Princess Diana, portrayed through [614221]

Princess Diana, portrayed through
Feminism and Psychoanalysis

Princess Diana was one of the most beloved, popular , and controversial princesses in history.
Although she died the same year I was born, that is 1997, princess Diana fascinates me, and
I’ve always wanted to know more a bout her; I see her as an ideal woman and mother. In short,
Diana was the epitome of beauty, delicacy, elegance, inte lligence, and resilience .
Diana’s path to bec oming a princess has been full of obstacles, ever since she was a child, and
it hadn’t got any easier by the time of her death. Diana came from a fairly normal family; she
had many siblings, and many hurdles to overcome. Fight s were common with in the family ,
ultimately culminating in her parents’ divorce, following which Diana’s father was award ed the
children ’s custody . Her parents’ divorce, and subseq uently her moth er’s absence, left a deep
mark o n the princess’s soul, and has greatly affected her development. The royal family did not
offer her a much better life either, but rather, one full of tumult and pressure, causing her to feel
like a prisoner, unwanted by the man whom she has sworn to love forever.
All of these events ha ve changed her irreversibly, and they are now giving me the opportunity
to use psychoanalysis and feminism to better portray her. Although she may have not been fully
aware of it, h er actions, as well as the way s he perceived others, bore many similarities with
feminist ideologies.
Feminism, according to Cambridge Academic Content D ictionary , is “an organised effort to
offer women the same economic, social, and political rights that men enjoy .” I believe that
Diana’s actions are most correspondent with the concept of liberal feminism, which militates
in favour of gender equality. More precisely, Diana sought to demonstrate that women are not
vulnerable, dependent, or less importa nt than men; what’s more, despite the fact that she was
married to the most famous prince of his time, she found a unique wa y to shine (without
deliberately drawing attention to herself ), even after their 15 -year-old marriage has terminated.
Diana wo rked for the Red Cross, and called for an international ban on landmines. As s he
famously said: “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the
knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” Due to her kindness and
charitability, the British named her The Princess of Hearts.
I may add that feminism acted as a means of escapism for the princess, helping her to cope with
suffering , to discard the emotional baggage of her past, and to be rebor n. As The Telegraph
stated, “Diana transformed from a shy kindergarten teacher into the most powerful woman in
Britain – an elegant, cosmopolitan, and free -spoken lady who was not afraid of letting her voice
be heard. She knew that she could change the world in ways unimaginable. ”
We may say that Diana was well -aware of the fact that her marriage with Charles was destined
to fail. Perhaps that was the reason why, in one of her secret tapes, she described her wedding
day as “the worst day of my life ”. Much t o eve ryone’s shock, she omitted the word “obey ” from

her wedding vows, thus reinforcing that she was a liberal feminist. She believed in gender
equal ity and refused to submit to her husband , as society would have expected.
She has given up her peaceful private life in ord er to marry Prince Charles , but instead of finding
in him an ally and a friend, she found herself stuck in a love triangle, unable to achieve sexual
fulfilment within her own marriage. She has spoken openly about her and Charles’s sex life,
saying that, “Instinct told me, it was just so odd. I don’t know , there was no requirement for it
from his case.”
According to Sigmund Freud, seeking pleasure is the dominant motivational force in life,
whereby humans organise all of their creative, cognitive and affect ive resources. He further
states that sex is detrimental to the well -functioning of the whole human “circuit ”. Diana was
sexually incomplete, feeling unappreciated by her husband and, althoug h she was anything but
an easy woman, she found solace in an affair with her riding instructor, James Hewitt, coming
to terms with the idea that Charles had been cheating on her with Camilla Parker Bowles.
Diana’s childhood had great repercussions throughout her life. Psychoanalytically , as per
Freud, “early desires and fe ars result in conflicts which, if left unresolved, become supressed
– a part of the unconscious mind. ” Diana suffered from depression and bulimia, but not because
she was trying to confor m to the beauty standards of the time, nor because of a childhood issu e.
Whenev er her husband called her fat , Diana was determined to take control of at least this aspect
of her life. At that time, both her mental and her physical health were in a deplorable state,
which she admitted in an interview with Martin Bashir. Her struggle has helped h er to
understand what women felt and need ed in such difficult moments. During the same interview,
she said: “I hurt my arms and my legs; and I work in environments now where I see women
doing similar things and I'm able to understand completely where they're coming from. ” That
was the moment when her actions became those of a militant feminist. I do believe that,
subco nsciously, while caring for other women’s wounds, Diana managed to heal her very own.
In my opinion, Diana’s relationship with C harles ha d a significant influence on her; their
marriage was a akin to a journey – from a shy, vulnerable 19 -year-old, to a powerful woman
whose presence demanded respect. Although her death was devastating, people have never
ceased to love and support her.