Was Hyacinth Bucket a narcissist? Psychological disorders of TV characters

SeagullNipple · 05/10/22 - 19:21

Was Hyacinth Bucket a narcissist? If so, what type? See here
https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/personality/7-types-of-narcissists-and-what-to-look-for/

What psychological disorders - even mild anxiety or anything - do you think TV characters of the past had but it wasn't officially touched on?

Supratad · 05/10/22 - 20:02

Hard to answer really. So many sitcoms, to pick a genre based on your initial example, were based on flawed characters. Were those comedic character flaws not part and parcel of what made the comedy in the first place?
In the thread on Ever Decreasing Circles, it’s mentioned that OCD and some sort of control complex are involved. He’s a fussy man, stuck in his ways . There are traces of OCD but he’s not debilitated by it. There is a dark undercurrent in the series though.

Gigi Michaels · 05/10/22 - 20:19

Great question. From the types described in the article, Hyacinth would come under the category of Grandiose. She was never vindictive; her pursuit of being seen as someone special didn't have a mean-spirited side to it. The humour of the show came about because her ambitions exceeded her abilities to fulfill them which always led to some fiasco. In my opinion, Basil Fawlty was also a narcissist but in a different way: his pursuits were centered on correcting mis-calculations so he could maintain the thought that he was more authoritative than he actually was.

Sploink · 05/10/22 - 21:20

I think she was just a snob. So was Basil Fawlty. A lot of English humour comes from class consciousness. And, of course, the viewer is also a bit of a snob for laughing at them. No need to medicalise it. It is what it is.

***emma*** · 05/10/22 - 21:37

No she wasn’t
She just wanted to be seen as wonderful ie super mum perfect hostess wife etc etc
She knew she wasn’t and didn’t pretend to be, she just scrabbled along like everyone else
Ergo she wasn’t a narcissist
Just keeping up standards lol

GalwayShawl · 05/10/22 - 21:47

I think she was just a snob. Common enough, but a bit extreme as it was a comedy programme. There really wasn't a mean bone in her body. She looked after her family (even Onslow) to the best of her ability and made room for them in her life.
I loved watching her - we all know someone like that and can even relate to some things Hyacinth does and says ourselves (well, I can, at any rate).

gashead · 06/10/22 - 08:33

Sploink wrote: »

I think she was just a snob. So was Basil Fawlty. A lot of English humour comes from class consciousness. And, of course, the viewer is also a bit of a snob for laughing at them. No need to medicalise it. It is what it is.

Indeed. Some of our greatest comedy characters have that right at the heart of them.

In addition to Hyacinth and Basil, you have (off top of my head) Capt Mainwaring, Del Boy, Blackadder, Margot Ledbetter, Audrey fforbes-Hamilton, Lee (Not Going Out), Harold Steptoe, Rigsby, Alf Garnett to name but a few. All of them painfully aware of their station in life. Some embraced it, some fought to rise above it, some fought to maintain it. I'm sure there's loads of other examples.

andallthatjazz · 06/10/22 - 09:34

Who cares when the series was so funny ( first time watching it on one of UK TV channels).

Collins1965 · 06/10/22 - 11:51

She was a classic grandiose narcissist.

Bill Clinton · 06/10/22 - 12:18

Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'ave 'em may have had a form of autism, it really comes across that way.

steepdrop · 06/10/22 - 13:28

You can overthink stuff like this, they are all fictional and I just enjoy them for the laughs they give.

Supratad · 06/10/22 - 15:29

Yes, but the point of the thread IS to overthink it.

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Was Hyacinth Bucket a narcissist? Psychological disorders of TV characters

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