This version is still rather unsympathetic and enjoys having power over the patients and other nurses, but can still say with some justification that everything she's doing is for the patients' own good (although the patients are unlikely to see it like that), and sometimes she's actually right. There's also a milder version more common in comedy. The most famous example of this trope, if not the Trope Maker, is Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. By creating characters in media that express this fear, negative emotions can be explored from a safe distance. It is, sadly, Truth in Television that some of the most vulnerable people are badly treated while they are weakened and in the care of strangers. On a deeper level, the concept of a sadist nurse explores a very real fear that many patients have going into hospital. Likewise for the Battleaxe Nurse.Īnother origin may be subverting the Hospital Hottie trope - rather than conform to fantasy, the Battleaxe Nurse crushes it. First is the Subversion of what the audience expects - nurses are supposed to be caring, right? This type of subversion is similar in its origins to the Evil Clown trope - clowns are supposed to be associated with joy, and thus it creates a rich irony to associate them with terror. In terms of her origins, the Battleaxe Nurse has many. Sometimes the Battleaxe Nurse has a hint of the Mad Doctor in her, especially if she decides to test interesting new drugs on her helpless patients. Anybody who goes against her ends up injured or worse, and she jumps at the chance to give a particularly rebellious patient a lobotomy. If she isn't already the head nurse, her cruelty gives her a degree of power over both the patients and the other nurses. She gets her kicks from kicking patients, the weaker the better. The Battleaxe Nurse is an incredibly sadistic and cruel nurse, often older (and uglier) than her more angelic counterpart, and Always Female. After all, a person who works to save lives can't possibly be evil, right? Nurses, like doctors, are usually good in fiction. She was described as "not bad looking," and an "earner of a public and unconventional livelihood.- Nurse Ratched, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest He eventually teamed up with Hannah Williamson, the rebellious daughter of a Welsh Quaker family. The actual quote is from Jeremiah 51:20, not 51:6: "Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms "Īpparently Gates was a Baptist preacher in Virginia and left to go to Philadelphia, which was a "big, bad city" in those times. It contains a quote from the Bible explaining the name. William Stubblebine is also mentioned, which ties it into the genealogy site above. Noyes* launched “Battle-Axe Experiment” 1837, advocating free love based on a “principle of holiness” leading to union of “soul mates” his colony in “Free Love Valley” near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, disappeared after he left in reaction against excesses.Īnd Gates is also mentioned in Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State, compiled by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Projects Administration (WPA), copyright by the University of Pennsylvania in 1940 (p. the monthly Reformer unhappy home life led him to adopt perfectionism* influenced by J. Hartland, Connecticut early experienced strange, disturbing visions in Philadelphia 1810–35 criticized existing religions pub. Apparently religious fanaticism could be carried too far, even in Pennsylvania."įrom Christian Cyclopedia, Produced by The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod As soon as the local authorities discovered what was up, they arrested Gates and his followers, charging them with adultery. A colony called Free Love Valley, where both free love and nudism could be' practiced, was established not far from Pottstown. In addition there was a measure of communism in that all worldly goods were to be shared. Tied in with this was "planned parenthood," no doubt a wise precaution in a religion in which sex relations were so free. This was a religion suited to strongly sexed people with inhibited spouses. The emphasis was on sexual satisfaction rather than marriage, for if a woman came upon a man unhappily married it was her right to offer herself to him to console him. No wife, he declared, should lack a husband brisk in bed no husband should lack an "attentive" wife. Preaching views on sex far from orthodox, Gates gained some adherents among the Dutch farmers in the country back of Pottstown. "Most extraordinary of the nineteenth century enthusiasts were the followers of a New England prophet, Theophilus R.
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