Was Randall P. McMurphy a saviour or a psychopath in "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest"?

The character of Randall P. McMurphy in Ken Kesey's acclaimed film, 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest', displays characteristics that are commonly associated with being both a psychopath and a saviour. The film is set in an American mental institution in the early 1960's, which means that the attitudes of the staff, and community in general, towards mental illness were a lot different to that of the twenty-first century. McMurphy's persona seemed to be constantly …

…of Jesus and sometimes his character in the asylum was god-like but as previously stated he let himself down because he could not uphold that standard. The stereotypes of saviour and psychopath are at opposite ends of the scale and Randall falls somewhere in between, it is entirely up to the viewer where they want to put him on the scale as a person's own outlook on the world determines how they perceive other people.