Character Analysis: Theory Of Personality Development

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015 Last Modified: 21 Apr 2017

In the analysis of the star character Rachel in the 1968 movie 'Rachel Rachel' by Paul Newman, I have used the Theory of Personality Development by Freud Sigmund (1856-1939). Sigmund developed this theory about psychoanalysis from his works on patients with mental problems several years back. In this theory, Freud Sigmund believed that allthe spheres ofsomeone'spersonality were in one way or another determined by the sex of the person and aggression.Sigmund believed that other factors that shapedsomeone's character also developed during this period of personality development which in totality determined the adults' personality and how well they relate with the world. According to Freud Sigmund the three elements that make the personality are the Id, the ego and the superego.

The ID is the part we are born with and is the part of us that wants us to be comfortable. For instance children will cry when they are hungry until they are fed in complete disregard of whether there is food or not or even whether the person attending to them is busy or not. As we have observed around us, a child will always cry until what they want is done for them or given to them.

The Ego is believed to develop in children from three years of age onwards. This part enables one to realize the realities of life. At this stage of development a child can very clearly understand the consequences of their actions. For instance they can understand that some unpleasing actions can make them to be punished or rewarded.

Main Body: Analysis

The Superego is the part that develops by the time a child reaches five years. Once the superego develops the cycle of personal development is completed and one attains a balanced personality. The superego is also known as the conscience because it helps us distinguish between wrong and right actions and it also defines for us the ethics and morals by which we live.

The movie 'Rachel Rachel' based on the novel 'Jest of God' by Margaret Laurence is about a 35-year-old schoolteacher Rachel Cameron who is unmarried and is portrayed in the movie as feeling terrible that she has wasted her life. The Interprofessional education would also enable me to involve all the necessary stakeholders in cases of emergency so as to limit conflicts and ensure the delivery of quality health and social care. For instance, in case I will be faced with a similar situation as the drunken patient case, I would be able to reassure the patient and ensure that they have plenty of drip water added to their body, while ensuring that before I take any steps, I consult with other adult nurses and doctors.

In addition, I would advocate for joint multi-disciplinary training so as to ensure increased harmony among the IP group members at the work place. Moreover, I would also ensure that there is a clearly distinct role defined for each IP team member so that each member contributes to the situation at hand. The role of effective communication would be key to the success of my career as an adult nurse. This is because; the service user and the nurses as well as the doctors would require knowing the progress of the patient as he is being treated. In the above case, after treating the patient, he will be moved to the recovery ward where he will be attended to by other nurses and health care givers. These health care givers will require knowing the progress report of the patient, which I would ensure that they have in good time. As an adult nurse, the value of communication is immeasurable

The star character Rachel lives with her mother in an apartment that was once owned by her late father in New England. It is time for the summer holidays and Rachel is not excited like the other teachers about the vacation as she figures it will just be another holiday when she will be bored and she will have to put up with her demanding mother in the house.

In the movie, another character Calla Mackie who happens to be Rachel's best friend,a lesbian and a fellow teacherpersuades and invites Rachel to attend a religious meeting with her. Rachel is convinced into attending the meeting and while there she is touched by the sermon delivered by the guest preacher who is a young man.

This incidence marks the beginning of a series of several other events which will convince Rachel to get out of the cocoon she was hiding in and live in the real world where she can freely express her emotions and desires. Calla also feeling touched by the sermon confesses her feelings for her best friend but she is turned down by Rachel who does not have lesbian tendencies.

After the religious meeting and Rachel feeling that she can express her emotions and love to those she cares about she gets involved in a short lived sexual relationship with their old family friend Nick Kazlik who was back in town to visit his folks. Rachel then has her first sexual relationship with Nick;she falls in lovewith him and starts thinking of a future with Nickmistaking the lust they have for one another for love. Nick on the other hand on noticing that Rachel is treating their relationship more seriously than it ought to be treated ends the fling because to him it was just a casual affair.

