Wyatt Earp, a man with colorful pasts. From a devoted husband, to an enforcer at a whorehouse, to a brave Deputy Sheriff, Earp can either be portrayed as a punisher or a western hero. Perhaps he was both. Regardless of how people depicted him, no one can deny him his legacy as one of the most influential persons of his time. He is a legend. As a remarkably handsome, charismatic, and intelligent man, Wyatt Earp’s name supersedes him. Though, he was not a man without flaws. He had his dark side that could outshine his charming self at times and cast a shadow over people around him. Earp, a dour man, with no sociability skills, yearned to be a sheriff so much that he was willing to cut a deal with the devil; but that’s when his legend began. As mentioned, Wyatt Earp is a man with colorful pasts who was both, the good and the bad. Wyatt Earp’s psychodynamic was as complex as who he was. His inner theatre was filled with conflicted people. His leader-follower relationship changed constantly, after all, a whorehouse’s enforcer would have a different leader-follower relationship than a Deputy Sheriff would. Lastly, Earp has his dark side that haunted him and people around him every so often; he had his fair share of the shadow side of leadership.
Inner theatre, which is the stage packed with people who have influenced a person’s experience in life, for better or worse (Northouse (2016), p. 301), is the core concept of the psychodynamic paradigm (Northouse (2016), p. 301). Northouse (2016) explains further that “early experiences with key individuals (such as early childhood caregivers) contribute to the creation of response patterns that have a tendency to repeat themselves in other context with different people” (p. 301). This concept explains why Wyatt Earp was a drunk, violent, and drawn to crimes. His father, Nicholas Earp, was a deadbeat. He drank, bullied, and was simply larger than life (DocumentaryHeaven, n.d.). Furthermore, Nicholas Earp was a roamer, he couldn’t seem to settle down in one place for too long (DocumentaryHeaven, n.d.), as a result Wyatt Earp also had a hard time settling down. Additionally, Northouse elucidates that within inner theatre, certain characteristics develop over time, such as the deepest wishes, needs, and goals, which contribute to a person’s personality (Northouse (2016), p. 301). This concept is also known as the core conflictual relationship themes or the CCRTs (Northouse (2016), p. 301). Wyatt Earp’s goal was to become a Sheriff. It was so important to him that he was willing to cut a deal with a paranoid knave, Ike Clanton. Evidently, Wyatt Earp was trying to walk the walk of his father. Nicholas Earp tried so hard, though unsuccessful, to establish certain social status during his time; he served in Mexican War and was a justice of the peace (Monmouth College, n.d.). Being a Sheriff would have fulfilled Wyatt Earp’s deepest wishes; levitate the Earps’ social status and would have been approved by his father.
It’s no secret that the Earps’ are very close and interdependent on one another. It’s also not a secret that the Earps’ were complicated, complex, and conflicted people. Their actions and reactions are intertwined with one another and they were each other’s protectors. Northouse (2016) points out that at an unconscious level, people expect the leader or organizer to offer protection similar to the one the parents offered in their earlier years (302). The Earps’ as well as Doc Holliday were fierce protectors of each other as it was evident in the gun fight with Ike Clanton and his clan that later led to a manhunt. After the gunfight, the Earps’ and Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp’s best friend, ferociously protected and followed each other’s lead, even though it could mean it may be the last day of their lives. Wyatt’s Earp’s leader-follower relationship shone when Doc Holliday refused to leave the Earps’ side and accompanied them into the battle. Their alliance is highly inspiriting; however, it made the group increasingly dependent on their leader (Northouse (2016), p. 302). Furthermore, Wyatt Earp’s deepest desire to rise above his upbringing led to his need to be accepted by the society’s elites. He saw the opportunity to achieve the desired status in running for a Sheriff post. In order to become a Sheriff, Earp knew that he had to pair himself with the most influential people of Tombstone, Arizona. This is the concept of pairing assumption which states that “strength will take place in pairs” (Northouse (2016), p. 303). So, Earp tried to pair himself with the wealthiest and most influential people of the town. However, he was unsuccessful in pairing due to his association with Doc Holliday who the Tombstone’s elites thought was not worthy of anything. More importantly, pairing has its downfall as a person can be seen as an aggressor or an instigator trying to split the unity of the group, which Wyatt Earp was seen as one. Perhaps because of this Earp was never elected as a Sheriff.
