Randle McMurphy
Encyclopedia
Ken Kesey
Kenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
's novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (novel)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey. Set in an Oregon asylum, the narrative serves as a study of the institutional process and the human mind, as well as a critique of Behaviorism and a celebration of humanistic principles. Written in 1959, the novel was adapted into a...
. He appears in the play
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
and film
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
adaptation of the novel as well. Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
portrayed Randle Patrick McMurphy in the film adaption, earning him an Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
Fictional character biography
McMurphy is an Irish-American brawler found guilty of batteryBattery (crime)
Battery is a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact, distinct from assault which is the fear of such contact.In the United States, criminal battery, or simply battery, is the use of force against another, resulting in harmful or offensive contact...
and gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
(he had also been charged with, but never convicted of, statutory rape
Statutory rape
The phrase statutory rape is a term used in some legal jurisdictions to describe sexual activities where one participant is below the age required to legally consent to the behavior...
, something which he brags about). He is a Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
veteran who was a POW during the war and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...
for leading a breakout from a Chinese Camp, but was dishonorably discharged for insubordination. He is sentenced to a fairly short prison term, and decides to have himself declared insane in order to be transferred to a mental institution, where he expects to serve the rest of his time in (comparative) comfort and luxury.
McMurphy's ward in the mental institution is run by the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, who has cowed the patients - most of whom are there by choice - into dejected submission. The two hate each other on sight, and McMurphy goes on a crusade to flout Ratched's regime of rules and punishment, as well as liberate the other patients from her grip.
Throughout his short stay at the hospital, McMurphy forms deep friendships with two of his fellow patients: Billy Bibbit, a stuttering manchild whom Ratched has dominated into a suicidal
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
mess; and Chief Bromden, a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
who appears to be catatonic. In the former, McMurphy sees a younger brother figure whom he wants to teach to have fun, while the latter is his only real confidante.
McMurphy becomes ensnared in a number of power-games with Nurse Ratched for the hearts and minds of the inmates. Toward the end of the novel, however, McMurphy is the clear winner, reminding the other patients how to enjoy life and stand up for themselves, and persuading them to act out against Ratched's bullying. Ratched tries everything to break his spirit through repeated shock therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
treatments, but he emerges from every punishment more defiant than before.
In the novel's climax
Climax (narrative)
The Climax is the point in the story where the main character's point of view changes, or the most exciting/action filled part of the story. It also known has the main turning point in the story...
, McMurphy sneaks two prostitutes into the ward to take Billy's virginity
Virginity
Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...
, while he and the others throw a party. Ratched catches them and threatens to tell Billy's mother - the only woman he fears more than her - which terrifies him so much that he commits suicide by slitting his throat. Enraged, McMurphy attacks and nearly strangles Ratched to death, but he is knocked away and unconscious before he can. For this, Ratched has McMurphy lobotomized
Lobotomy
Lobotomy "; τομή – tomē: "cut/slice") is a neurosurgical procedure, a form of psychosurgery, also known as a leukotomy or leucotomy . It consists of cutting the connections to and from the prefrontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain...
. Chief Bromden, unable to stand seeing his friend as a mindless zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
nor used as a symbol by Ratched to remind others of what happens when one "bucks the system", smothers him to death with a pillow in an act of euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
. Bromden then uses a marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy, involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 19th century...
control panel as a battering ram to break the window and flee from the asylum.
In other media
McMurphy has been played on stage by Jérôme PradonJérôme Pradon
Jérôme Pradon is an actor and singer who has performed in the West End, Paris and various other places around the world. He was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France on 3 June 1964.- Theatre :...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
, Aleksandr Abdulov
Aleksandr Abdulov
Aleksandr Gavrilovich Abdúlov was a notable Soviet/Russian actor....
, Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
, Christian Slater
Christian Slater
Christian Michael Leonard Slater is an American actor. He made his film debut with a small role in The Postman Always Rings Twice before playing a leading role in the 1985 film The Legend of Billie Jean...
, Shane Ritchie, Roman Wilhelmi
Roman Wilhelmi
Roman Wilhelmi was a Polish theatre and film actor, notable for his roles in two of the most popular Polish television series of the 1980s....
(Polish adaptation), and most recently by Uri Meir. He was most famously portrayed by Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
in the 1975 film adaptation
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a 1975 American drama film directed by Miloš Forman and based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey....
for which Nicholson won the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
R.P. McMurphy is also the subject of a song of the same name by the Manic Street Preachers. This appears on the "Stay Beautiful" single and also on the bonus disc of the 2009 Japanese Remaster of Generation Terrorists
Generation Terrorists
- Personnel :Manic Street Preachers*James Dean Bradfield – lead vocals, guitar*Richey Edwards – guitar*Sean Moore – drums, percussion, backing vocals*Nicky Wire – bass, piano on Little Baby NothingAdditional personnel...
.
McMurphy is also referenced in the Pultizer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal in the song "Didn't I See This Movie?"