Shortly after Rachel suspects that she might have fallen pregnant and this really makes her happy as she imagines having a baby of her own.Rachel therefore plans to relocate elsewhere to a place where she can raise her child now that her relationship with Nick is short-lived. Her best friend Calla helps her get another teaching job in Oregon but Rachel soon finds out that she is not pregnant but has a benign cyst. A surgery is organized and after having the cyst removed Rachel still decides to move away with her mother to Oregon and even though she is feeling alone and empty because of the loss of the man she loved and her supposed baby, she has a strong will to continue with her life.

Rachel's Experience

'Rachel Rachel' is a very moving romance, classic and drama themed movie that shows the loneliness and existence of some ladies in real life where someone does not get what they have always wanted or where life seems so unfair to someone. The problem could be in our personalities where we have internal battles within us over what we want and what society or everyone else will say about us.

There were several ideologies that the students discussed in low tones relating to the behavior of these students. However, this was only qualified by the fact that the medical profession students liked discussing their peers' conduct and professional ethics. In this book, I learnt that Rachel had issues with other student's conduct which frequently extended to the rest of the other peers both at school and at home. I concurred with critics that she often exhibited this trend. The rest of the team members agreed that the time limit of working in groups could not be construed to mean that medical students were often too pervasive. The setting of the group work was more controlled, thus limiting the results of the findings. It was agreed within my group that the real picture could be depicted in the work place though with limited variations. This was the case with the attitude of the medical students towards other medical students as well as the other students in general. The multi-disciplinary team meeting gave me insights and adequate experience in relation to the kind of communication among different professional team members. They were constantly evaluating her work which sounded kind of uneasy for Rachel.

Striking a balance

In emotionally sound persons, the ego normally comes out as the strongest element of personality taking care of both the Id and the superego. When these three elements are balanced someone is able to survive and exist well without taking undue advantage of others.

Unfortunately not all of us can have the ego coming out stronger than our Ids and superegos. For some the Id is stronger and such a person will be self-centered and concerned only with their wellbeing and if the superego also happens to be stronger such a person can be too hard on themselves, have judgmental tendencies and relating with others would be extremely difficult for them.

Like mentioned earlier the three elements are driven by sex and aggression. Sex which Freud calls the Eros stands for our desire to reproduce and live. Aggression on the other hand represents our need to acquire more wealth and protect our lives.

According to Freud'stheory, our ego therefore has so many tasks. It is charged with the duty of checking that everything is balanced, it deals with life's challenges and ensures that our actions do not hurt those we care about and all this is done by employing ego defense mechanisms like:

Denial- where we pretend that a problem does not exist.

Suppression- where we consciously block out some thoughts from our minds especially thoughts that can hurt our feelings.

Regression- where we can go back to decisions we had made earlier on.

Rationalization- where we come up with logical explanations to problems or difficult situations instead of admitting the truth.

Projection- where we put behaviors that are unpleasing on other people.

Consequently, after looking at the storyline of the movie briefly and having explained the theory of Personality Development of the psyche by Freud Sigmund, we can say that Rachel the lead character in the movie had a personality problem. This is evident in several ways:

First at 35 years of age, Rachel was still a single woman never married before and still a virgin. This shows that Rachel's ego could probably be weaker than the other two elements of her personality because in Freud's explanation there reaches a point in life when every human being of reproductive age would like to procreate and have offspring of their own. And that is why when Rachel suspects that she is pregnant and her belly starts swelling she is so excited. Even though she could have ended up being a single mother she does not seem bothered at all. All that seemed to pre occupy her mind was the fact that she would have her own baby finally.

This shows that Rachel's super ego couldbe much stronger than her ego and her Id and that is why she was a virgin till late into her life.

Secondly, Rachel looks like she has a personality development problem because she had not known who she was or what she wanted in her life before she and her friend Calla attended the crusade. It is while at the crusade that Rachel decides to have a free spirit.

