Upon the birth of Ravana, Brahma granted him many powers,
most of which could not be defeated by anyone including gods and others with
supernatural powers. Ravana was an extremely temperamental child from the
beginning. He was adopted so we do not know the genetic predisposition from his
parents about temperament.
Ravana was married to Mandodari and together they birthed a
son named Meghanada. It can pretty much be assumed that he was just as
temperamental as his father that was hated by everyone around him. Everywhere
that Ravana went, things were destroyed: people, animals, buildings,
sanctuaries.
One day, Ravana was in a particularly bad mood. He lashed
out on everyone around him, including his son and wife. People fled as he
burned buildings to the ground and caused major earthquakes. One of the people
in the town, Freud, decided to further study Ravana’s personality. Freud went
to a University in a far off land where he studied Psychology, particularly
cognitive psychology. Thus, it is pretty understanding why he was curious to
get inside Ravana’s (messed up) mind.
After getting a rich background in Ravana’s family history
and studying his personality traits and habits, Freud came up with a
psychological conclusion for Ravana’s temperment. Freud officially diagnosed
Ravana with Borderline Personality Disorder which is marked by impulisivity and
fears of abandonment. This explained why Ravana always made Mandodari stay near
him, out of fear of her leaving him. Even that wasn’t enough since he abducted
Sita, Rama’s wife. The root of his abandonment was clearly from being adopted
at a young age, although his parents often times tried to deny their adoption.
At the age of 7, Ravana found the official adoption papers in his parent’s room
and that is when his extreme mood swings began.
Freud decided that the only way to get Ravana to calm down
was to have a curse put on him. Ravana made Shiva so mad that she imprisoned
him and even her bull, Nandi put a curse on him. In this curse, Nandi said that
Ravana would be burned by a giant monkey. “A monkey?” Ravana scuffed, “Monkeys
don’t even exist you fool!” Little did he know what was in store from the
Hanuman in the upcoming episode.
One of the powers that Ravana received from Brahma was being
psychic. Ravana knew of Shiva’s ex wife, Penelope. Penelope had passed away
many years ago from a rare disease that the doctors could not cure. Ravana sung
a song about her and Shiva was so touched that he let Ravana leave. From there,
Ravana was on a mission to find Sita and abduct her…….
TO BE CONTINUED……..
Photo of Ravana found online
Author’s Note: Ravana has been my least favorite character thus far in the Ramayana. Because one of my degrees in psychology, I decided to lay out a psychological stage as to why he acts the way he does. Normally I would write in the first person point of view, however, I decided that I didn’t want to come across as an absolute maniac. I intentionally included the name Freud in reference to Sigmund Freud, quite arguably the most famous psychologist known (although, ironically, if you talk to any psychology professor they all dislike his theories and know it is all rubbish that has been disproven). In my mind, giving Ravana some sort of psychiatric disorder or diagnoses makes him seem a little less terrible as a character. I put to be continued because I think I will continue the story to see how he thinks throughout his abduction with Sita. In the next story, however, I would like to write in a first person point of view now that I have laid out the fact that he has abandonment issues from his adoption as an infant. Because I had put so much psychology into this story, I decided to make Ravana be psychic also and that’s how he got away from Shiva.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your description in your story. I like how you made the story about Freud and how he went to a University to study Psychology. It reminded me of the Freudian Theory I learned about when I took Psychology classes! It was interesting that you made Rava psychic... Oh I wonder what is going to happen with the Sita abduction. Oh the suspense! I really enjoyed your story! Good job Courtney!
Courtney, I think it's great that you were able to incorporate something you're really interested in, psychology, in your story for this week. I agree: Ravana has no real redeeming qualities. He's kind of the worst. So I like that you explored the reasons behind his awful temperament and behavior. That gives his character a lot of depth, and it makes me think about him differently than I did while reading Buck's version. Great job! I look forward to reading Part 2.
ReplyDeleteCourtney, I loved your story!! The fact that you are a psychology major probably made it easier to write such a great story. Your details were so vivid and helped me connect to your story so much more. I liked that you utilized Freud and even diagnosed Ravana!! One of my favorite parts of your story was the fact that you went further into how Ravana became RAVANA. It was really enjoyable reading about his character through another person's view point. I'm so glad you left your story with a part 2/cliffhanger!! We normally don't think about why, for example Ravana would want to still keep his wife Mandodari but also abduct Sita. Your story really put into perspective the various characters we encounter in the Ramayana, and how they react through the major events. Overall, loved your story and cannot wait to read the suspenseful part 2!
ReplyDeleteCourtney, this story is great! I really like how you fit it right into your interests by making psychology a major element of it. Your story offers a great look into why Ravana acts how he does. His attitude and actions are so repulsive, yet if you think about the root of it all you can almost feel bad for him. I really liked your additions to the original story, especially Freud. And thanks to your author's note I learned that most of Freud's theories are rubbish! Excellent job, I can't wait to read the second part.
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