弗洛伊德理论在黑猫中的体现英语作文Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in January 1809, and died in Baltimore, Maryland, in October1849, Edgar Allan Poe lived only forty years in this world, but his name brings to mind images ofmurderers and madmen, premature burials, and mysterious women who return from the dead. Hisworks have been in print since 1827 and include such literary classics as “The Tell-Tale Heart” ,“The Raven”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”. This versatile writer’s oeuvre includes shortstories, poetry, a novel, a textbook, a book of scientific theory, and hundreds of essays and bookreviews. He is widely acknowledged as the inventor of the modern detective story and an innovatorin the science fiction genre, and he made his living as America’s first great literary critic andtheoretician. Poe’s reputation today rests primarily on his tales of terror as well as on his hauntinglyric poetry.Poe’s short stories are abounded with bloody violence, murder and even supernatural events.And the places where the stories occur are usually dreary and gloomy castles, bleak cellars orchurches, and thrilling grave yards. All these are the recurrent and indispensable elements inestablishing Poe’s prevalent terror,which is strong enough to shake readers’interior feelings.Among these stories, Poe can not stop interpreting his “death wish”. “Death” has become one of hisconstant themes, especially the death of a beautiful woman, and he made assertions in his famousarticle “The Philosophy of Composition” that this is “the most poetical topic in theworld”. Suchstories as “Ligeia”“Morella” and “Berenice” are good examples. And personal tragedy was anotherrecurring theme throughout Poe’s life.In his early childhood, his father deserted the family andlater his beloved mother died. He was adopted by a wealthy tobacco family but seldom had a goodtime with them. It is his miserable life experience and his pessimistic temperament that led Poe tobe obsessed with his “death fantasia” and dark romanticism. It is not difficult to find that Poe has anastonishingly strong and meanwhile twisted and weird power of imagination which is quitebewildering, and this is one of the reasons that he isdrawn much attention.Allan Poe himself is also one of the most controversial figures in the American literaryhistory. Although his contributions to the literature have been widely acknowledged at present, hewas misunderstood at his time because of his wired character. For example, his literary executor- - 1 -Rufus Griswold spared no pains, after Allan Poe’s death, to sully his reputation—he painted Poe asa Bohemian, depraved, and demonic, a villain with no virtue at all. Professor Chang also mentionedthat Poe’s own work did at times seem to corroborate the view of Griswold’s and many others thathis was an evil genius and thus the legend steadily building up about Poe placed the man in a veryunfavorable light; therefore Emerson dismissed him in three words “the jingle man”and MarkTwain declared his prose to be unreadable. Henry James madethe ruthless statement that “anenthusiasm for Poe is the mark of a decidedly primitive stage of reflection”. And Whitman, whowas the only famous literary figure presented at Poe Memorial Ceremony in Baltimore in 1875,hada mixed feeling about Poe: he did admit Poe’s genius, but it was“its narrow range and unhealthylurid quality”that most impressed him.However, needless to say, the majority of critics today, in America as well as in the world,have recognized the real, unique importance of Poe as a great writer of fiction, a poet of the firstrank, and a critic of acumen and insight. His works are read the world over with appreciation andunderstanding.thEdgar Allan Poe’s works didn’t bring him fame and fortunate before he died. Since the 20century, with the irrationalism philosophy and Fraud’s psychoanalysis rising and developing, AllanPoe and his works have been wildly accepted.Freud proposed that the human psyche could be divided intothree parts: Id, ego, andsuper-ego. Id represents human being’s basic desire, impulse and vitality for living. It is thesubconsciousness part of human being’s spiritual activities. The super-ego is the moral component of the psyche, which takes into account no special circumstances in which the morally right thingmay not be right for a given situation.The rational ego attempts to exact a balance between theimpractical hedonism of the id and the equally impractical moralism of the super-ego; it is the partof the psyche that is usually reflected most directly in a person's actions. When overburdened orthreatened by its tasks, it may employ defense mechanisms including denial, repression, anddisplacement.There are always conflicts between Id and super-ego. If a person keeps balance between bothof them, he will be a mental healthy man. If not, he will become anoia. Apparently, the hero in theBlack Cat was a twisted-mind person after experiencing a series of spirit change including impulse,crime, guilt and