Nurse Ratched
Nurse Ratched (also known as "Big Nurse") is a fictional character and the main antagonist of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, first featured in Ken Kesey's 1962 novel as well as the 1975 film adaptation. A cold, heartless tyrant, Nurse Ratched has become the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe. She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of institutional power and authority in bureaucracies such as the psychiatric treatment center in which the novel is set.
| Mildred Ratched | |
|---|---|
| One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest character | |
 Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film adaptation | |
| First appearance | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) |
| Created by | Ken Kesey |
| Portrayed by | Joan Tetzel (play) Louise Fletcher (film) Sarah Paulson (Ratched) |
| In-universe information | |
| Full name | Mildred Ratched (film, TV series) |
| Alias | Big Nurse |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Nurse |
| Significant other | Gwendolyn Briggs (TV series) Charles Wainwright (TV series) |
| Nationality | American |
| Birthplace | Salem, Oregon, United States |
The character was portrayed by Louise Fletcher in the film adaptation, whose performance earned her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Fletcher, who, up to that point, had only had a brief television career in the 1950s and early 1960s and had only appeared in two films (one uncredited), was cast after Anne Bancroft, Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Page, Colleen Dewhurst, and Ellen Burstyn turned down the role.[1] Director Miloš Forman considered Fletcher for Ratched when he saw her in the 1974 film Thieves Like Us.[1]
Creation
Author Kesey stated that he based Ratched on the head nurse of the psychiatric ward where he worked. He later ran into her at an aquarium, realizing "She was much smaller than I remembered, and a whole lot more human."[2] The 1940s hairstyle was, according to Louise Fletcher, "a symbol that life had stopped for her (Ratched) a long time ago".[1]
In Ken Kesey's novel, Nurse Ratched is described by Chief Bromden as having a face that is smooth, calculated and precision-made like an expensive babydoll, skin like flesh-colored enamel that is a blend of white and cream with baby-blue eyes, she also has a small nose with pink little nostrils. But the only things on Ratched that doesn’t match her perfect appearance is her having lips and fingernails that are both the color of orange, as well as carrying oversized breasts, completed with a heavily starched white nurse uniform that tightly conceals her top-heaviness to hide her femininity.
Character biography
Nurse Ratched is the head administrative nurse at the Salem State Hospital, a mental institution where she exercises near-absolute power over the patients' access to medications, privileges, and basic necessities such as food and toiletries. She capriciously revokes these privileges whenever a patient displeases her. Her superiors turn a blind eye because she maintains order, keeping the patients from acting out, either through antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs or her own brand of psychotherapy, which consists mostly of humiliating patients into doing her bidding. Her tyrannical rule and her hurtful personality stems from her time as an army nurse during World War II.
When Randle McMurphy arrives at the hospital, however, he flouts her rules with impunity, and inspires other patients to follow. Her attempts to cow him into submission—at first with threats and mild punishments, then with shock therapy—are unsuccessful, serving only to fuel his defiance.
McMurphy helps organize an unauthorized party late one evening, and they invite two prostitute friends, Sandra and Candy, into the asylum. After noticing fellow patient Billy Bibbitt has a crush on Candy, McMurphy encourages her to have sex with him. Nurse Ratched catches Billy and Candy in the act. Furious, she threatens to tell his mother. Billy begs her not to tell, and blames McMurphy and the other patients for orchestrating the event. Nurse Ratched then sends him to wait in the ward doctor's office as the authorities are called. When Dr. Spivey finally arrives, he finds Billy dead, having committed suicide by cutting his throat. When nurse Ratched tells the inmates that "the best thing we can do is to go on with our daily routine", McMurphy attacks her in a fit of rage, nearly strangling her to death before he is pried off of her.
Despite having McMurphy lobotomized in retribution, the attack has left Nurse Ratched weakened and bruised, and she is unable to control the ward any longer as the patients are no longer afraid of her.
Other portrayals
A stage adaptation by Dale Wasserman made its Broadway debut in 1963 with Joan Tetzel as Nurse Ratched.[3] Amy Morton portrayed Ratched in the 2001 Broadway revival.[4]
Nurse Ratched was a recurring character in the ABC series Once Upon a Time. She was portrayed by Ingrid Torrance and works for the Evil Queen as a nurse in the Storybrooke Sanitarium.
Sarah Paulson portrays Nurse Ratched in Ryan Murphy's Netflix television series Ratched, a prequel to the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest film, the first season of which debuted September 18, 2020.[5] Isabelle JoLynn Murphy portrays a young Ratched.[6][7]
Legacy
Fletcher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Ratched in the film. Ratched was named the fifth-greatest villain in film history (and second-greatest villainess, behind only the Wicked Witch of the West of The Wizard of Oz) by the American Film Institute in their series 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains.
References
- Harmetz, Aljean (30 November 1975). "The Nurse Who Rules The 'Cuckoo's Nest'". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
- Kirkpatrick, David D. (2001-05-10). "Ken Kesey, Checking in on His Famous Nest". The New York Times.
- Murphy, A.D. (November 18, 1975). "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Review". Variety. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
- Winship, Frederick M. (April 30, 2001). "Chicago 'Cuckoo' flies over Broadway". United Press International. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
- Andreeva, Nellie (September 6, 2017). "Ryan Murphy's Nurse Ratched 'Cuckoo's Nest' Origin Series Starring Sarah Paulson Scores Netflix Order; Michael Douglas EPs". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
- "Who is Nurse Ratched? Meet the Character Behind Netflix's New Series". Decider. 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-08-05.
- Ratched, Netflix (Aug 4, 2020). "Official Trailer".
Further reading
- Darbyshire, Philip (December 1995). "Reclaiming 'Big Nurse': a feminist critique of Ken Kesey's portrayal of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Nursing Inquiry. 2 (4): 198–202. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1800.1995.tb00146.x. PMID 8705603. – National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Accepted for publication on July 4, 1994, online version on August 2, 2007. Available at Researchgate.
- Schulman, Michael (2018-07-10). "Louise Fletcher, Nurse Ratched, and the Making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest's Unforgettable Villain". Vanity Fair.