November 4th, 2008
Famous narcissists - Casanova
The world’s most famous lover, Giacomo Casanova was a forger, con artist, charlatan, gambler, traitor, spy, and thief. He was a perpetual wanderer (to escape responsibility, scandal, the consequences of his actions, or simply boredom) a relentless pleasure seeker, a spendthrift, and a shameless attention-seeker brimming with self-confidence.
He squandered everything he ever possessed, rejected anything permanent, did whatever he pleased, thrived on intrigue, and lived only for the moment. To Casanova life was an endless carnival and he was a social chameleon, becoming whatever people wanted him to be, employing a string of assumed names and roles.
He was proud, haughty, fickle, and incapable of shame or remorse. Although the son of mere actors and grandson of a shoemaker he considered himself noble and entitled to the lifestyle of the nobility. Casanova would accept nothing that limited his freedom and saw nothing and no one as superior to himself. His countless affairs were passionate but short-lived. He was the ultimate serial seducer.
He believed himself so far above normal conventions that he had an incestuous affair with his daughter, got her pregnant and became grandfather to his own son. He had unacknowledged children scattered throughout Europe, which amused him greatly. He lived an aimless, tawdry life based on nothing but hedonism.
But how did he become such a person? Was he born so reckless or did life make him so?
Because he was ill as a child, Casanova’s parents assumed he would not survive and so ignored him, leaving him in the care of his grandmother who idolized him and instilled in him a sense of his superiority.
His mother was beautiful but distant and considered him a fool. The only time she paid attention to him was when he showed wit or charm and so he became the son she wanted, amusing and charming, forever performing. When he was eight his father died and his mother joined a travelling ensemble, leaving Casanova in a squalid boarding house where he had to steal food to survive. He felt abandoned by his mother’s constant absence but decided to be just like her - carefree, insincere, profligate, and unreliable.
It seems probable that he inherited much from his mother in the way of the genetic influences on personality. But also, as is the case of many children of narcissists, Casanova identified with the power and confidence of a narcissistic parent and emulated them. He had two things in his upbringing that can produce the grandiose false self of the narcissist - neglect or abuse and overindulgence. With a combination of adoring grandmother, disapproving mother and absent father Casanova was bound to have psychological problems.
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