<P> Nurse Ratched ( also known as `` Big Nurse '' ) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Ken Kesey 's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest as well as the 1975 film . A cold , heartless , passive - aggressive tyrant , Nurse Ratched became the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe . She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of power and authority in bureaucracies such as the mental institution in which the novel is set . </P>
<P> Nurse Ratched ( also known as `` Big Nurse '' ) is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Ken Kesey 's 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest as well as the 1975 film . A cold , heartless , passive - aggressive tyrant , Nurse Ratched became the stereotype of the nurse as a battleaxe . She has also become a popular metaphor for the corrupting influence of power and authority in bureaucracies such as the mental institution in which the novel is set . </P>
who is the nurse in one flew over the cuckoo 's nest
who is the nurse in one flew over the cuckoo 's nest
Nurse Ratched
Nurse Ratched