Personality refers to a set of distinctive behavioral styles, patterns, and traits that define the character of an individual. According to Cherry (2016) how an individual perceives the world, his attitudes, feelings, and thoughts form part of personality. Individuals with healthy personalities are able to cope up with stresses and have no problem in forming relationships with friends and family members. An extreme personality is a condition in which a person is characterized by strict and inflexible adherence to the systems, rules, orderliness and perfection. Failure to meet any of the fore mentioned standards can lead to a conflict with a person suffering from this personality disorder.
I have chosen a movie “Sleeping with the Enemy”. In the movie, Martin Burney who lived with his wife Laura at their beautiful home by the beach was a charming rich investment advisor who had an extreme personality. Martin was very possessive, too much controlling and abusive. With time, Laura came to realize that her husband had an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. She tried to abide by the strict rules of the husband so as to save her marriage but she ended up being abused physically on several occasion.
Martin always felt that Laura is not living up to his standards. For instance, if Laura fails to hang the towel correctly on the towel bar or an inappropriate organization of the pantry could make Martin develop anger and uncontrollable aggression. One day, Martin developed a feeling that Laura was flirting with a handsome neighbor. Since Martin always held a self-belief that he is a perfect man, he physically assaulted Laura due to jealousy. The abuse started right after their marriage so, Laura decided to fake her death so as to escape. Martin was very possessive to an extent that there is no way Laura could have just walked out of his life just like that.
Laura had undertaken some swimming lessons and made Martin believe that he can’t swim. After faking death, she secretly went to their home and took her money and clothes. Before leaving, Laura flushed her wedding ring into the toilet. Initially, she had lied to Martin that her mother died.
On moving to Iowa, she adopted a new name and develops an intimate relationship with Ben Woodward. When martin learned from Laura's friend that she had undertaken swimming lessons, he became suspicious. Due to his curiosity and keenness. He came across Laura's wedding ring in the toilet since it failed to flush.
Later, Martin traced Laura while attending a local fair and trailed them to her home. Martin threatens to kill Ben due to jealousy if he doesn’t leave. When martin was about to shoot Ben, Laura distracted him and took control of the gun. She then shot Martin who had carried the wedding ring that he got in the toilet. The personality of Martin did not change during the movie, In fact, It worsened to an extent of wanting to kill unlike initially when he physically abused Laura.
This movie has enhanced my understanding of the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud. According to Freud, personality and behavior are influenced by the interaction between three components of the mind which includes the Id, ego, and superego. In this theory, the Id is the pleasure seeking part of the mind while the ego satisfies the wishes of the Id.However, the superego is critical in moralization of the demands of the Id (Cherry,2016).In this case, martins Id seeks pleasure through tidiness and being possessive. When he feels that Laura is not living up to his standards, his ego satisfies the wishes of the id through physical abuse.Furthermore, it can be inferred that martin has a psychological problem since his superego is unable to moralize the demands of his Id.
References
Cherry, K. (2016) .What are the id, ego, and superego? Retrieved from. https://www.verywell.com/the-id-ego-and-superego-2795951
