In this blog post I will be
discussing why I believe that Jean Muir is in fact a psychotic woman rather
then someone that we as readers should admire and respect. She throughout the
story intentionally uses her charm and fake personality to manipulate a family
into thinking she is someone and something she is not. She does not do this to
further the family or instill some sense of happiness or wellbeing on the
members of this family, but rather for personal gain. Her entire mission is to
win the heart of the brother who would allow her to gain a title that is
unavailable to her because of her low class blood.
Although it
is hard to classify Jean’s behavior under one specific mental disorder I think
that the most fitting description of her is psychopath. According to dictornary.com a psychopath is “a person
with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of
ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme
egocentricity, failure to learn from experience.”
Jean Muir
fits into this description in multiple ways, first off she commits extremely
immoral acts by pretending to be a different age and alters her entire physical
appearance. Classmates argued that this is a typical act when trying to seduce
another person however normally these acts are so small that an individual can
still see the basic characteristics of the person, Jean alters her entire self,
not just parts. In addition, I believe that she is unable to truly love other
people. She may act emotionally invested in a situation or person however she
is willing to do anything in her power to get what she wants, even let to
brothers stab themselves over her. Something that if she actually cared for
either of them, she would not have allowed. Even moreover we know that she has
tried this attempt to gain title in the past. Although she did succeed this
time, the risk for failure was very high. This leads me to believe that she has
not learned from her past actions because if she had, she would know that she
is risking her very life by messing with such affairs.
Overall I
think that Jean Muir is a mentally unstable woman who does not exhibit what it
is like to be a strong woman. A strong woman navigates a challenge using morals
and integrity, Jean does none of this.
Interesting, Anna. Does the issue of her financial need enter into her behavior?
ReplyDeleteI would say that her need for financial stability just furthers her motives, however if doesn't justify them.
ReplyDeleteI think it very interesting that you went with the extreme of saying she was a psychopath. While I’m not entirely sure she was quite that severely mentally unstable, I do think it makes for a very interesting argument, and I do think it’s very possible she was at least slightly mentally unstable, if not just a generally vile person.
ReplyDeleteI will say that one more supporting point for a case arguing that she is psychotic is the letter she wrote to her friend that exposed her motives. Part of the definition for a psychopath is someone who exhibits extreme egocentricity. While I think she kept it to herself quite well, as she was an actress, Jean couldn’t help but brag of her scheme to at least one person. Had she not done that, perhaps no one would have found out, but she absolutely had to show someone her brilliance, because she was extremely egocentric.