Case Quizes Clinical Cases

Revisiting: A Festivus For The Rest Of Us!

Frank and George Costanza

Guess the remedies for Frank and George Costanza!

Mom, where’s my picture?

cartoon Shana

 

That is your picture, Shana; I’m being paid in cartoons now!  We can thank Nasir for this one.

Wow!  Me as a cartoon!

I know; how grand.  Where are all your announcements, other than the dreaded James Taylor concert at the Borgata, August 1st.

Are you sure you know how to get to the Borgata?

With any luck, we’ll drive right past it.  I know exactly where it is, it’s in New Jersey–somewhere.

As long as you know where it is.  At least no one died this month.

Actually, that’s not quite true; which, ironically, brings us to this month’s quiz!  Anne Meara died.  She was the wife of Jerry Stiller, of the comedy team “Stiller and Meara”. They made many appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show.

stiller and meara

 

In the late ’80’s, Jerry Stiller was cast as Frank Costanza, George Costanza’s father, on the most popular sitcom ever, “Seinfeld”.  I watch reruns of “Seinfeld” every night while eating my midnight snack!  For our quiz this month, I’ll be asking you to give me the constitutional remedies of George and Frank Costanza.

As you can see, Frank, played by Jerry Stiller, is often angry:

Frank Costanza

He starts his sentences off softly, but by the time he reaches the end, he’s yelling!

This is his son George played by Jason Alexander.  George is Jerry Seinfeld’s best friend since high school.

George

 

Not surprisingly, George suffers from low self-esteem and feeling like a failure.  For half the series, George was unemployed and living with his parents.  His parents are a constant source of embarrassment to him.

Our video clip is the famous “Festivus” episode.  “Festivus” is a holiday Frank Costanza created to counter Christmas.  “Festivus” is a huge embarrassment to George, but he was forced to go to the family “Festivus” celebration because instead of giving presents to his co-workers at Christmas time (George is also very cheap!), he gave out cards stating he donated, in their name, to a fake charity called the “Human Fund”!  His boss, Mr. Kruger, found the whole thing suspicious; hence, George’s only option was to take Mr. Kruger to the disastrous Festivus holiday dinner at his parents’ house!

festivus dinner

So, let me sum up the episode for you:

Kramer, Jerry Seinfeld’s neighbor, who’s a bit eccentric, asks Frank Costanza to explain the Festivus story to him.  Frank is flattered and explains as follows:

“Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son.  I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man.  As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way!”

Frank continues with his recitation: “At the Festivus dinner, you gather your family around and tell them all the ways they’ve disappointed you over the past year!”

Kramer is totally on board!  They run into George and Jerry in their favorite restaurant.  Frank says to his son George:

“George, you’re forgetting how much Festivus has meant to us all.  I brought one of the cassette tapes.”  George is now horrified as Frank turns the cassette player on which reveals the following:

Frank: “Read that poem!”

George: “I can’t read it, I need my glasses!”

Frank: “You don’t need your glasses, you’re just weak, you’re weak!”

George runs screaming out of the restaurant after the tape starts playing.  The scene shifts to the Festivus dinner at the Costanzas’.  All are seated at the dinner table including George’s boss, Mr. Kruger.

Frank stands up to call the festivities to order:

“Greetings, new-comers.  The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances.  I got a lotta problems with you people!  Now you’re gonna hear about it!  Kruger, my son tells me your company stinks!”

George is mortified.  Frank continues:

“And now as Festivus rolls on, we come to the feats of strength.”  Kramer is chosen for this honor but Kramer suddenly remembers he’s supposed to be at work!  That leaves George, who, of course, is mortified–again!

“Until you pin me, George, Festivus is not over.  Let’s rumble!  Stop crying and fight your father!”

Now, to further assist you in identifying the constitutional remedy of George, I give you a second video, the “Bosco” episode.  Bosco is a brand of chocolate syrup.

It’s for making chocolate milk or swirling over vanilla ice cream.  “Bosco” is George’s password for ATM machine bank withdrawals.  He won’t tell anyone what his password is, even Jerry, forcing Kramer to try and guess what it is.  Kramer looks George over and says the following:

“We can throw out birthdays immediately—too obvious.  And no numbers for you, you’re a word-man.  Let’s go deeper.  What kind of man are you…well, you’re weak, spineless, a man of temptations; but, what tempts you?  You’re a portly fellow, round in the waistband, so what’s your pleasure?  Is it the salty snacks you crave?  No, no, no, no, no.  Yours is a sweet tooth!  Oh, you may stray but you’ll always return to your dark master, the cocoa bean!  And only the purest syrup nectar can satisfy you; if you could, you’d guzzle it by the gallon!  Ovaltine?  Hersheys?  Nestles Quick?”  Before Kramer can get to Bosco, George runs out the door!

OK, people!  You’ve got your marching orders.  What’s the constitutional remedy(s) of Frank and George Costanza?  Write to me at [email protected] and let me know.  We’ll find out next month!  See ya….

