OUTLINE
Abstract Key Words I. Introduction
II. Analyzing Pip’s Character with the Id 2.1. Pursuing the Luxurious Life
2.2. Being Ashamed to Identify the Poor Relative III. Analyzing Pip’s Character with the Ego 3.1. Helping Herbert to Run Business 3.2. Helping Magwitch to Smuggle Abroad. IV. Analyzing Pip’s Character with the Superego 4.1. Looking after Magwitch 4.2. Anabiosis of Love V. Conclusion Bibliography
中文标题、摘要、关键词
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An Analysis of Pip’s Character in Great Expectations from the Freud’s Theory of Personality Structure
Author: Ouyang == Number: 0968==== Tutor: Li =
Abstract: Charles Dickens is one of the most outstanding English writers in the 19th century. Great Expectations is one of Charles’ mature works. It is the story of Pip’s deterioration from an innocent boy into an arrogant gentleman and his redemption as a good-natured person. The paper analyzes Pip’s Character in Great Expectations from the Freud’s Theory of Personality Structure and expresses the author’s attic faith to the anabiosis of love. Key Words: Pip; Freud; Personality Theory; anabiosis of love
I. Introduction
“As a novelist, Dickens is remembered first of all for his character-portrayal. Every character his creative finger touched came alive.”(Liu Bingshan, 2007:302) Generally regarded as the greatest literary geniuses of his time in Victorian England, Charles Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity than any previous author had done during his lifetime.
Dickens’ later work Great Expectations, which is considered as his artistic masterpiece, is the most perfectly constructed and mature one of all Dickens’s novels. All of his mature understandings about life are reflected in it. The protagonist Pip is an orphan brought up by his cruel and hypocritical sister. His brother-in-law Joe takes great care to protect Pip from Mrs. Joe’s maltreatment, but Joe’s efforts are in vain many a time, and Joe becomes Pip’s co-sufferer. Under Joe’s protection and his sister’s scolding, little Pip lives a hard life. In a fortuitous chance, a secret benefactor wants to turn Pip into a gentleman. Pip’s wild fancy is surpassed by sober reality. After several years, the benefactor appears. Pip understands everything. “His illusions break into pieces. Pip finally realizes how wrong he was in the past. And he changes drastically. He regains his virtue with the help from his real friends. ”(Wang Ming, 2010:16) Actually, this novel explores the journey of an innocent common boy when his initial dreams result in disappointment and eventually lead him to become a genuinely good man. Dickens uses Pip’s descent of a naive, loving boy into an arrogant man and his redemption as a simple hardworking person to demonstrate that
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affection, loyalty and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and class.
Based on the three parts of individual psychology, Sigmund Freud puts forward the basic structure of personalities to illustrate further how subconscious comes into being in his late study of the personality theory. This structure of personalities includes three parts: the id, the ego and the super-ego. The id is the unconscious part of personality. It contains the lustful aggressive and instinct urges. “The superego comprises the norms, values, and ideals that upbringing and education have instilled in us.”(Liu Yanjun, 2010:33) The id and superego often conflict with each other. The ego faces a threefold challenge that is from the external world, from the libido of id, and from the severity of the superego.
II. Analyzing Pip’s Character with the Id
2.1. Pursuing the Luxurious Life
The id is the sum of instinctive impulses and original wishes. It is the primary source of all psychic energy. The id is the source of all desire and instincts and supplies the energy for unconscious. “Without any form, the id is dedicated to releasing instincts or impulses and satisfying wishes.”(Han Nianhua, 2009:15) Its objective is “happy principle”. It is irrational, inherent and the most primitive. The id doesn’t have a direct contact with the outside world. It needs the ego to contact with the outside world. Its objective is “pleasure principle”; therefore, it needs to get pleasure and love from the external objects and knows nothing about the influence that its behaviors bring about on objects. Taking Pip for an example, when he gets what he need, he knows nothing about the influence.
Freud regards the id as human being’s primitive impulse, all kinds of instinct and
repressed desires after the birth. It is the reflection of instinct and desire. When Pip goes to the Satis Manor at the first time, he is really attracted by the gorgeous and brilliant decoration. Satis Manor truly reflects that noble ladies usually have a lot of wealth in Victorian times and Pip is full of worship to Miss Havisham. “When a rich man entrusts others to inform Pip that he can inherit a considerable property in future and the present master lets him terminate the contract of teacher and pupil with his
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