StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) - Research Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
Unfortunately, the father abandoned the family when she was very young, and was thus brought up by different family members. Nicole dropped out of school after she failed her ninth grade, and was to start working as a…
Download free paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.2% of users find it useful
Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero)
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero)"

Tragic Hero: Anna Nicole Smith Anna Nicole Smith was born Vickie Lynn in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, the father abandonedthe family when she was very young, and was thus brought up by different family members. Nicole dropped out of school after she failed her ninth grade, and was to start working as a waitress in order to support herself. She got married at the age of seventeen to a sixteen year-old teen, had a song, but the marriage didn’t last long. Nicole had to find means of taking care of her son, and hence she took up a variety of jobs, including working at Wal-Mart, Red Lobster and also as an exotic dancer (Wallace, et al. 43). During her time as a dancer, Nicole met and married Howard Marshall, who was sixty three year older than her.

During this time, Nicole had become famous, and was elected as the 1993 Playmate of the Year (Wallace, et al. 43). Although Marshall was in a wheelchair during the wedding, he said that “he would be happy if he could spend his money on Smith” (Kever & Feldman, 3). Unfortunately, Marshall died just over a year into the marriage. Marshall was a wealthy man, and his death initiated a legal battle between Nicole and Marshall’s son, James Howard, for the $1.6 billion estate (Wallace, et al. 43).

After the death of her husband, Nicole once again retuned to fame when she became the public face of TrimSpa diet method. She also had her own reality show named The Anna Nicole Smith Show. This show “largely put her and her close relations on display like prescription-drugged zoo animals” (Wallace, et al. 43). Nicole got pregnant in 2006 and in September that year, her daughter Dannielynn Hope was born. Daniel Smith, her first child, died the same year shortly after Hope was born. He died in hospital visiting his mother and sister.

It was later revealed through autopsy that Smith had died as a result of a lethal combination of Lexapro, Zoloft and methadone (Wallace, et al. 44). Anna Nicole died in 2007 in her hotel room in Florida. Autopsy results showed that she died as a result of a lethal combination of sleeping pills and other drugs in her system (Wallace, et al. 44). At the time of her death, Nicole was 39. Nicole’s story is complex and is one that is characterized by “big hair, big breasts, big money and big tragedy” (Kever & Feldman, 2).

Although Nicole had become a big celebrity, she had no reason for acclaim and was known to be clueless and oblivious to anything (Kever & Feldman, 1). Her celebrity status however came at a cost. She was psychosexual symbol who was paid large sums of money to “be the object of 13-year-olds’ masturbatory fantasies, and paid even more to be the kept woman of an ancient billionaire” (Wallace, et al. 44). Many have claimed that her marriage to Marshall, the ancient billionaire, was never an act of love but the love for money.

This explains why the term gold-digger was used often when referring to her marriage to the billionaire. Her love for sex and money tainted her name. This is well illustrated by the fact that during her second pregnancy in 2006, a number of men came forward claiming paternity (Wallace, et al. 44). Just a year before she died, Nicole had spoken about how she was physically and sexually abused as a child. She claimed to be have been raped many times by family members yet her mother did nothing to stop it.

She further stated that her mother beat her repeatedly until she had to live home. Throughout her life, her relationship with the mother was sour. Her private life was revealed more to the public after her death through her diaries. For instance, she claimed in one of the diaries to have loved Marshall greatly, and hated sex. Nicole’s death did not surprise some, especially those who knew her and the life she led. For instance, Matthew Felling, who worked at the Centre for Media and Public Affairs in Washington, claimed that “She was a celeb who always seemed on the verge of disaster” (Kever & Feldman, 1).

She was an ‘exhibitionist’ who led a self-destructing life. Her fame was as a result of her being strange, and this meant that she was walking on thin ice. For many, it was a matter of time before something tragic happened to her. Despite the widespread criticism of her and the life she led, there are those whose lives identified with her. It is also claimed that her behavior is similar to that of most sexually abused survivors. “Much of her adult behavior is textbook for survivors of sexual abuse” (Wallace, et al. 44). The life of Nicole Smith is one that reminds people of not only how celebrity status can ruin one’s life but also how poor upbringing contributes to one’s adult life.

