Marilyn Monroe: psychological portrait of a broken doll

Norma Jean created a character called Marilyn Monroe with whom she could escape from her past and achieve success. She herself gave shape to that sexual myth that ended up objectifying her, leading her adrift from depression, illness and bad company.

In 1961, and a year before her death, Marilyn Monroe wrote a six-page letter to his psychiatrist, Dr. Ralph Greenson. He did it from a room in the psychiatric hospital where he was. In it she spoke to him about the glimmer of hope that was growing in her again. She was aware of the journey of excess that she had embarked on and she knew that she had to make a change, focus her life differently…

ddepression, low self-esteem, insecurity and even a high IQ. Much has been said and written about the personality of Marilyn Monroe, or rather, Norma Jean; of that woman behind the myth that she knew at one point, to build a character to survive in the film industry.

Now, the ending to which it led continues to raise immense enigmas. For many, it was a combination of several factors: mental illness, the mafia, the political elite of the time… Books as interesting as Marilyn Monroe: a case for murder They tell us about it. Either way, His trail, his golden memory, continues to arouse both interest and mystery in us.

“Just now, when I looked out the window of the hospital, where the snow had covered everything, suddenly, everything is like a dull green. The grass, shabby evergreen bushes, although the trees give me a little hope, the desolate bare branches promise that maybe there will be spring and maybe they promise hope.”

-Marilyn Monroe-

From the cage in the factory to the cage in Hollywood

Awarded for her physical appearance in years in which women transcended the screens basically for their erotic nature, Norma Jean, She appeared at the Hollywood studios, to escape a life as a factory worker. His eldest Her aspiration was to escape from everything she was familiar with and be an actress.

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Mental illnesses and the search for protection figures

With a past marked by sexual abuse experienced in adolescence Along with a genetic history in which there were ancestors with mental disorders – in both maternal grandparents and in her own mother – Marilyn Monroe’s life showed an ideal psychological framework for developing all types of affective disorders.

One of the most interesting traits of his adult personality, especially in the last years before his death, was his desire to be close to intelligent and cultured people in artistic mattersauthorities that she would recognize as the father figures she never had.

Among these personalities it is worth highlighting the playwright Arthur Miller. She shared many years with him, enough for Marilyn to start writing poetry and reading novels.

Although information has been extracted about her culture and intellectual level, probably through images such as the photograph in which she appears very interested in the novel “Ulysses” by James Joyce, Arthur Miller would affirm at the time that he never saw her finish a book.

Of course, he does not deny his intelligence. It’s more, Those who knew her highlight one aspect: she was able to build a character behind which to hide.. She even gave him a peculiar timbre of voice, a childish tone that for many was irresistible. Naivety was her mask, but behind that packaging she hid an intelligent woman.

Histrionic personality disorder or how to be Marilyn Monroe

As we have investigated her memories, allusions from people who knew her, biographies of all kinds and analysis by students and professionals in psychology, mainly by Marilyn’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greeson, the psychological framework has been unraveled. of this actress.

Be an object of desire to enhance your self-esteem

Marilyn Monroe, according to biographers, had an unhealthy need to be constantly cared for regardless of the media. Something like this caused her depression and anxiety because what she achieved (being desired for her physical attractiveness) did not correspond to what she wanted from herself (being desired for her personality).

This condition would worsen in the 1950s with the end of her marriage to Arthur Miller. According to him, Marilyn worth of promiscuity to escape from oneselfto be admired and to obtain the reverence that she did not obtain without needing to attract attention using an arsenal that opposed her own values.

From the beginning, she wanted to be taken into account so that they would take her seriously and, however, to do so she took advantage of her physical attractiveness, a fact that did make men of great culture prostrate themselves at her feet. However, when she She was aware that her attractiveness lay not in what they saw in her as Norma Jean Mortenson but in the sexual myth that was Marilyn Monroe, He resorted to new conquests and infidelities to fill a void that would only be put to rest by an overdose of barbiturates.

The broken doll

Curiously, she always wanted to be remembered as a great actress. However, something that became evident is that part of his legacy has been to be a stereotype, a “social cliché”.

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Marilyn Monroe was, neither more nor less, a woman who suffered from serious emotional deficiencies and that he had few resources to escape from his past ghosts. She died before her time having been a full-time actress who lived for the spotlight and the gaze of others, showing her best smile and accepting the rules of the game.

While Norma Jean Mortenson, who had not been allowed – nor had she been allowed – to mature emotionally, dreamed of the curtain falling, once and for all, and life beginning.