Claire Standish Character Analysis

Amongst The Brain, The Basket-Case, The Criminal, and The Athlete, is The Princess. Claire Standish, a materialistic “richie” with extremely wealthy parents. So it is no surprise when Claire is dropped off to Saturday detention (for skipping class to go shopping) in her fathers BMW and brings sushi for lunch. Sporting real diamond earrings and suede skirts, Claire struts into the library with the idea that she is better than every student in the room (“Do you know how popular I am? I am so popular. Everyone loves me at this school. ”). The Princess is somewhat reserved; seemingly shy about revealing information about herself.

She also suffers from a strong sense of insecurity, which can be observed in the way she often lashes out at Bender; “Go to hell! ” “Shut up! ” “I hate you! ” “You’re an asshole! ” Although The Princess appears snobby and self-centred, she is loyal and trustworthy to the other Breakfast Clubbers, her first sign of loyalty being when she didn’t rat out Bender when he unscrewed the door. With short, cropped, and curled ginger hair, and pretty chocolate brown eyes, Claire Standish is your stereotypical “It Girl. ” She seems to have everything, the title of prom queen, wealthy parents, a pretty face, and a popular clique.

But as Claire reveals to the other members, she too has problems with her parents, “I don’t think either one of them gives a sh** about me. It’s like they use me just to get back at each other. ” finding common ground with all four other members, who also admit that they don’t get along well with their parents. The other members are intrigued by her because she is popular and of high rank in the high school, but after learning more about her, they find that they can relate to Claire and vice versa.

Claire admits that she hates having to go along to everything her riends say and the members start to see her less as a princess and more as a fellow Breakfast Clubber. As the five members sit in a circle and bare their souls to each other, Claire opens up and confesses her pureness and even shows them her “trick” she can do with her lipstick. After calling Bender an asshole, an idiot, and a coward, she develops a crush on him and sees the softer side of the rebellious criminal. She also spends time with Allison, The Basket-Case, and Claire’s disgust of Allison’s strangeness vanishes, and Claire even does her make up. (While doing Allison’s make up)

Claire: You know, you look a lot better without all that black sh** under your eyes. Allison: Hey, I like all that black sh**… Why are you being so nice to me? Claire: Because you’re letting me. And by the end of the period of detention, Claire is a completely new person with new ideas and a new perspective on both her life, and the lives of others. She is enlightened that she is not alone, and finally feels as though someone else knows how she feels. The Princess throughout the movie The Breakfast Club, Claire struggles to find the reason that she is so unhappy.

She realises that she is trying to be someone she’s not so that she will be considered “popular. ” Claire discovers that she is not alone, and that everyone tends to mask their real feelings and thoughts to become what people expect them to be, such as The Brain, The Basket-Case, The Athlete, or The Criminal. She learns to accept herself for who she really is. Along with this, she also accepts others for who they truly are. Throughout weekend detention, she learns that people should accept her for who she really is, and that she should accept them for who they truly are.