_____________________________________

Votes

Frank                    George

Sulphur                 Lycopodium

Belladonna           Baryta carb.

Anacardium           Lycopodium

Nux v.                     Staphysagria

Nux v.                     Silica

_________________________________

Hello everybody!  The correct answers to last month’s quiz were:

Frank–Nux vomica;

George–Lycopodium.

As you can see, four people were half right.  Who wants to defend their prescriptions?

Hi Elaine and Shana!

Hi Maria!

I haven’t watched “Seinfeld” ever…

Are you going to watch it now????

but my vote for this month’s quiz is

Frank: Sulphur

Well, I can understand that.  I actually decided to repertorize Frank’s case.  Now, what do we have to do first?  We have to pick out the elements of the case, right?  And they are…

vivacious

Right!  Very good Maria, I missed that one completely!  I’m going to add that to my repertorization!

loud speech

No, I wouldn’t pick Loud Speech.  He starts out softly, but he ends up….YELLING!!!!!!  So I picked “Mind: screaming, shrieking, shouting”.

the explosive personality

We cover that with “vivacious”, there’s no “explosive personality” in the repertory.  What else?

criticism- that’s what festivus is all about anyway!

Yes!  “Critical”!  Very good!  What else, got anything more?  Here’s what I picked:

Rudeness

Disagreeable

Complaining

Dictatorial

Critical

Violent behavior

Screaming, shouting

and I just added vivacious, thanks to you, and here’s what turned up–Nux vomica!

————————————-

George is Lycopodium

Yes, absolutely!

Well, you said already “no self-confidence, self-loathing, feels like a failure…”  I will add Avarice.

Oh!  Good one, Maria, I let that completely slip by me!  Right!  George is very well-known for being cheap.  He wouldn’t buy anyone at the office a Christmas present, instead he supposedly gave, in their name, to a (fake) charity!  You know, Robin Murphy always said that Nux vomica fathers have Lycopodium sons.  It makes sense when you think about it, and I guess this proves it.

I will also add “weak, desires sweets (enough to name the ATM code after his chocolate syrup), timid to superiors- boss

I missed that one too!  Timid to his boss, very good!  Well, you really scored big with George’s remedy, Maria!

PS  Great tidbits article–Tidbits 29!

Wow, thank you!  And speaking of Tidbits, remember Tidbits 23? (“Can Someone Pick Me Up At The Airport?”)  Remember that Nux vomica was one of the Picker-Uppers?  And what did I say that Nux vomica would say if he picked you up?

“He presumes you have filled up on junk food so he launches into a lecture about what will happen if you continue to eat so irresponsibly and informs you that colon cancer is no laughing matter!  This leads him to report that he doesn’t understand you at all, that you have been a big disappointment to him…!”

And what did Frank Costanza say about the meaning of Festivus?  “You gather your family around you and tell them all the ways they’ve disappointed you over the past year!”

Almost the exact same words!  It’s uncanny!

Who else is here to defend their remedy choice?

___________________________

Hi Elaine,

I think George is a Staphysagria because of the humiliation, and as for Frank, Frank is an Alpha Male.  He has anger issues and always needs to be dominant so my guess for him is Nux Vomica.

Hooray!!!!  You nailed Frank!!!  Your first guess for Staphysagria?  A reasonable choice; but, George happens to match Lycopodium perfectly: sweet tooth, craves chocolate, fear of failure, fear of his boss, embarrassed by his parents, stingy (remember he wouldn’t buy Christmas presents for the people he worked with?) and as Kramer said, “spineless” and “weak”!  The only thing missing was “worse 4-8 pm”!

Frank is a lot like someone I know.  (Ew.)

As always, Elaine, thank you for making homeopathy so much fun!

Well, somebody’s gotta do it!

Keep on rockin’,

Linda

_________________________

Who else is here?  Step right up, speak into the microphone… Oh look!  It’s Miroslav and Jitka!

Hello Elaine and Shana,

Hello!!!

Despite our failures in solving your quizzes, we’re going to try again,

That’s the spirit!  Never give up!

because for us it is not important to win but to participate… 🙂

That’s a very healthy attitude, that’s how it should be!

We can try to solve the new quiz about “Festivus” more or less only thanks to your transcript, we don’t understand spoken English.

Well, this is the reason I did write everything out instead of just saying, “Watch the video and send me your answer!”

Miroslav says:

Frank:

He was very impulsive when buying a doll for his son and attacked a stranger, which is quite unusual and he was aggressively enforcing his own interests.  Due to his loud speech until screaming, I chose for Frank, Belladonna.

Miroslav, Frank does aggressively enforce his own interests—but what’s the rubric for that?  How do you put that into Repertory Language?  “Fights, wants to”, is the one I would pick.  So if I use your 3 points:

Impulsive, screaming and wants to fight, look what comes up:

Nux vomica!!!

For George:

I feel that George could be Baryta carb.  There’s a strong theme of father, before his attacks George is trying to escape and hide.  Also, according to his friend Kramer, George is weak, spineless.  He loves food and as we know “carbons groups” love “sweets” … he also does not look very intellectual by wearing a bit old-fashioned glasses.  I therefore have chosen constitutional remedy Baryta carb for George.

