Marilyn Monroe Symbolism

949 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Marilyn monroe sex symbol

Marilyn Monroe was considered a popular sex symbol during the 50s. First having success as a model, and then actress, and singer, she was able to do it all in a talented way. She was able to overcome a difficult childhood without her parents, and eventually become the star she is known as today. In a short time Marilyn was able to live her life to the fullest, having the fame, and enough love affairs to last a century. However, she couldn’t completely get away from her past, getting involved with drugs, and having a mental breakdown. This leaded to her apparent downfall, and eventually her early death.

Born Norma Jeane Mortensen on June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California. Her mother was Gladys Monroe Baker Mortensen. Gladys was a film cutter, who had her daughter unmarried, which at the time was seen as a not normal, and horrible thing. Marilyn Monroe had to face a difficult childhood to become the sex symbol she is known today. She never knew her father, and her mother, Gladys had psychotic issues, and was sent to live in a mental hospital. Marilyn said that earliest memories of her mother was her trying to suffocate her with a pillow. This caused her to live most of her life in a foster home, or an orphanage. She was adopted by Grace Goddard, and a friend of the family’s, and her husband Doc Goddard. However, this was short lived when Mr. Goddard was transferred and the couple couldn’t afford to bring her with them. While living in the foster homes Marilyn was sexually assaulted on different occurrences. The one way she could think of to get out of this situation was to marry, which she did. On June 19, 1942 she wedded Jimmy Dougherty at 16, and having had dropped out of high school that following year. When Dougherty worked ...

... middle of paper ...

...oral hydrate not knowing she was still taking her Nembutal, which she was addicted to.

Marilyn Monroe will always be the most iconic sex symbol of her time. She was able to face hardship in her life, not knowing her mother so well, and not knowing her father at all. She was able to come for rags to riches, and receive the fame, and fortune she dreamed of. However, her battle with depression, and addiction was a lost she will forever be known as an esteemed actress, a talented model, and a beautiful singer. Inspiring to women to be comfortable with themselves, and achieve goals that most women of her time couldn’t have without condemnation. She symbolizes the ambition that female should express. Marilyn Monroe lived a short life, but she was able to accomplishment some much. Being nominated twice for a Golden Globe, and has a star on the Hollywood walk of Fame.

Show More
Related

  • Marilyn Monroe: Murder Or Suicide

    1516 Words  | 4 Pages

    Some Like It Hot, Gentleman Prefer Blondes, and The Seven Year Itch are just a few of the movies that the actress Marilyn Monroe is known for. However the life of the movie star was cut short when she died at age 36 from an acute barbiturate poisoning. It was suspected that Marilyn took her own life, however she could have just as easily been taken out by the Kennedy family to prevent her from spilling all the dirty secrets she knew because of her alleged affairs with John and Robert Kennedy. Monroe was murdered by the Kennedy family in order to keep her from revealing government secrets that she gained knowledge of during the affairs she has with John and Robert Kennedy, which she threatened to make public after both

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe Research Paper

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jean Mortenson on August 1, 1926. Her mother was emotionally unstable, Marilyn soon given up for adoption. At age 16 she married and later married and divorced 3 times after. Her career took off around the year 1944 and by the year 1949 she began posing nude for calendars. Monroe placed under the care of her physician Dr. Ralph Greenson whom she also had affairs with placed under care of him

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe Murder Essay

    2159 Words  | 5 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom from a possible overdose on August 5, 1962. Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926. When she was younger; her mom was emotionally unstable and was frequently confined to an asylum, so Marilyn was reared by a succession

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe Life And Influences

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    June 1, 1926 in Los Angeles, California Norma Jeane Mortenson was born. She never knew her father and her mother is Gladys Baker, Gladys has psychiatric problems and was placed into a mental institution. One of Monroe's earliest memories of her mother is Gladys trying to smother her with a pillow in her crib (“Marilyn Monroe.”). As she grew up, she spent most of her time in eleven foster homes and one orphanage. (“18 Things...Monroe.”). Until she was seven she was in foster homes until her mother got her back but soon after her mother was declared insane and had to go to a psychiatric hospital (Bradshaw, Lauren). While Monroe was in foster homes she was sexually

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane Mortenson. A devious soul but a pure heart, a black past, but a bright future; she became one of the most idolized figures in society. Norma was definitely not born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and she never sugar coated her life to the media. She was straight forward which made her heavily known for her quotes such as “I learned to walk as a baby and I haven’t had a lesson since.” (Marilyn Monroe). This was the beginning to her life story as a hero. This may not seem inspiring or heroic to many by the lack of knowledge a person may have on Norma. In the depths of her quotes lay a deep, heartfelt life though. For this quote may seem sensational and comical to the ear, but Marilyn was transferred to many foster homes not really having a parent that would show her the way. What a good role model would do though, and what Norma courageously has shown society, is that when life knocks you down, get up and hit life back twice as hard. Norma Jeane Mortenson, married Jim Dougherty, and started working. Soon she created the character Marilyn Monroe, she dyed her hair blonde, wore short dresses, and she became the momentous and inspirational character that everyone saw through television, newspapers, and photos. She was one of the greatest actors, singers, and models of the nineteen forties and fifties. But like every hero they suffer and create their own demise. Jeane, Marilyn Monroe, is a shakespearean tragic hero, because like every hero she must fall.

