The Age of Innocence.doc

An Analysis of Whartons The Age of Innocence from thePerspective of Freuds Personality StructureContents 1 Introduction12 Edith Wharton and The Age of Innocence22.1 Edit Wharton22.2 The Age of Innocence33 Sigmund Freud and His Personality Structure43.1 Sigmund Freud43.2 Freuds Personality Structure54 An Analysis of Whartons The Age of Innocence with Freuds Personality Structure.74.1 Ellen Olenska74.1.1 Ellens Id74.1.2 Ellens Ego94.1.3 Ellens Super-ego104.2 Newland Archer104.2.1 Newlands Id114.2.2 Newlands Ego114.2.3 Newlands Super-ego135 The Reasons of Ellens and Newlands Spiritual Growth135.1 The External Reasons145.1.1 The Limitations of the Old New York145.1.2 The Life Experience of the Author155.2 The Internal Reasons165.2.1 Ellens Character165.2.2 Newlands Character176 Conclusion18Works Cited20AcknowledgementsAn Analysis of Whartons The Age of Innocence from thePerspective of Freuds Personality Structure1 IntroductionEdith Wharton (1862-1937) is an outstanding American writer at the turn of the 20th century. During her literary career, she has created considerable influential works. She is the first American female writer to have been honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Literature. She has also been nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature for three times. The themes of Whartons novels are various. She is especially well-known for describing the social customs of the American upper class and the mental activities of the characters. Wharton is praised as the representative of psychological realism novel by critics, because she specializes in showing the inner world of the characters.The Age of Innocence is regarded as one of the most perfect novels of Edith Wharton. The author shapes the characters, deriving from her own experience and the familiar environment. This work is deeply rooted in the soil of reality. In the aspect of characterization, Wharton extremely shows the characters inner world, meanwhile, dilutes their social behavior, which is doubtlessly a development of realism.Instead of many other literary angles, this thesis will focus on the characters spiritual growth in The Age of Innocence and analyze them by the theory of Freuds personality structure. As the founder of psychoanalysis, Freud is famous for finding the unconsciousness of people. The theory of Freuds personality structure plays an important role in all of his theories. According to this theory, ones psychology consists of three parts: the id, the ego and the super-ego. Through the dominant role of these three parts in different stages, the protagonists inner growth can be vividly shown. Therefore, an analysis of the characters in The Age of Innocence with the theory of Freuds personality structure can provide readers with a new angle to appreciate this book. Besides, most comments on the study of The Age of Innocence focus on feminism and naturalism. Few studies have been made from the perspective of Freuds personality structure so far. Hence, this thesis selects Newland Archer and Ellen Olenska in The Age of Innocence to show the spiritual growth. It will analyze from the following three aspects: the id, the ego and the super-ego. Hopefully, this thesis will help readers feel the spiritual growth of the characters and experience the social value and the value of life in this novel.2 Edith Wharton and The Age of InnocenceEdith Wharton is a female novelist who is famous for literary charm and wide appeal in the American novel. An overwhelming majority of her works describe the life of luxurious American upper class. The Age of Innocence is generally acknowledged as one of her most successful works. Because of this novel, she was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921. As a female writer in the era of change, Wharton specializes in describing the inner world of characters.2.1 Edith WhartonAt the turn of the 20th century, American realism rose and became prosperous. During this period, a multitude of realistic novelists appeared in American literature, such as Mark Twain, Henry James and other excellent novelists. Edith Wharton is an important female writer in this period. Edmund Wilson(1938), an American literary critic, has mentioned that the novels of Edith Wharton are the reflections of her personal life and products of her pressure from her imbalanced life. According to R. W. B. Lewis (1975), Whartons works are closely related to the reality of American society.Edith Wharton was born in a wealthy New York family in 1862. When she was a child, she lived with her parents in Europe. She returned to America when she was eleven. Therefore, she was deeply influenced by European culture. Wharton received education under the guidance of her tutor. She had a passion for literature in childhood. In 1885, Wharton married Edward Wharton, a Bostonian gentleman. After marriage, she stopped writing. However, her marriage was a failure. She emigrated to France in 1907 and divorced her husband in 1913. Then she settled in Paris and concentrated on writing. Edith Wharton published her first collection of short stories, The Greater Inclination, in 1899. Since then she had entered the harvest period of novel creation. In 1905, Whartons book, The House of Mirth, was delivered. This book made her become a real excellent American novelist. In 1920, her novel The Age of Innocence was published and it represented the peak of her novel creation. In the late 1920s, Wharton entered into the later period of her creation. She published Old New York, A Backward Glance and other works in this period. In 1937, she succumbed to illness in Paris.Many critics classify Wharton as a psychoanalytic novelist, like Henry James who pioneers the psychoanalysis novels. Whartons novels are not confined to exploring the deep thoughts of the characters, but mainly emphasize the influence of the social material and spiritual strength on characters inner world. 