道林格雷的画像.doc

Giving Consideration of Your Soul A Freudian Psychoanalytic Interpretation of The Picture of Dorian GrayAuthor: Xie Xiaomei(谢晓梅) Supervisor: Lecturer Ma Yue(Foreign Language Department of Huizhou University, Huizhou, Guangdong,516007)Abstract: the Irish playwright Oscar Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray is famous for its aestheticism and its the only novel of the writer. It tells a story of a good looking young man, who repose his soul into a picture of himself, finally made his life corrupt. This is the representative work of Oscar Wilde and the aestheticism. A lot of theses discuss this novel for its grate success on aestheticism. We will analyze this novel on Freuds psychoanalysis.Key words： The Picture of Dorian Gray; Oscar Wilde; Freudian Psychoanalytic.Introduction The novel The Picture of Dorian Gray tells a story among an artist, Basil, Lord Henry Wotton and a young man called Dorian Gray. The painter devoted his life on art and drawn a picture for Dorian Gray, a very good looking young man, which made both Dorian Gray and himself very famous. One day, Lord Henry, a dandy who enjoyed dissipated life style, happened to see the picture and asked to know Dorian Gray. But the artist refused. Because Dorian Gray was the soul of art, the representation about beauty in his eyes. This gave him the desire to protect Dorian Gray, as protecting the dream of art inside his mind. Unfortunately, Dorian Gray and Lord Henry met each other when they both came to visit the painter. This is the beginning of Dorian Grays dissipated life. Under the instigating of Lord Henry, Dorian Gray deserted his girl who was deeply in love with him. Then the girl ended her life after that. The second day, Dorian Gray found there was something different on his picture that he can see the smile on his face became a little pejorative. Then he knew the truth that the changing picture can hide his ages and guilty. Then he became villainous and lived a dual personalitya pure young man on appearance and a dirty old monster inside heart. His soul changed and changed, and so did the picture. For hiding the truth, he had to keep the picture from being seen by others. But Basil insisted he see the picture. To prevent exploring the secret, Dorian Gray chose to kill his friend. Eighteen years later, Dorian Gray looked exactly as young as before. The brother of his first girl came for revenge and was killed mysteriously. In the end, Dorian Gray wanted to ruin the picture forever when the man in the picture had become ugly and dirty. He tried to kill the picture with a knife, unexpectedly, the knife inserted in his own heart. Dorian Gray died and the man in picture became young and handsome again.Analysis: This novel reflects the upper class life style of age of Alexandrina Victoria, when the gentry were dissipated. Dorian Gray is just a representation among them who gave up the soul and chased for enjoyment. And the painter, Basil, insisted his moral sense all the time. However, Lord Henry always comforted Dorian Gray when he fount himself ashamed of the cruelty. Then its necessary for us to know more about Freudian Psychoanalysis. According to Freud, personality is composed of three elementsthe id, the ego, the superego. These three elements work together to create humans behaviors. The id is the basic life force from which ego and superego structures develop later. And it operates by the “pleasure principle”, which means it aims at avoiding pains, reducing psychic tension. It is the original source of the personality. In this novel, Lord Henry is just a symbol of id. He did everything to persuade Dorian Gray to enjoy the life, without considering of the moral questions. So once the basic need cannot be satisfied, the id would be extremely nervous. And we concerned the three roles in the story is just liked the three elements about the authors personality. So Lord Henry is the id. For the painter, who was always tried to save Dorian Gray from Lord Henrys abet, is just the symbol of super ego. In Freudian Psychoanalysis, super ego emerges from self learning moral values and social taboos. It always concerned right or wrong, giving the admonition to the ego. Super ego is the moralization ego, which stands at the highest level of personality. It not only postponed the desire from id but stopped the desire forever. We knew from the story that once Lord Henry wanted to tempt Dorian Gray, the painter would try to stop him. At the beginning of the story, the painter even did not want to introduce Dorian Gray to Lord Henry, for the reason that he might destroy the art inside his heart. Lets listen to what he said.“Oh, I cant explain. When I like people immensely, I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvelous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into ones life. I suppose you think me awfully foolish about it?”(The picture of Dorian Gray)The painter was in deeply love with his art, and when he met Dorian Gray, he found the soul inside his art, “When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. I have always seen my own master; had at least always been so, till I met Dorian Gray.”(The Picture of Dorian Gray) This was his feeling upon Dorian Gray when he first saw him. He loved the man and it was his duty to lead this man to the right way.Finally, the ego, Dorian Gray, who struggled between the painter and Lord Henry, fell apart in the unbalance situation. On one hand, he was dominated by the influence of Lord Henry, on the other hand, he blamed himself for the indulgence. But the impulse of hedonism overcame the conscience; Dorian Gray killed his friend and chose the way offered by the Lord. The ego always operated the “reality principle”, which explained the choice of Dorian Gray since he enjoyed the happiness during the corruption. But the personality may lose its balance when the ego cannot get well between the id and the super ego. The result of Dorian Gray is in fact unavoidable.Conclusion: From the theory of Freud, the personality was composed by three elementsthe id, the ego and the super ego. Every element has its function in leading our behaviors. We should not ignore one from anther. The desire from id can be a driving force in your life, but it can be the killer too. Self-discipline is vital in life. Facing the lure, people should give consideration to their soul. The duty of our ego is balancing the desire and moral sense in life. The three roles in our story can also be considered as the three elements of the author, who was sought f