Marilyn Monroe Personality Analysis

issues and had threatened suicide before (Bell, 2014). However, while she did suffer from many issues, it was said that around this time she was in good spirits. She had been planning for the future and seemed to be looking forward to it.
Marilyn Monroe was a deeply troubled woman and I believe that in applying a Psychoanalytic Perspective to her life, the first theorist that comes to mind is Erik Erickson and his stage theory of personality. In applying his theory we see that we can assess Marilyn’s personality through Erickson’s psychosocial stages of “Identity vs. Role Confusion” and “Intimacy vs. Isolation” (Friedman & Schustack 133-134). Marilyn’s childhood, the most critical time in any child’s life when any and all relationships are crucial to their healthy development proved to be the catalyst for her later problems in life as evident by the lack of any solid and

healthy attachments in her life. Although Marilyn formed relationships with many different caregivers throughout her childhood, it was always temporary never allowing for any kind of permanence in her life. Erickson would say that Marilyn’s inability to create strong social ties resulted in isolation and loneliness instead of love and fulfillment (Friedman & Schustack 134). Marilyn lived Erickson’s stage theory of “Intimacy vs. Isolation” as evidenced by her abundance of superficial relationships.
In looking to apply Erickson’s stage of “Identity vs. Role Confusion”, we can clearly see that Marilyn had issues with self-esteem, guidance, and more importantly Marilyn was never able to establish her own identity. As she struggled to find her place in the world, Marilyn always let others dictate her personality, whether it was a husband trying to domesticate her or a producer exploiting her sexuality, Marilyn never succeeded in becoming her own person.
If we are to go further in the analysis of Marilyn Monroe’s personality, we would also be able to analyze Marilyn by utilizing the Trait Aspects of Personality.

With this approach, scoring her on the five dimensions of the Trait Perspective could capture Marilyn’s personality. In assessing Marilyn’s traits, it would be easy to grade her on the different dimensions of personality. In applying “The Big Five Model”, Marilyn would score low in conscientiousness and agreeableness and highest in the traits of extroversion, openness, and neuroticism (Friedman & Schustack, 264). Marilyn created an outgoing persona that belied her true personality where she was able to hide her depression and insecurities that in turn enabled her substance abuse. On the surface Marilyn appeared to have it all, but in always looking to find herself Marilyn became erratic and unstable not only in relationships, but also in her work. Her instability contributed to her impulsiveness and lack of dependability allowing Marilyn’s career to quickly suffer and her life to spiral out of control ultimately leading to her

suicide.
Marilyn Monroe knew she was something special. She was a talented woman and was not afraid to let everyone know and she was proud of that. She used her lack of family to push her to be successful. Monroe is a timeless icon in American society. She lived a tumultuous life but always made the best of it. While she did suffer from attachment disorder, depression, drug and alcohol addictions, and insomnia, she made sure to keep those aspects of her life hidden from the public. Nobody knew how troubled she truly was and that ultimately led to her death. Although she had her issues, she was a wise woman who knew what she wanted out of the world and exactly how to get it.