    Read More

  • Aphrodite And Marilyn Monroe Essay

    534 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humanity has been allured by extraordinary beauty for centuries. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, is a perfect example. This enchanting mythical figure wore a girdle with magical powers: forcing anyone to be in her presence to immediately fall in love with her. Though married to the blacksmith god Hephaestus, Aphrodite was known to have many affairs with both other gods and humans. Like Aphrodite, Marilyn Monroe seemed to enchant people wherever she went. The stunning blonde never settled down, and had affairs with multiple men. Sam Shaw, iconic Hollywood photographer, described her as, “’...always joyful, witty, fun loving and serious about acting—with a terrific desire to learn, to know about the arts, the theater, her craft, to read good books, to read poetry and to try to reach the ecstasy of poetic thoughts’” (French). Amazingly, both Aphrodite and Marilyn Monroe are major sex symbols, were quite unsure of their biological fathers, and had love relations with a pair of brothers.

    Read More

  • Role Models: Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood, And Marilyn Monroe

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    When in foster care and in orphanage Mortenson was sexually assaulted, and she later said she was raped at the age of 11. The only way out was marriage. At the age of 16 she married her boyfriend Jimmy Dougherty, who was 20, and at this time she had already dropped out of high school. When Dougherty was sent to South Pacific with the Marines, she went to work in a munitions factory where she was discovered by a photographer. By the time Dougherty got back she had a successful career in modeling and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe because of an acting career.

    Read More

  • The Legacy Of Marilyn Monroe In The 1950's

    508 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1950’s, men adored her and women wanted to be her. Marilyn Monroe was the sex icon of her time and her legacy continually lives on today. It is hard to believe, but she was not always known as Marilyn Monroe. The name she was given at birth was Norma Jean Mortenson. Many people also do not know the story of Monroe’s youth, but she was not born into fame as some Hollywood stars are. Starting at a young age Monroe lived in foster homes and was transferred between them for most of her youth. When she became of age, she was able to escape this life of foster homes by getting married. Marilyn Monroe’s fame grew as she went from being a model, than an actress, and, again, as she made an attempt at producing her own films.

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe's Impact on Women

    1288 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though she has been deceased for more than fifty years, people today still are interested in Marilyn Monroe's childhood, love stories, and whether she died by suicide or not. ...

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe Personality Analysis

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe was a deeply troubled woman and I believe that in applying a Psychoanalytic Perspective to her life, the first theorist that comes to mind is Erik Erickson and his stage theory of personality. In applying his theory we see that we can assess Marilyn’s personality through Erickson’s psychosocial stages of “Identity vs. Role Confusion” and “Intimacy vs. Isolation” (Friedman & Schustack 133-134). Marilyn’s childhood, the most critical time in any child’s life when any and all relationships are crucial to their healthy development proved to be the catalyst for her later problems in life as evident by the lack of any solid and

    Read More

  • Psychological Case Study Marilyn Monroe

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    Norma Jean, most famously known as Marilyn Monroe was a famous actress in Hollywood that was one of the biggest sex symbols to come by in the 1900’s. Marilyn Monroe did not start out as an actress or one of the world’s biggest sex symbols, she began her career as a model. Monroe began work in a weapons factory in Burbank, California, where she was later discovered by a photographer. She was married to her first husband Jimmy Dougherty who was a marine. Jimmy had been deployed for some time and when he returned in 1946, Monroe had a fruitful career as a model, and she also changed her name from Norma Jean Baker to Marilyn Monroe in preparation for an acting career (Cinnamon,

    Read More

  • Psychological Perspectives of Marilyn Monroe

    1384 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ed was to be loved. She never received the affection she needed, and she wanted to achieve that from stardom. No one really knows why Marilyn took all those sleeping pills on August 5th 1962. Marilyn Monroe had a personality captivating and intriguing as her beauty. There was more beyond her platinum blonde hair, and blue eyes. Behind all the beauty, was Norma Jeane, the girl that no one knew. Marilyn Monroe was an illusion, and no one tried to see the person she was beneath this illusion.

    Read More

  • Marilyn Monroe and Karen Horney's Theory of Neuroticism

    1447 Words  | 3 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Mortenson in Los Angeles on June 1st, 1926 to Gladys Baker. She was illegitimate, so the name Mortenson was assigned by the hospital. At twelve days old, she was taken away from her mother and placed in the care of Ida and Albert Bolender where she would remain for the next seven years. At the age of two, she was nearly smothered to death by a foster grandparent, and at the age of six Monroe was not the only foster child that the Bolender’s took in; there were often three of four other children in the household. During her seven years in the Bolender’s care, Monroe had 13 foster siblings come and go. The Bolender’s we...

    Read More

  • Models and Fashion Impact Young Women

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    She might have not been someone as powerful as the president or as famous as the Beatles or Justin Bieber, but she made an impact just as great. Not everyone was born to be a model or movie star; not everyone has a “perfect” body. She told the world that was perfectly fine and that beauty is not about having a tiny waist. She went outside the box and did things that were not quite normal for that time period, such as wearing very revealing clothing. She is a huge part of pop culture, proven by the countless Monroe references in movies, songs, and artwork. Although she is no longer alive, what she taught the world has not died with her. This year will mark 52 years Marilyn Monroe has been gone, but her ideas and influence still surround us.

    Read More

  • The Inspiring Life Story of Marilyn Monroe

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    Due to her mother suffering from a severe mental illness and the lack of attention from her real father, Marilyn spent many years with an alternate family. “Shortly after birth Norma Jeane (Marilyn Monroe) was sent 16 miles away to foster care” (Peterson online). From the time she was sent away to foster care Marilyn had believed “that her mother did not want her and that she always got in the way” (Woog 7). After years in foster care Marilyn went to live with her mother in 1933. (Woog 8).

    Read More

More about Marilyn Monroe Symbolism

Open Document