appearance and outer looks also play an important role in the play and novel. Ratched’s appearance is described as calm and cold in the play’s stage directions as well: “(There is an odd perfection about her: face smooth as flesh-coloured enamel, skin a blend of white and cream. A brilliant warm smile which appears often. Her body is ripe and womanly, evident even under her starched white uniform)” (Wasserman 9). The play and the novel are quite similar in their description of Ratched at the very beginning of the story. Both depictions of her appearance show that her complexion is free from flaws, and that her face is doll-like and oddly perfect. However, Chief Bromden gives a more thorough portrayal of Ratched’s looks and pictures her more or less like a devilish machine. “She [Nurse Ratched] walks around with that same doll smile crimped between her chin … but down inside she’s cold as steel” (Kesey 27). Moreover, when Chief Bromden is watching Ratched drinking a cup of coffee while he is cleaning the staff room, he describes the mark her lipstick makes on the cup as something unnatural: “For the first time she takes a sip of her coffee; the cup comes away from her mouth with that red-orange colour on it … . That colour on the rim of the cup must be from heat, touch of her lips set it smouldering” (Kesey 123). In the novel one is given a more thorough description of her inside which is rendered by Bromden as an evil force. It seems that Ratched is seen by Cheif Bromden as the devil, and that her inside is hell itself. In the play, it may be difficult to show that her lipstick leaves a mysterious colour and thus had to be excluded. However, when small descriptions such as these are provided the reader in the novel, and later excluded in the play she may appear more humane in the play.