Sister Ruth's mental condition

Whatever it is, it's a long term condition and the Mother Superior was well aware of it. Remember the scene at the beginning when Mother Dorothea & Sister Clodagh are looking down at the nuns in the dining hall, deciding who should go to St Faith's. Sister Ruth is absent because she is "ill". Mother Dorothea says "That is why I want her to go".

After a comment by Clodagh wondering "Do you think that our vocation is her vocation?" Mother Dorothea says "Yes, she's a problem."

I keep hoping they'll burst into song:
"What shall we do with a problem like Ru-uth"



Steve

I'm reminded of a line from the film "Shock Corridor," by Sam Fuller. A psychiatrist tells a patient: You're suffering from a form of Dementia Praecox, incident to the age of puberty, characterized by childish behavior, hallucinations, and emotional deterioration. Maybe this is Sister Ruth's diagnosis as well?

(I'm not a doctor, I just play one on the Internet. lol)

The problem with diagnosing characters in fiction is that the creators are not working towards a true representation of a mental illness.

Ruth could be suffering a myriad of problems. But I suppose the most obvious would be Bipolar disorder.

Her problem is that her central immaturity is being exacerbated by a nervous disorder, low self-esteem, sexual mania, grandomania & paranoia.

A sense of personal worthlessness?

A lot of energy with no productive place to discharge it?

I had a girlfriend who was bi-polar and she acted a lot like Ruth. She would not be able to sleep and was angry and abusive half the time. That crazy %$# is out of my life now thank God.

In the book, then nuns aren't allowed to leave the nunhood every year. Don't know why they put that in the movie. So I think she's just basically realized she isn't getting any, and she really doesn't want to be a nun. Remember, in those days I think you could be excommunicated or something else really bad for renouncing your religious calling. So it's the stress between her vows and her attraction to the man in this strange, forbidding location that finally made her crack.

Just plain nuts.

I agree with the poster who said that fictional characters are often not written realistically in terms of their mental illness. That said, she does appear to be bipolar, with both depressive and manic episodes. She's also frequently histrionic and (no pun intended) narcissistic, deeply craving being the center of attention at all times. She also ends up obviously psychotic. Ruth never demonstrates any empathy for anyone else. She's completely wrapped up in herself.

I think the Mother Superior at the original order feels she would end up someplace much worse if she were not at the nunnery, so the convent is a refuge for her rather than a vocation. However, whoever thought it was a good idea to send her to a foreign culture and alien climate, just because it would be with a smaller group, was really dumb.

Innsmouth Free Press http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com