Rob's scheming

[Olly B]

There seems to be some consensus that Rob is highly machiavellian but I’m deeply unconvinced. While we can assume that he’s well educated he doesn’t come across as exceptionally intelligent, creative or industrious which are all hallmarks of true strategists. I feel that Rob is highly opportunistic and very good at turning a situation to his mid-term advantage but is essentially building himself a house of cards.

I don’t see any evidence that any of the threads in his web are particularly planned:
– when he moved to Abridge he can’t have assumed that a single-parent, fragile, narcissist like Helen would be available for him to leave Jess for;
– I don’t believe that he pre-meditates his gas lighting and abuse of Helen, it’s just in his nature;
– the whole Stefan thing had to be dealt with on-the-fly as Rob hadn’t bothered to handle the situation cleverly, he just fired Stefan and hoped for the best;
– leaving Cowditz wasn’t something he intended, he twisted the event to his advantage through Charlie’s abysmal handling and presented the actuality as his principled notion but in the end he hadn’t even done anything wrong, Charlie’s vendetta caused him to misinterpret data to frame Rob for an accident;
– his current plan to take over Bridge Farm is the most compelling evidence in my argument as anyone with an ounce of business-sense and/or intelligence would see that BF has no financial capability to support it’s current iteration let-alone support him as well. Furthermore, wouldn’t Rob want a job with greater status than Kenton’s if he really was an accomplished, ambitious schemer?

[KatieKing]

I think you’ve got a point. Basically, Rob comes across as someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He has grandiose self-belief, a fantasy that he’s right about everything and a strong need to control others, particularly women i.e Helen, but he may not have thought ahead or be in possession of a ‘cunning plan’–it might all be a question of moment-to-moment, knee jerk reactions.

[Charlie Cat]

Have to agree as well. I think he is playing a long game as he wants what he can get but i dont think there is an great planning to what he is doing. He’s doing the slow grind down rather than being particularly clever about anything. I think the ideas i’ve heard flying around that he perhaps has poisoned the Cowditz cows or has killed off Raff are a bit far fetched

[Becky Black]

I definitely agree that his resigning wasn’t planned. But he hates being challenged as we know – how DARE anyone challenge him? Don’t they know who he is?! And being impulsive like that is a Narcissistic Personality Disorder trait, isn’t it? I wonder if he’s been a serial resigner in the past. I’ve know people like that. Once he’d done it then of course he had to put a spin on it for Helen, and maybe even for himself. He probably believes plenty of his own lies. And I agree, his gaslighting and general controlling behaviour with Helen definitely just comes naturally. He has to make her come around to the World According to Rob after all.

I witter on Twitter about him murdering Stefan to keep him quiet about the culvert, but I don’t really believe that will be the case. I’m quite prepared to believe he paid him some money to go away though. And I suppose he probably didn’t actually fiddle that paternity test, though he got very very lucky there! Definitely dodged a bullet.

My inner jury is still out on the Berrow Farm cows and if he’s responsible. I could buy it, if that’s the way the script goes. He has taken very strongly against Charlie. And it could have been an impulsive act, just as much as the resignation was.

[Anonymous]

I can definitely believe he has a superhero complex and could have done something at Berrow Farm to ‘prove’ that the place can’t function without him.

[Witherspoon]

Here’s an interesting piece about the “origins” of Rob. If you recall, when Rob arrived in Ambridge, there weren’t early indications of the man we now know him to be. And it seems that Helen will begin to develop insight into what has been happening to her.

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-09-26/the-archers-rob-titchener-was-originally-meant-to-be-the-new-brian-aldridge

[Witherspoon]

Yes, Rob is extremely narcissistic-in fact as I reviewed the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, he meets all 9 of them! But he also on repeated occasions has easily lied, has shown irritability and aggressiveness, and has lacked remorse-3 criteria of Antisocial Personality Disorder. He would also have to have shown evidence of a conduct disorder before the age of 15 to meet criteria of an Antisocial personality Disorder, however we don’t know anything about his past, and he has created a tale in which his parents were such terrible people that no one should have contact with them. When Rob first talked of his mother and father I felt sympathy toward him, but now I believe he was lying about them as well.

So clearly he is intelligent, is narcissistic and has at least some antisocial traits-not someone I’d like to get very close with (unless he was paying my psychiatric fees). As I have remarked before, I don’t think his control of Helen is to hurt her, but to create the perfect family unit in which each individual is complying with traditional gender roles (now including little Henry going on hunting trips, Rob making all the decisions, and Helen obviously being shackled to hearth and home). Could he lose his temper and become violent? Yes, we’ve seen this already. I am especially struck by how easily he lies and creates new “myths” of his accomplishments-he does it with such ease that it seems “natural” or an unconscious process, but in reality, he does so very consciously. In fact, I believe Rob’s mind is always at work calculating the best scenario for himself.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Witherspoon.

[Aunty Jean]

Question Witherspoon: Is he consciously doing it? Or is he so far past it that he doesn’t even know he’s doing it?

Aunty Jean

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