Works CitedKever, Jeannie and Feldman, Claudia. “Anna Nicole Smiths life, and death, is a tabloid tale.” Houston Chronicle. 9 February, 2007. Pp. 1-4 Wallace, Irving et al. “Sex Symbols.” In The Intimate Sex Lives of Famous People. Washington: Feral House, 2008. Pp. 1-45. Print

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words, n.d.)
Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815259-anna-nicole-smith-tragic-hero
(Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815259-anna-nicole-smith-tragic-hero.
“Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”. https://studentshare.org/literature/1815259-anna-nicole-smith-tragic-hero.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Anna Nicole Smith (Tragic Hero)

Socrates Fortlow, History, and Anna Deavere Smith

… Walter Mosley, the author of the story, reflects a special tie to what Anna Deavere smith considers as the greatest lost that could possibly arise in an artistic work: that is, reducing the reality in how a story is being transferred from the actual to the duplicative form.... This is the point that Anna Deavere smith would likewise want to stress out: “the video of Rodney King Keating, which seemed to "tell all", apparently did not tell enough, and the prosecution lost, as their lead attorney told me, "the slam dunk case of the century....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

School Fundings Tragic Flaws

The essay aims to initially read the article entitled School Funding's tragic Flaws written by Kevin Carey and Marguerite Roza and to address the following concerns: to present a description of the article's major points and questions; to discuss the main argument for education.... School Funding's tragic Flaws AbstractThe reflection essay aims to initially read the article entitled School Funding's tragic Flaws written by Kevin Carey and Marguerite Roza and to address the following concerns: (1) to present a description of the article's major points and questions that arise from the material; (2) the main argument or message that the author intends in this article; (3) what one thinks the significance of the argument is for education; and (4) evidence in support of this argument or critique of this argument....
2 Pages (500 words) Assignment

Anna O and Freuds Notion of Unconscious

He noted that sexuality is one of The Case of anna O 0 Introduction The controversial condition of Ana O.... ach one of them would have a slight similarity in the treatment of anna O.... anna O.... anna O.... has been particularly common, and it became one of the most significant developments to psychological understanding....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Case of Anna O

hellip; Freud on the other hand did his research without inclination to religion but mostly used a deterministic approach, whereby an individual was viewed as a complicated system Psychology Case of Fräulein anna O The part of the mind in which psychic activities take place or, unconscious mind, can be viewedas a pitch-black part of the conscious mind.... n the case of anna, both Freud and Jung would agree that the patient suffered from unconscious processes, due to the stress she might have undergone while taking care of her father ("Who Was anna O....
2 Pages (500 words) Research Paper

Anna in the Tropics

hellip; Aristotle concentrates on the hero who offends the law of the universe.... The hero suffers because they have good looks and are more enlightened.... Such is the case that is witnessed in the play anna in the Tropics.... The paper "anna in the Tropic" looks at how different theorists viewed tragedy....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Abraham versus Agamemnon: The Knight of Faith versus the Tragic Hero

This assignment "Abraham versus Agamemnon: The Knight of Faith versus the tragic hero" compares Agamemnon, the tragic hero, and Abraham, the knight of faith.... nbsp;The tragic hero can express himself in words that express the depth of his feelings.... nbsp;The knight of faith has the capacity to speak with as much eloquence as the tragic hero, but he has to be silent.... hellip; Agamemnon is portrayed as the classic tragic hero who had accepted the advice of Calchas the seer to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, so as to ensure safe winds to guide his ship and crew into Troy....
7 Pages (1750 words) Assignment

Arthur Dimmesdale as a Tragic Hero

This essay "Arthur Dimmesdale as a tragic hero" presents an individual who makes a mistake that leads to his or her destruction.... Often a tragic hero can be seen to be a plaything of fate, like Oedipus in Sophocles' plays, or as someone who embraces a destructive fate like Shakespeare's Hamlet.... However, just being a tragic figure is not enough to be meet the qualification of a “tragic hero.... hellip;             Although Dimmesdale is respected by the town and is generally a kind man, though his public actions show he is not a hero....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

John Proctor The Tragic Hero

This essay is about the "John Proctor The tragic hero".... John Proctor's ruinous flaw changed into his cute percentage of achievement.... hellip; That little by little tied a sport-plan of horrendous bodily video games which at very last made John Proctor apprehend his demolition....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us