45 Master Characters (11 page)

Assets:

• Loves to be in the city.
  

• Prefers male friendships to female.
  

• Values work and career above all else.
  

• Is willing to do anything for the team.
  

• Is self-reliant.
  

• Always dresses for success even when home alone.
  

• Is very smart and intellectual.
  

• Is very confident and self-assured.
  

Flaws:

• Is an avid supporter of patriarchy.
  

• Gets upset with other women who complain about inequality.
  

• Is only attracted to powerful men.
  

• Is a workaholic.
  

• Is always strategizing.
  

• Is unable to fully express her feminine side and be in touch with her body. Dancing is hard for her.
  

As a villain the Father's Daughter will trample others to reach her goals. She can use her calculating, strategic mind to outsmart anyone, and her alliances with powerful men allow her to do this. Sometimes these men take advantage of her loyalty.

Her rage is great when she learns a man she trusted has betrayed her. While the Amazon woman expects it, the Father's Daughter feels devastated by it because she learns she isn't “one of the boys” like she thought she was. She spends her whole life trying to fit in with them.

Her whole identity can become wrapped up in her career. Losing it is like death to her. She'll become disloyal before she lets that happen. She'll use her femininity to play the innocent woman routine and later stab a colleague in the back.

She'll also vehemently fight a woman who fights for women's rights. She doesn't want to admit that the playing field isn't equal for all because that means it's not equal for her. She wants to distance herself from her feminine side and all its weaknesses as she sees it.

She has unwarranted fears that others are out to get her. She's preoccupied with doubts about the loyalty and trustworthiness of others and is unable to confide in them for fear that what she says will be used against her. She can't relax and is unable to collaborate with colleagues. She becomes suspicious of everyone and detaches herself from the group. Her sense of humor completely disappears.

She doesn't understand what's wrong with wanting to be successful, powerful and on top. She enjoys the company of men more than women but always has a trump card waiting in the wings to revenge any colleague who betrays her.

• Feels trapped.
  

• Plays off of the sweet little woman stereotype perfectly when it suits her.
  

• Thinks of herself first.
  

• Has no problem destroying another's life or career.
  

• Relies on the kindness of strangers in her time of need.
  

• Lets others feel good about helping her so they let their guard down.
  

• Is an expert liar until her buttons are pushed and she lashes out, spilling her true feelings.
  

• Is paranoid and feels that others are plotting against her.
  

• Has trouble relaxing.
  

• Can't confide in or collaborate with colleagues.
  

• Detaches herself from the group.
  

Athena in Action

Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in
Star Trek: Voyager

Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) in
The X-Files

Murphy Brown (Candice Bergen) in
Murphy Brown

Prue Halliwell (Shannon Doherty) in
Charmed

Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) in
Elizabeth

Lieutenant Jordan “L.T.” O'Neil (Demi Moore) in
G.I. Jane

J.C. Wiatt (Diane Keaton) in
Baby Boom

Katherine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) in
Working Girl

Margo Channing (Bette Davis) in
All About Eve

Loretta Castorini (Cher) in
Moonstruck

Matilda, Countess of Tuscany

Kate in
The Taming of the Shrew
by William Shakespeare

Beatrice in
Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare

Lady Macbeth in
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare

Bernie Harris in
Waiting to Exhale
by Terry McMillan

Kinsey Millhone in books by Sue Grafton

Clarice Starling in
The Silence of the Lambs
by Thomas Harris

Karen Sisco in
Out of Sight
by Elmore Leonard

Wandering the cold winter streets at night, Demeter searches for her abducted daughter Persephone. Ceasing to eat, drink and sleep, she is consumed by the empty space next to her where her daughter walked at her side. Her tears of depression cast a chill over the fields of grain. Nothing grows across the land she walks on. Winter takes over with her every step until her beloved daughter is returned to her. Only then will grain grow and spring come to the land. She cares not for herself but only for her child.

Demeter is the nurturing mother, but it isn't necessary for this archetype to have children to be a nurturer. A sense of duty to help others is what's essential. The Nurturer refused all of the superficial gifts sent to her by other gods to persuade her to accept her daughter's abduction, rape and forced marriage to Hades. She wants her child back, and nothing else matters. With her child gone a part of her is missing. She is youthful when she lives through the life of her child.

The Nurturer has dreamed of having children for most of her life, and when she has them they become her life. If she's unable to have children or if she's looking for the right “father” to come along, she channels her energy into helping and caring for others. She can often be found in the nursing and healing professions.

She forms friendships with other Demeter women who see value in motherhood and service. They can spend hours talking about the latest healing techniques or ways to raise children.

In
Stella Dallas
, the title character (Barbara Stanwyck) is such a devoted mother, she sacrifices her own desires and gives up all ties to her daughter in order to help better her daughter's social status.

Her identity is wrapped up in her children or those she cares for. They give her life purpose and meaning. She can nurture many people through her work in a charitable organization, help animals at a shelter, care for her own family, help a stranger on the street, be there for a close friend or lover, care for her students, or help the masses with a creative project like a self-help book.

What Does the Nurturer Care About?

The Nurturer cares about the welfare of her children whether there's danger present or not. She has a tendency to put others ahead of herself — a martyr of sorts — but no one comes before the one in her care especially if it's a child. She would sacrifice an entire town if it meant saving her child.

In the fairy tale, Beauty's motherly concern for the Beast (a Recluse archetype) makes her an example of a Nurturer.

When things are going well she cares about providing for the entire group and bestows amazing gifts to people she hardly knows. The sick people she cares for call her an angel.

She cares about charities and volunteers when she has free time.

She sometimes lives on eggshells, making sure everyone else is happy before she examines how she feels.

What Does the Nurturer Fear?

The Nurturer fears losing the person in her care. Her whole identity and reason to live depends upon caring for another. It makes her angry when someone accuses her of destroying the independence of the person in her care in order to protect him from a danger that may not exist.

She fears not being there to save her child. If anything happens she'll take all the guilt upon herself and fall into a devastating depression. She can't help it. Grief consumes her, and she makes everyone else around her suffer.

She couldn't stand it if her child or patient left. She needs to be needed and is a prime candidate for “empty-nest syndrome.”

She's not into self-analysis because she's afraid of her own thoughts and emotions. She hates quiet time because she doesn't like to think about her “stuff.” She'd rather be busy with anything else to avoid it.

What Motivates the Nurturer?

Love and belonging are strong motivators for her. She likes being connected with someone. Give her a family and she'll bestow gifts upon them as long as they allow her to care for them. She would definitely adopt a sick child.