Miroslav, Baryta carb could never come up with a fraudulent scheme like “The Human Fund–money for people”.  Barytas are not cynical and they’re not deceitful, they’re not miserly; in fact, you could easily trick the gullible Baryta carb into giving away all his money!  If you look up “Deceitful”–Baryta carb isn’t there.  If you look up “Deceitful, fraudulent” there are only 4 remedies, George’s remedy is definitely among them—Lycopodium.

Jitka says:

Frank:

He seems to me like Anacardium –

vindictive and malicious, restlessness, nervousness, shrieking, unfeeling, doing opposite things.

Jitka, Anacardium is a cross between Lycopodium and Nux vomica: Low self esteem, yet aggressive. Frank doesn’t have low self esteem.

George:

Lycopodium

– low self-esteem, self-loathing, and feeling like a failure

– tends to put personal profit before morality, greedy (fake charity)

– long-term unemployed – an escape from responsibility

– ailments from mortification – runs away screaming

– craves sweets

– balloon-like distension of abdomen

– premature baldness

– “you’re just weak, you’re weak!” – (I think weakness is important topic in Lycopodium, weak body, weak memory, weak character, weak sexuality, weak eyes and so on…..)

Jitka, you are absolutely right about George, great analysis–“weak body, weak character…” Everything you said was right!  Mortification, greed, fear of failure, craves sweets, yeah, that’s Lycopodium!

___________________

Oh look, it’s my soul brother Wayne from Australia!

Hello Elaine

Hello Wayne!

We have Frank Costanza, often angry, excitable, over stimulated, undiplomatic, authoritarian, highly strung.
He is one who likes to be honest with everyone to the point of being undiplomatic.
I think he is Nux vomica.

Yes!  You’re right—absolutely right!  I love your description!

According to Hahnemann a ‘human powder-keg set off by the least spark”.

Well-stated!  So true!

Catherine Coulter says a person with psychic restlessness and inability to let events move on at their natural pace, is Nux Vomica.

Again, so true.

He complains of being harassed, when he criticizes others, unlike Lachesis and Sulphur, the other angry remedies, who can enjoy the emotional excitement they create.  “He is quick to take offence” “prickly as a porcupine and bristles into instant defence”(Catherine Coulter).  This recalls the incident when he fought with another customer over an item.

No Wayne, he just wanted the doll and so did the other customer.  Nux vomica is very competitive.  They will fight for what they want, they aim to win, they won’t back down, they won’t defer to others.

On the other hand we have George Costanza, a man who lacks self confidence, has low esteem, is “spineless”, who is easily embarrassed and mortified and must walk out on any situation which his being cannot tolerate.
What a son for such a father!
I think he is a Silica, he lacks “grit”.

Oh geez, Wayne!  You described so perfectly Lycopodium but then chose Silica!

Catherine Coulter says such a person lacks courage because he is convinced of his incompetence.
He falls into the category of a coward and Kent lists Silica second only to Lycopodium and Gelsemium.

Did you say SECOND to Lycopodium?  And yet you picked Silica?  What about desire for sweets?  What about desire for chocolate?  Silica isn’t listed under desire for chocolate at all and with no desire for chocolate and only a minor desire for sweets, you have to eliminate Silica.

Thanks Elaine, didn’t think that Lycopodium was so weak as this.
You live and learn.

Silica is physically weak.  They lack energy and a lot of their shyness has to do with their realization that they just don’t have the energy to participate.  Lycopodium has a different kind of “weakness”:  Weak digestion (gas and bloating), weak morals (cheating on spouses), weak sexuality (premature ejaculation), weak resolve (aversion to responsibility), weakness for sweets and chocolate…it’s that kind of weakness.

That’s a really good distinction, thanks for enlightening me.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne.

Well, that was a fun quiz, wasn’t it?  Be sure to give our not-so-fun quiz of August a try!  See you in September.  OMG!  Did you hear what I just said?  I said “See you in September”!  Do you know what that means?  It means it’s time, once again, to go out with “See You In September” by The Happenings!  Another year has flown by, I can’t believe it!  Here are The Happenings (bye-bye, so long, farewell…)

___________________________
Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.

Elaine takes online cases! Write to her at [email protected]

Visit her website: elaineLewis.hpathy.com

About the author

Shana Lewis

Shana spices up the Hpathy Quiz with her timely announcements and reviews on the latest in pop culture. Her vast knowledge of music before her time has inspired the nickname: "Shanapedia"!

About the author

Elaine Lewis

Elaine Lewis, D.Hom., C.Hom.
Elaine is a passionate homeopath, helping people offline as well as online. Contact her at [email protected]
Elaine is a graduate of Robin Murphy's Hahnemann Academy of North America and author of many articles on homeopathy including her monthly feature in the Hpathy ezine, "The Quiz". Visit her website at:
https://elainelewis.hpathy.com/ and TheSilhouettes.org

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