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Date Posted: 02:12:56 05/26/06 Fri
Author: Kana
Subject: Is Angel(us) a narcissist?

Angel(us), a narcissist?

Let's go through things chronologically.
Liam was a dissatisfied youth whose father constantly derided him so he sought to fuel his ego by satisfying his urges with young dull moronic girls of his time. This was both to serve as an affront to the purity his father tried to forcibly instil in him and also his dominance to regain the power that was taken away from him by his father.

When he became Angelus, attempted to assert his dominance over his victims by torturing them. This gives him a euphoric sense of superiority over his victims and takes the focus away from his own self loathing. His desire to corrupt was evident when he was Liam and this trait continued after his siring.

Dad: Must you corrupt the servants as well?

Liam:…I find some forms of corruption more pleasant.

Prodigal

His disdain for good was personal as he became an Anarchistic Nihilist. His ego did not permit the recognition of the positive traits of being good so he devoted himself to the deep belief in evil. As a demon he believed his self acceptance would be rooted in devotion to evil but his satisfaction would never be quenched as he continued to commit sadistic acts of evil. He commits such acts to invoke fear and pain which adds to his uniqueness and superiority as a demon, again vanity and narcissism!!

When he meets Spike, he is more insecure than he lets on. The reason he mistreats Spike and asserts his dominance is because Spike could potentially take the mantle of Alpha male undermine Angelus’ sense of feeling unique and special, (note these undertones when the two are soulled in Destiny, it’s exactly the same issue although most focus of the whole ‘Spike winning for the first time element of the plot.) He undermines and emasculates Spike by undermining his relationship with Drusilla. This is simply to win as someone like Angelus whose image has become so corrupted that he can only derive temporary pleasure by taking happiness from others. This is the actions of someone so self loathing that they have to want to destroy all chances of happiness for others because, due to his self-loathing, all his chances of happiness are gone. This was the case also with Willow wanting end the world when she realised that Tara was the one good thing she had going for. Failed love and attempting to end the world? Angelus, relate much? Lol.

Angelus can’t love because without a soul he can’t get past himself, he own grandeur and his own self loathing, the two polar characteristics of narcissism.

When he is soulled. His self loathing can only manifest as self loathing because he cannot kill and torture without guilt so he has no release, he tortures only himself. Angel still comes across as somewhat self obsessed and deluded with his own issues but he does manage to shake this off enough to help Buffy.

With Angel Investigations he can show himself to vain and self obsessed and self conscious (see Judgement, Guise Will Be Guise, Most the Pylea episodes, Awakening etc). Appearances are important to him as much as he would try to hide it he wants to appear cool. This was partially revealed in She.

Angel’s soul does give him the ability to connect with people enough to allow him a reprieve from his self obsessive, narcissistic behaviour.

So there you have it. I’ve probably insulted one of my favourite characters. If you care to comment or indeed disagree please tell me. It is quite controversial I’ll admit to call Angelus a self obsessed insecure vain demon but I believe it’s so consistent with what we’ve seen. Liam/Angelus/Angel is a narcissist. I wish I’d put more detail into this and given it more merit but here it is.

I got this from a narcissism website. See if you can see the parallels between Angelus and Buffy’s relationship:

The narcissist abuses his victim verbally, mentally, or physically (often, in all three ways). He infiltrates her defences, shatters her self-confidence, confuses and confounds her, demeans and debases her. He invades her territory, abuses her confidence, exhausts her resources, hurts her loved ones, threatens her stability and security, enmeshes her in his paranoid state of mind, frightens her out of her wits, withholds love and sex from her, prevents satisfaction and causes frustration, humiliates and insults her privately and in public, points out her shortcomings, criticises her profusely and in a "scientific and objective" manner – and this is a partial list.

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