Rachel looks like she was hiding in some shell and it was the young preacher who helped her get out of it after which she had a sexual relationship with Nick.

In this case we conclude that it is Rachel's superego which was dominant once again because her morals were probably too uptight that she could not have sex before marriage. I also learnt that adult nurses should learn to downplay their differences for the common good of their patients. I also learnt that the power and authority held by students in their past affected the IP collaboration. Critics subsequently felt beaten at it. However, this has changed owing to the modern reorganization of the healthcare delivery. I learnt that other team members have now been given a chance to take lead roles in the delivery of quality health and social care. This kind of delegation was necessary due to the busy schedule of the doctors. This had to be communicated effectively within the Interprofessional teams. Nurses have been empowered and can now play a vital role which was traditionally reserved for lead doctors in the health care centers. IP working has therefore made nurses more powerful and authoritative thus providing them with ardent experience to further their careers.

Rachel also does not seem to enjoy her life. Schools have closed and people are happy to be going on vacation but Rachel on the other hand is just there not excited about the holidays like everyone else. Rachel was more of an outgoing kind of person than any other character in the movie. In fact, the movie depicts Rachel as aggressive lass who not only care about her own affairs and her state of being but also the state of others. It is indeed appalling to learn that she attempts to repair the bad relationship that others have been nurturing all this while. It should be remembered that Rachel's earlier background is one to reckon. I acknowledge the fact that working together as a team is integral to the success of my career. There are many times when I will have to consult various health and social care practitioners to effectively treat or deal with complications that may arise during treatment. Likewise, such professional team members may require my help in dealing with social, physical and mental health problems. I also appreciate the fact that effective communication within the IP teams is key since no professional staff within the health and social care can work in isolation. Professional health and social team members should attend the same training session so as to improve their IP team collaboration. Her character is mostly confused to be that of a person who is very strict and stern with all aspects of her life. This indeed helps to illuminate on the kind of character that we expect her to have.

The issue again could be that her superego dominates over the other elements of her personality so much that Rachel is uptight and her conscience cannot allow her to indulge in activities that are fun even during vacation.

Rachel does not seem to make decisions or to be in total control of her life. When she gets invited by Calla to attend a revival meeting Rachel goes just to please her best friend not that she really cared what was going to happen at the meeting. Fortunately for Rachel, it is a time she gets to discover herself and start doing things that other normal adults do without feeling guilty about anything. She even gets to fall in love for someone something she had never done all her entire life.

The best thing is that the movie ends when Rachel seems like she is beginning to have a grip of her life and that her own life is beginning to bring meaning to her and excite her as well. Hopefully she found the love of her life where they relocated to.

In the movie 'Rachel Rachel', several people are struggling with personality issues. The theory by Freud has helped us to study an individual's character and to be able to draw a conclusion concerning the level of development of the Id,ego and superego.

My Experience

During my internship at the general ward as a practicing nurse to be, I was able to experience teamwork conflicts. This experience played well during the conference, thus enabling me to learn more from a practical approach. I was also able to share my experience with the other IP team members. I also learnt important aspects of IP communication and working that are integral to the success of IP collaboration. These include, not using jargons, listening whenever other team members are talking, questioning assumptions sensibly, promoting the rights and dignity of IP team members. There are certain terms that adult nurses will use which cause confusion and ambiguity, thus making others who assume the meaning of jargons to error.

On the other hand, I would also learn to resolve ethical issues within my IP team. Certain ethical issues are bound to affect the IP collaboration within my working teams. I would therefore respect other IP team member's ethical standing and approach any indifference with a voice of reason in a bid to drive sense into the team member's understanding. Indeed, most of the team members agreed to the fact that discrimination was indeed a shared concern.

