Obsessive-Compulsive Character in the film Misery

In the film Misery, based on a novel by Stephen King, a novelist is noted for one particular character, Misery Chastain, a character he has killed off in his most recent but as yet unpublished book. He is traveling through the mountains in the dead of winter and has a traffic accident, driving his car off the road where it is not likely to be seen. He is found by a woman named Annie Wilkes, his number one fan, who recognizes him immediately. She is a former nurse and takes him to her remote home, where she undertakes to nurse him back to health while at the same time regaling him with praise for the books he has written. Her effusion is excessive and makes him uncomfortable, and he would like to make a call to tell others where he is. She will not allow this, making excuses. In time, he comes to accept her adoration of his work and lets her read his latest manuscript. When she finds that he has killed off her favorite character, Misery, she turns savage, torturing him, making him completely dependent on her, and preventing others from finding him. She is revealed to be a woman who has previously been accused of killing patients in a hospital where she worked as a nurse. Ultimately, the man must fight back and destroy her in order to get back to civilization.

The character displays elements of the borderline personality as well as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. Annie Wilkes is presented as an obsessive-compulsive personality in t

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tortures and destroys other people. People in Cluster B are said to be dramatic, emotional, or erratic, and these terms apply to Annie Wilkes so that the idea that she is to represent a borderline personality type according to DSM-IIIR. The criteria for the DSM-IIIR description was derived from a study by Spitzer, Endicott, and Gibbon (1979). It has been found to be more prevalent in women than in men (Swartz et al, 1990). The borderline personality shows instability in relationships, mood, and self-image, and attitudes and feelings toward other people may vary greatly and inexplicably over a relatively short period of time (Davison and Neale, 1994, 266). Annie Wilkes displays this sort of behavior. She is at first self-deprecating--when the novelist offers to let her read his manuscript, he says perhaps she can come up with a title. She puts herself down as if she would never be able to do this. Later, when she feels betrayed because he has killed Misery, she exhibits much more certainty of her own ability and conveys this to him, trying to get him to do what she wants. Her mood swings are considerable. She begins by worshipping the novelist and, when her hopes are thwarted, immediately turns violent and smashes his fo

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