2.2 The Age of InnocenceThe Age of Innocence is regarded as one of Whartons most successful works. Pan Jian (2002) insists that this novel leads the author to reach the peak of literature. The author shapes the characters, deriving from her own experience and the familiar environment. This work is deeply rooted in the soil of reality. In the aspect of characterization, Wharton extremely shows the characters inner world, meanwhile, dilutes their social behavior. Under the background of the old New York society from the late 1870s to the early 1880s, the novelist narrates a love story among three characters, Newland Archer, May Welland and Ellen Olenska. Newland comes from an upper-class family. With the edification of traditional customs, he conventionally lives an uneventful life. His fiancee, May, is also from a respectable family. They are regarded as a perfect couple by the society. However, Newland is disgusted with his prosaic life. Therefore, when Ellen who is overflow with the spirit of freedom appears in the higher society of New York, he is deeply attracted. And Ellen also adores him for his sincere help. Unfortunately, their love destines to be a tragedy when confronting the powerful social traditions.3 Sigmund Freud and His Personality StructureSigmund Freud is the founder of the psychoanalysis school. Muckenhoupt (1997) mentions:Very few scientists have been as widely influential, or as commonly condemned, as Freud. Freuds theories of love, language, power, human development, and death are studied through the world and applied to disciplines ranging from psychology to anthropology to literary theory. (p.10)Freuds theory of personality structure which develops from bipartite personality structure to tripartite personality structure is a main content of his psychoanalysis. This theory systematically explains the spiritual world of human beings.3.1 Sigmund FreudSigmund Freud (18561939) is an Jewish-Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist. He studied at the university of Vienna medical school. And he received a doctors degree in Medicine in 1881. In the early period, Freud worked in the hypnosis therapy. Then, he founded the psychoanalysis. In 1936, he was elected to be the royal society member of communications. Two years later, he escaped to Britain because Austria was encroached by Germany. Soon, he succumbed to cancer.3.2 Freuds Personality StructureAccording to Freud, personality is a whole. It consists of many parts that interrelate and interact with each other. In the early period of his life, he raised his bipartite personality structure which is a theory concerning consciousness and unconsciousness. In the late period, he presented the tripartite personality structure in The Ego and the Id (1990). Freud considers that personality is composed of three parts: the id, the ego and the super-ego.The id, the bottom part of personality structure, is the most primitive and the most secret. It is not bound by any reason and ethics. Meanwhile, the id does not possess any value, ethics and other factors. Freud (1998) has mentioned that the id totally does not understand what is the value, what is the good and the evil, and what is the ethics. He believes that the id is closely connected to the pleasure-principle. All the activities of the id are dominated by this principle. Therefore, the id is irrespective of the good or the bad, the beautiful or the ugly. It simply pursues happiness and satisfaction.The id, which is inherent, survives and dies together with peoples body. It constitutes the inner core of human vitality. The id depends on instinct to offer energy, to simulate desire. It doesnt directly communicate with the outside world. In the id, people perpetually keep the characteristics of the infancy, without any conception of time, place and condition. Thus, the id always behaves impulsively and egoistically. The only purpose that the id pursues is happiness and satisfaction. The motivation of the id is to satisfy its innate needs. The id expresses the real purpose of human beings. It ignores the external conflict and the actual crisis when pursuing happiness and satisfaction.The ego, which adapts to society, is a mediator between id and the objective world. The ego can be regarded as a part of the id to some extent. “That part of the id has been modified by the direct influence of the external world acting through the perceptual consciousness” (CapeSmith, 1930, p.702). A portion of the ego belongs to subconsciousness, the other portion belongs to consciousness. Although the ego is similar to the id for they both most concern oneself, the concern of the ego must consider the surrounding environment. Therefore, the ego can distinguish between right and wrong according to social norms so as to restrain the impulsion of the id. Compared to the pleasure-principal, the ego is dominated by the reality-principal. Compared with the id, the ego is sober and sedater. The ego plays a protective role for the id.The super-ego is beyond the id and the ego. Freud (2005) has said that the super-ego is a representative of all moral restrictions. It pursues perfection and noble behavior. The super-ego comes from the internalization of reward and punishment during childhood. During this period, patents educate their children according to their own standard of value and moral criterion. Any behavior conforming to this criterion will help the children get award, otherwise, they will be punished. Then with the influence of teachers, cultural traditions, moral ideas, and other factors, the super-ego gradually forms.The super-ego has two sub-parts: the ego-ideal and the conscience. The former establishes its ideal moral standard from the award of parent; the latter is from the punishment, which defines the boundary of morality and immorality.Sigmund Freud holds that a persons mental health depends on the relationship among these three systems. “When these three parts are in a state of coordination, there is nothing wrong with the spirits. If their relation is in a mess, mental illness would occur” (Su Long, 2014, p.132).4 An Analysis of Whartons The Age of Innocence with Freuds Personality StructureSome critics consider that Whartons The Age of Innocence aims to express the viewpoint that individuals should sacrifice their own interests for the social order. Actually, she intends to explore the weakness of human nature. Wharton (1925) herself also mentions that she is interested in the mental development of the characters rather than their misfortune. 