Dexter+Morgan

**Biography** Dexter Morgan is the protagonist and main character of the television series, simply titled ‘Dexter’. Dexter lives in Miami and works within the police department as a blood splatter analyst for the homicide department. Based on his outward appearance, Dexter is just your everyday, 30-something, year old Miami native. But, behind his casual persona Dexter hides a very dark secret; unbeknownst to everyone in his life, Dexter is a serial killer. He is the adoptive child of Harry Morgan, a former Miami police captain who died when Dexter was aged 21. Harry Morgan was the most influential person in Dexter’s life, and Dexter valued every lesson his adoptive father taught him. Dexter also has an adoptive sister named Debra who works within the same homicide department as a detective. Deb and Dexter have an extremely close relationship; in an early episode Dexter described his fondness for his sister by saying that if he were capable of loving anyone, he would love his sister Deb. Harry Morgan adopted Dexter at the age of three after finding the young child drenched in blood at the crime scene of his biological mother’s murder. Laura Moser was Dexter’s birth mother; she worked closely with Harry Morgan as a confidential informant, in addition to being his lover. Inside a large storage unit, Laura was brutally murdered and cut up into pieces with a chainsaw in front of her two young sons by a prominent drug lord whom she was helping Harry investigate. Dexter had no recollection of his troubled background until his biological brother (who he also had no recollection or knowledge of) set up an identical bloody scene for Dexter to find while he was at work. Dexter’s brother, Brian Moser, was a Miami serial killer who was murdering women in a fashion similar to how his mother was killed. Brian set up the bloody scene deliberately to cause Dexter to recall his repressed memories from that tragic day. Brian’s plan worked, Dexter felt instantly traumatized by the scene in the hotel room and slowly began to piece together his past. Ironically, both Dexter and Brian grew up to be serial killers. Dexter describes himself as a monster; he claims to have no emotions and believes to be incapable of forming actual relationships and connections with people because he is unable to reveal his true self to anyone in his life. The only person who knew about Dexter’s murderous ways was his father Harry. Harry taught his son a strict code to live by when it came to his killings; the most important rules were to never get caught, and to only kill those who deserved to die. Dexter only murders people whom he believes are worthy of such a horrifying demise, most of his victims are killer’s themselves. Harry preached his code to Dexter with the hopes that his son would be able to fit into society as a socially acceptable individual, as well as channel his need to kill into a benefiting society. Dexter often describes his uncontrollable feelings to murder as his “dark passenger,” an at times consuming force that is always internally gripping him.

**Neo-Analytical Approach** Carl Jung was the original proposer of the neo-analytic approach to personality; he rooted all of his theories in the idea that within every person’s psyche lies the conscious ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective conscious. Jung also believed that there are certain archetypes common to all people and have been formed since the beginning of time (Friedman & Schustack, 2009) several of which apply directly to the personality of Dexter Morgan. The persona and shadow archetypes represent the contrast between our inner selves and the outward appearances we make socially. Dexter is certainly a man of many masks, he strives to hide his true identity from everyone around him; even his wife Rita and sister Deb have no grasp of Dexter’s true personality. The persona archetype is defined as the masks a person wears to hide who they really are; Dexter wears many of them. Ranging from the quirky lab geek to the doting husband, Dexter learns how to act within social settings by basing his actions off of observations he makes of those around him. His main motive for even dating Rita when they first met was to appear more ‘normal’ by attaining a girlfriend. Other examples of Dexter’s effort to achieve social acceptance include him participating in a bowling league, specifically to throw off a fellow detective who suspects Dexter’s criminal ways. Another example is allowing his coworkers to throw him a bachelor party before his wedding to Rita; Dexter participated in the shenanigans despite a strong lack of interest in heavy drinking or the hired strippers. There have been several instances where Dexter let’s his guard down slightly, allowing his true self to show through his carefully calculated persona. After Rita is caught kissing an overly friendly neighbor, Dexter surprisingly acted on his impulses and punched the neighbor in the face. It was one of the few moments of raw emotion Dexter expresses in the series. Another time when Dexter came uncomfortably close to unveiling his true self without all the masks was during a brief ‘friendship’ with Miami district attorney Miguel Prado. Dexter believed he could truly trust Miguel and exposed his murderous ways to his new pal. However, the friendship did not have a happy ending. When Dexter figured out that Miguel was manipulating him, the district attorney became his next victim. Unfortunately for Dexter, every time he loosens up his persona something terrible seems to follow, which only encourages him to stick to the persona archetype even closer. Dexter is very successful at maintaining his persona, he married Rita, moved in with her, even had a child with her and she never had any idea that the man she considered her life partner had a completely secret aspect of his personality. Dexter’s shadow archetype is represented by what he describes as his “dark passenger.” The dark passenger is the inner core to Dexter, who he really is, can all be defined by his unstoppable need