The Documentary, Wyatt Earp – The Real Story of the Legend, indicates that Wyatt Earp lead a similar life to that of his father, Nicholas Earp. Both men were roamers, gamblers, and were drawn to the underworld (DocumentaryHeaven, n.d.). In other words, Wyatt Earp was unconsciously mirroring his farther, which is a type of transferential process. Northouse (2016) explains the mirroring process as “take clues about being and behaving from those around us—becomes an ongoing aspect of our daily life and of our relationship with others” (Kets de Vries, 2011a; Kohut, 1971, 1985, qtd. Northouse (2016), p. 304). Additionally, it was well known that Wyatt Earp’s father was a feisty aggressor which contributed to Earp’s increasing aggression as he got older. This is apparent in Earp’s reaction to his brother’s, Morgan Earp, assassination. Earp took hostage of a cowboy and used him as a human shield and kicked down door after door trying to find Ike Clanton. Evidently, Wyatt Earp was experiencing the process called identification with the aggressor, which was his father. Northouse suggests that “in full-fledged identification with the aggressor, individuals impersonate the aggressor, transforming themselves from those threatened to those making threats” (p. 304). Wyatt Earp had, indeed, transformed to making threats.
The leader-follower relationship between the Earps’ and Doc Holliday is very convoluted, and at times it was unclear who the leader and follower is in the Earps’ clan and Doc Holliday; however, it is clear that their collusion can be described as folie á deux or a shared madness, especially after the gun fight with Clanton and worse after the death of Morgan Earp (Northouse (2016), p. 304). After Morgan Earp’s death, Wyatt Earp completely changed, and he and his followers were bonded by their shared madness of hunting down Ike Clanton. When Wyatt Earp awaited Virgil Earp’s, who was badly wounded by gun shot, train to depart, he saw Ike Clanton and Frank Stilwell. He pursued them. Ike got away but he caught up with Stilwell. Wyatt Earp killed Stilwell despite him asking for mercy. Consequently, the Earps’ was forced to leave town and an arrest warrant was issued for Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp was clearly engaging in an extreme case of folie á deux which then lead to self-destruction (Northouse (2016), p. 304).
Throughout Wyatt Earp’s life he was fixated on status, money, and social influence. Northouse emphasizes that leaders with reactive narcissistic, which is a negative and excessive form of narcissism, “are fixated on issues of power, status, prestige, and superiority” (Northouse (2016), p. 305). Earp’s was obsessed in becoming Sheriff that he was willing to cut the deal with Ike Clanton, without thinking, or perhaps even knowingly, that the deal could harm him and his followers. Furthermore, Wyatt Earp’s pathological self-absorption put himself and his followers in great danger and cost many of them their lives. When Wyatt Earp was filled with rage after his brother’s death, he was operating in his own reality. He was consumed by his rage and longed for revenge. He has no measures of controls or reality testing (Northouse (2016), p. 305) as he tirelessly hunted down Clanton, and eventually mercilessly killed Stilwater.
Wyatt Earp was a man with a complex psychodynamic. His life illuminates how one’s inner theatre, patterns of behavior, and social influences play a key role in shaping one’s leadership approach. Nicholas Earp was undeniably the most influential person in Wyatt Earp’s inner theatre, followed closely by his brothers. With an unstable upbringing by an angry and drunk father, Wyatt Earp was destined to fail as a leader. Try as he might, but Earp never escaped his inner theatre. In addition, Earp’s relationship with his followers were deeply dependent on each other. They strongly subscribed to the idea of them against the world and required the utmost loyalty and unity amongst them. More importantly, Earp and his followers were manifest by an extreme case of folie á deux. Consequently, many lives were lost in vain. Furthermore, in the end Earp’s reactive narcissism got the best of him. He was out of control and wrecked his life with his pathological self-absorption. Earp’s early childhood exposure was deep-rooted and haunted him for the rest of his life. He never had a chance to succeed in leadership.
Reference:
Documentary Heaven (n.d.). Wyatt Earp – The Real Story of the Legend [Video file]. (n.d.). Retrieved from: http://documentaryheaven.com/wyatt-earp-real-story-legend/
Northouse, P.G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Nix, E. (2015, July 20). Wyatt Earp 1869 [Digital image]. Retrieved February 13, 2018, from: http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/6-things-you-should-know-about-wyatt-earp
Urban, W. (1989). True West. Wyatt Earp’s Father. Retrieved from: https://department.monm.edu/history/urban/wyatt_earp/wyatt_earp%27s_father.htm