4.1 Ellen OlenskaEllen Olenska, a well-educated woman, is a female image with progressive significance shaped by Edith Wharton. She grows up in France and has been deeply influenced by European progressive ideas of freedom and equality. However, under the oppression of the old New York society she constantly struggles with her inner heart. She is forced to make various choices that are not consistent with her willing. In this process, her spirit continues to grow from the id to the super-ego, which makes her eventually choose to leave.4.1.1 Ellens IdWhen Ellen Olenska first steps into the old New York society, her inner world is dominated by the id. The first appearance of Ellen is in the old Mrs. Mingotts box of a new Opera House. Through Newland Archers eyes, her figure can be vividly presented:It was that of a slim young woman, a little less tall than May Welland, with brown hair growing in close curls about her temples and held in place by a narrow band of diamonds. The suggestion of this headdress, which gave her what was then called a “Josephine look,” was carried out in the cut of the dark blue velvet gown rather theatrically caught up under her bosom by a girdle with a large old-fashioned clasp. The wearer of this unusual dress, who seemed quite unconscious of the attention it was attracting, . (Wharton, 1998, p.5) In such a closed and conservative New York society, Ellens exotic taste and manners are doubtlessly improper. In the idea of the old New York, peoples clothes, shelter and some other basic necessities of life should strictly follow the standards. However, Ellen who is deeply affected by the European culture repeatedly breaks these standards for she behaves only according to the principles of herself, especially in clothes.As for the cause of the commotion, she sat gracefully in her corner of the box, her eyes fixed on the stage, and revealing, as she leaned forward, a litter more shoulder and bosom than New York was accustomed to seeing, at least in ladies who had reasons for wishing to pass unnoticed. (Wharton, 1998, p.9)The reasons why Ellen is so conspicuous is not only because she appears in the upper class of the New York society wearing the clothes of France in the 1830s, but also because she leaves her husband, which violates the deep-rooted concept of the old New York society that wife should be together with her husband.Ellen is also straightforward toward her emotions. She dares to defy the social customs. Wharton (1995) states that “divorce was unbearable and unimaginable in old New York society” (p.22). Confronting the deep-rooted concept of marriage that a woman in any honor or disgrace should get together with her husband, Ellen stands up bravely to demand divorce though she will lose all her property. She also dares to openly admit that the reason for her to abandon divorce is entirely due to the influence of Newland Archer.The dwelling of Ellen is incompatible with old New York society. “It was certainly a strange quarter to have settled in. Small dress-makers, bird-stuffers and people who wrote were her nearest neighbors” (Wharton, 1998, p.45). People in the old New York consider these “neighbors” as the lowest group who are despised by the public. Ellen has the courage to indicate her viewpoint toward the hypocrisy of the New York society. She believes that the handsome house of van der Luydens is gloomy. “Oh, its a poor little place. My relations despise it. But at any rate its less gloomy than the van der Luydens” (Wharton, 1998, p.49). Besides, she questions the powerful influence of the van der Luydens. “For their influence; that they make themselves so rare” (Wharton, 1998, p.50).All Ellens actions follow the real ideas of her inner heart, which directly reflects her inner desire. From the above analysis, Ellens id can be vividly revealed. However, under the control of her id, her behaviors always break the secular criteria. Doubtlessly, she suffers the suppression from the society. 4.1.2 Ellens EgoOriginally, Ellen plans to divorce her husband and wants to get free. “I want to cast off all my old life, to become just like everybody else here”, “I want to be free; I want to wipe out all the past” (Wharton, 1998, pp.93-94). But when her id conflicts with the hypocritical New York society, her ego begins playing a dominating role to constrain her id. With the influence of the outside world, especially the effect of Newland who admonishes her to abandon the thought of divorce, she eventually follows him.Another scene on the shore can also show the control of Ellens ego over her id. After Newland marries May, they visit Manson Mingott. When Newland goes to pick up Ellen, Ellen pretends not to notice him, which makes Newland frustrated. Then she tells the truth to him. “But I didnt look round on purpose.I knew you were there; when you drove in I recognized the ponies. So I went down to the beach.To get away from you as far as I could” (Wharton, 1998, pp.196-197). Ellen controls her id through her ego for Newland has been married.Under the assistance of Newland Archer, Ellen realizes that what she behaves conflicts with the tradition of