During my internship, I watched a patient walk in with his girlfriend. It was evident that from the start, the doctor on call could not give effective direction and as if this was not enough, the doctor could not take a leadership role and advice the girlfriend to calm down. I believe as a future adult nurse, I would have tackled this situation with more wit. My first step would have been to take control of the situation and give the patient options with the benefits of each. This would have given more insight to the girlfriend and reduce the conflict.

I would also initiate active communication with the rest of the adult nurses for consultation in privacy. Interprofessional education would have enabled me to effectively initiate communication with my team members, thus taking control of the situation in good time. As an adult nurse, every patient's condition is important since my core value is to preserve life.

I have also learnt the effectiveness of working in partnership with the patients through listening and responding to their concerns. I have also learnt that it would be important to consult with the patients regarding their treatment and care before commencing such. While reflecting this experience, I shall work closely with my team members as an adult nurse and constantly communicate with the relevant authorities and IP team members for quality health and social care delivery.

I truly acknowledge that I would need a succinct understanding of teamwork and modern approaches towards health and social solutions. As a future adult nurse, I will always ensure that I initiate effective communication with the rest of my IP team members so as to work together for the common good of the patients. The experience that I learnt was indeed useful as it would enable me to effectively become a successful adult nurse who would stand out from the rest. The person-centred approach was particularly imperative in ensuring that I am able to understand the genesis of multi-disciplinary teamwork.

I indeed acknowledge that issues relating to patient care should be approached with interprofessional teamwork so that each medical practitioner offers advice in his or her area of professional knowledge while ensuring that they work as a team.

My experience at the multi-disciplinary conference would enable me to become a successful adult nurse who values teamwork and professional collaboration. This conference has also enabled me to have a clear picture of what medical professionals go through and what can be done to avert such challenges. I now feel adequately capable of tacking these challenges that my career as an adult nurse will provide. I have also learnt to take into account the views of other people when making important decisions. Indeed issues of race, gender, class and sexuality among others should not affect multi-disciplinary teamwork. Cultural and social differences should not be construed as effective barriers to IP teamwork. As a future adult nurse, the conference was a brainstorming session which expanded my experience.

I was also able to learn that certain general terms used by patients to refer to their illness may indeed cause great confusion among professional health and social care practitioners. These are referred to as stereotypes. In such a situation, the health and social professional practitioner should consult the other members of his or her IP group or team so as to come up with the proper interpretation thus limit errors in the treatment of the patient's condition. Synergy model of nursing supports this argument and calls for more consultation in the treatment of the patient.

The group discussion on IP education enabled me to visualize the reality between theory and practice. The patient-centred perspective was clearly illuminated by the patient's voice presentation. The exclusion of IP working has been seen in collaborative treatment. Decisions made by individual inexperienced doctors have been tragic. The case of Victoria Climbie and Baby Peter can best illuminate this when Baby Tiffany passed on due to negligence. Findings from this tragic situation enabled doctors and nurses to establish a framework that saw the prevention of such situations. It was agreed that IP teams would not be able to prevent the occurrence of every tragic incidence. Some would indeed be inevitable. Hence, I was able to learn the value of communication and collaboration in the build up to my career as an adult nurse.

Calla also seems to be struggling with her sexuality. She is a lesbian but before the Christian revival she cannot confess her feelings to Rachel because of the society's views on the subject but after the meeting everyone is feeling like they can open up and that is when she openly tells Rachel of her feelings even though she is turned down.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the three elements that make up someone's personality are very crucial in molding the character of someone and greatly influence what someone turns into when they are adults. We should therefore strive to help the Id, ego and superego to grow well and the ego especially should be nurtured to surpass the other two in dominance, because as research has shown for a sound thinking adult, the ego should dominate. As much as this may not be achieved in all people, those who hang around children should motivate them so that they do not have problems in adulthood in identity or of self-esteem like was the case of Rachel and Calla. Rachel's super-ego is something to reckon with though at times she seems to be not confident enough to tackle the situation at hand. She stands out as a she-wolf, always seizing any opportunity that comes her way.