to murder. Dexter’s shadow archetype is the reason for his persona and intricate system of mask’s and “personalities” he adapts to hide behind. Dexter can literally feel the presence of his dark passenger, as if he is riding alongside him throughout life. Similar to an actual shadow, the dark passenger always seems to be looming close by to Dexter. Dexter is well aware that murder is morally wrong, which is why he goes to such great length’s to keep that part of his life hidden. The reason Harry created the code for Dexter to follow was to help him keep his shadow archetype a secret from the rest of the world. Dexter’s constant struggle between abiding by Harry’s code and fulfilling the needs of his dark passenger often leave him in very complicated predicaments. When Rita began to notice Dexter sneaking around she accuses him of hiding a drug addiction. In order to keep his shadow archetype hidden, Dexter falsely admits to having a heroin problem and even begins attending Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Dexter identifies with his shadow archetype so much more strongly than with the persona’s he plays in front of others; that he feels he has never been able to truly be himself around anyone. Any relationship Dexter has is based on the personality of the persona’s he creates, not his own actual personality. Harry Morgan was the only person who ever knew of Dexter’s secret, in fact he was the one who mentored and taught Dexter how to utilize and understand his urges. However, even for the man who may have created the monster, seeing Dexter’s true self turned out to be even too much for him to handle. Harry committed suicide after accidentally walking in on Dexter in a blood covered room moments after completing his first kill. **Inter-actionist Approach** The interactionist approach to personality psychology suggests that personality cannot be studied without considering other factors that affect behavior. Psychologist Gordan Allport proposed the theory that behavior is a function of a person and their environment, represented by the equation B=f (P, E) (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). Harry Stack Sullivan took the theory even further and developed the concept of the social self, which is defined as “Who we are and how we think of ourselves arises from our interactions with those around us; also having an identity within a social world,” (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). The ‘environmental press’ influences the social self, which is the directional force on a person that arises from other people and events in the environment. Dexter Morgan is greatly influenced by the environmental press, starting at a very early age. After witnessing the brutal murder of his mother at the tender age of three, he was psychologically traumatized by that horrifying environment. The direct influence of having seen such terror no doubt left an impact on such an impressionable young child and likely lead to the development of Dexter’s so-called dark passenger. The power of situations state’s that “One reason that personality is sometimes a weak predictor of behavior is that the power of the situation is sometimes so strong that it overrides our inclinations,” (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). Anyone Dexter interacts with on a regular basis within a regular environment would never be able to suspect the darkness inside of him that has him acting as a cold blooded killer within certain situations. His personality of being a menacing, driven, and justice seeking serial killer would never be apparent. Even to his wife and kids who spend everyday with Dexter, because within any situation where they are present Dexter alters his personality by to considering his family first. Dexter’s personality is a direct result of his environment; different situations bring out different aspects of who he really is. Dexter can transform from a remorse-less murderer to a protective and loving father within a matter of hours all based on whatever present situation he finds himself in. **Discussion** Personality psychology is defined as, “The scientific study of the psychological forces that make people uniquely themselves,” (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). When it comes to Dexter Morgan, his personality is incredibly unique and confusing; he is a doting father and husband by day, and stone cold serial killer by night. With that kind of complexity, it’s difficult to determine what kind of person Dexter really is. When trying to analyze Dexter I think it is of utmost importance to keep in mind the theory of the relative self, the idea that there is actually no underlying self but that the true self is composed merely of masks (Friedman’s & Schustack, 2009). Dexter’s entire outward personality is a false representation of who he really is. His social identity is based on a complicated web of lies that derive from the different masks he wears in order to fit into society. If personality were based upon how society views us, Dexter’s personality would be described as a slightly quirky, caring, and respectful individual. Yet, when describing personality based on one’s inner self, as in the core of who they are, Dexter could be described as a stoic, emotionless, murderer. Dexter Morgan is a prime example of the instability of personality, the masks he wears vary across a great range of roles and it is difficult to imagine that one person can acquire so many different personalities. Dexter Morgan’s personality is based entirely on the situations he puts himself in and how he has conditioned himself to react to the events occurring around him. The mask’s he wears and personalities he creates all serve the purpose of hiding his ‘dark passenger,’ Dexter creates and uses these personalities as a carefully calculated attempt to hide the fact that he is a serial killer. **References** Friedman, Howard, & Schustack, Miriam. (2009). Personality:classic theories and modern reseach. Boston: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.