This post will use
Adlerian theory to examine England’s personality. What I’ll elaborate on is how
he suffers from both an inferiority and superiority complex.

 What’s an Inferiority Complex? 

An inferiority complex
is a “condition that develops when a person is unable to compensate for normal
inferiority.” These individuals typically possess poor opinions of themselves
and feel helpless/ unable to cope with the demands of life.

In other words, these
individuals cannot accept that it’s a given that other people will be better
than them, either in a given task or life in general. If they come second to
someone, they take it personally and neurotically believe that it’s reflective
of their self-worth.

There are three
potential sources in childhood that can lead to the development of an
inferiority complex. For the purposes of this post, we only need to know about
neglect, which England experienced.

Neglect in childhood – from this psychological framework – entails
the child being met with an indifferent/ hostile attitude by their parents/
parent figures. As such, the children can develop feelings of worthlessness,
anger, and view others with distrust.

England’s Inferiority Complex: 

France and England’s
older brothers – Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – step in as England’s
parent figures.

Ex: Since England’s
older brothers would hex and degrade him any time he got near, this satisfies
the indifferent and hostile attitude requirement.

The cycle continues when England, having developed a poor sense of self-worth from the above rejection by his siblings, doubts whether he’ll be able to act as a proper older brother figure to America.

Notice how he cries as
he recalls these unpleasant memories from his childhood. Initially, he doesn’t
even want America to refer to him as onii-chan, but rather, just “England.”

Likewise, France’s
constant insults toward England, while intended to be teasing, is taken to
heart by the latter. He truly believes France when he says that he’s
“unrefined”, as in being behind on fashion trends.

Ex: France mocks
England’s hair for being outdated and ‘unrefined.’

Ex: England’s later
shown to be depressed over France’s comments and becomes insecure about his hairstyle and his failed attempts to change it.

Ex: England’s worry over
being unrefined is overcompensated for when he spies on France to get ahead of
fashion trends.

This way, his early-bird
conformity prevents him from being subjected to France’s comments. While he may
deny it, England does care about France’s opinion of him. He’s not as confident
as he tries to play himself off.

Ex: England undermines
France by vowing to have the latter become his vassal.

The feelings of
worthlessness that England attained is most seen in how self-deprecating he is.
Overall, he’s an extremely critical person, of both others and himself.

Ex: He’s recently noted
to have become more critical of himself than others.

The helplessness that
England experiences stems from his loneliness. He turns to the world of fantasy
(his magical friends) and fiction because it’s a more ideal and less painful
world.

The reason for this is
that he’s said to have trouble expressing himself. He often rubs people the
wrong way and isolates himself as a result. The irony is that England knows
that others misunderstand him, but doesn’t do anything about it. Instead, he makes self-deprecating jokes about himself [x].

What’s a Superiority Complex?: 

A superiority complex is
a “condition that develops when a person overcompensates for normal
inferiority.” These individuals can be vain, boastful, self-centered, and tend
to degrade others.

England’s Superiority Complex:

From England’s
inferiority complex, we know that he grew insecure about being weak and
unrefined.

In return, he
overcompensated by striving to be the best, most powerful nation.

Ex: England boasts about
his empire.

Even more interesting is
that after America surpasses him as a stronger world power, England attempts to
gain back this strength through physical training.

What’s important is that
he feels slighted by his inferiority and engages in a vain attempt to secure
his status once more, albeit failing.

As mentioned, England is
a very critical person.

Ex: He leaves scathing remarks on America’s movies.

Ex: He picks apart at everything America says during world meetings – most
of it is ridiculous anyway.

Ex: He and France have consistently insulted and bickered with each other
for centuries.

Point is, the insults
and criticisms are reflective of his own insecurities. Insecure people will
often degrade others in order to feel better about themselves.

In conclusion, while
England may be a bitter and pessimistic person, especially in the years
following the American Revolution [x], it’s imperative to realize that he’s just as
critical of himself.

The best thing about his
character is his uncertainty. He flips from being kind and sweet when he’s
feeling secure of himself to rude and bitter when he’s insecure. Lately,
however, this critical nature has become increasingly internalized…