Margot Tenenbaum Psychological Analazys

In the film, The Royal Tenenbaum, Margot Tenenbaum is the emotionally withdrawn adopted daughter of Royal and Etheline Tenenbaum. Margot Tenenbaum’s demeanor is easily explained using Erik Eriksnon’s psychosocial stages of development. Erickson’s eight stages of development were heavily influenced by Frued’s ideas, however there are major differences. Whereas Frued believed personality was fully developed by the age 6, Erickson believed that personality continued to develop over a person’s entire lifespan. Erickson’s eight stages of development are as follows: trust and mistrust in infancy, autonomy versus shame and doubt in toddler years, industry versus inferiority during early childhood, identity versus role confusion during adolescence, intimacy versus isolation during young adulthood generativist versus stagnation in adulthood, and finally ego integrity versus despair during old age. The crisis that one faces in each of the eight stages may be resolved either in an adaptive or maladaptive manner and influences one’s personality later in life. Margot she seems to have maladaptively resolved many of Erickson’s psychosocial stages leading to the development of stoic and emotionally distant person we see in throughout the film.

Considering that Margot was given up by her biological parents and then adopted by the Tenenbaum’s when Margot was only two years old, one can easily infer that Margot’s resolution to Erickson’s first psychosocial stage of development did not have a positive resolution. That first crisis stage occurs in infancy and involves trust versus mistrust. At this stage according to Erickson, a child is dependent and at the mercy on those around them. Since Margot had been given up by the people that were suppose...

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...on’s last crisis stage which happens in the later years and involves ego integrity versus despair. The film does offer enough of a glimpse into Margot Tenenbaum’s life to show the way that Erickson’s crisis stages helped shape Margot’s personality. From her infancy when she was first given up by her biological family through the stagnation in her middle adulthood the audience is able to see the effect which negative resolutions have had in shaping Margot’s life. She becomes an untrusting, guarded, adult with deep feelings of inferiority who can’t seem to form deep and meaningful relationships and genuinely questions her talents and skills. If one takes Erickson’s theory into account in explaining Margot’s life it’s easy to understand why she would develop these thoughts and become the woman the audience sees depicted in the film.

Works Cited

The Royal Tenenbaums