fear. In this thesis, the author analyzes the hero’s personalities in The Black Cataccording to Freud’s psychoanalysis, which will help us understand Poe’s other works and his- - 2 -artistic thoughts easily.Chapter 2 PsychoanalysisThis chapter consists of two parts, mainly dealing with the theories of psychoanalysis. Thefirst part is a brief introduction to Freudian psychological theories, aimed to present a panoramic view of the school. The second part gives an account of one major theory of psychoanalysis—thestructural model of personalities. Serving as an interpreting vehicle for the criticism to be conducted, the theroy will be adopted and applied later to the analysis of the unreliable narrator in The BlackCat.2.1 OverviewThe theory of psychoanalysis initiated by Sigmund Freud, the famous Austrian neurologist, isa set of creative ideas and was originally employed for thetreatment of mentally-disordered patients.thComing at the turn of the 20century, this theory provided a radically new approach to the analysisof human behaviors in the medical field. Resting on the convincing evidence obtained throughmany carefully recorded case studies, Freud claimed that most of our actions are motivated bypsychological forces over which we have very limited control. Based on years of fruitful researchwork, Freud finally established his own theoretic realm of psychoanalysis, resulting in a vehementrevolution in the field of Psychology. The foundation of the theory mainly consists of the followingthree premises Freud has ever proposed:1)most of the individual’s mental processes areunconscious;2)all human behavior is motivated ultimately by sexuality;3)many of our desires andmemories are repressed because of the powerful social taboos attached to certain sexual impulses.In the two epoch-making works, The Interpretation of Dreamsand A General Introduction toPsychoanalysis, Freud’s original ideas and pioneering explorations aremostly embodied, eachgiven a detailed explanation exhaustively. In the first work mentioned, Freud elucidates theory ofthe unconscious, the formation of dreams and 9 ways of interpreting them; in the second one, heimproves theory of the libido, proposes stages of psychosexuality and explicates the specializedterminology such as Oedipus complex, Repression, Anxiety etc. Another significant work thatdeserves mention is The Ego and the Id, in which Freud gives an elaboration on the threecomponents of personality—the id, the ego and the superego as well as the interactive relationshipamong them.The innovative and daring work Freud has made offers a brand-new view to the- - 3 -understanding of human mind, which contributes to the establishment of a general belief that humanbehaviors of any kind, as a matter of fact, are not meaningless or random but meaningful andgoal-oriented. In this sense, the psychoanalytic theory can be employed as an effective vehicle tounderstand human behaviors which are really informative and explainable.Apart from Freud, efforts are also made by such psychoanalysts as Anna Freud, Carl Jungand Marie Bonaparte, whose endeavor not only enriches the theory with new concepts and values,but also impels the development of the school of psychoanalysis. Because of its universalapplicability, the theory goes beyond the medical field and is introduced into the literary world,exerting great influence on both the creations and interpretations of literary works.2.2The Structural Model of PersonalityOne of Freud’s most influential findings is thethree-layered structure of personality. FromFreudian point of view, personality is composed of three elements which are known as id, ego andsuperego. These three parts, interacting with one another, work together and result in many complexhuman behaviors.The id, as the primary component of personality, is entirely unconscious, including thebehaviors that are instinctive and primitive. Characterized by vitality and untamedness, the only aim of the id is to strive for instant satisfaction and gratification by following the Pleasure Principle, with the least regard for social conventions, legal ethics, or moral restraints. The ego, quite differentfrom the id, operates on the basis of the Reality Principle, attempting to satisfy the id’s desires inrealistic and socially appropriate ways. Developing out of the id’s interaction with theexternalworld, the ego ensures the impulse of the id can be expressed in an acceptable manner. The lastcomponent of personality is the superego, which is supposed to hold all the internalized moralstandards and ideals that we acquire from society. The major function of the superego is to perfectand civilize human behaviors, suppressing all unacceptable urges of the id and struggling to makethe latter act upon idealistic standards instead of realistic principles. In other words, it is responsiblefor“transmitting the constraints that culture exercises over the individual, and for imposing thenecessary and ultimately excessive sacrifices of instinct demanded by civilization”.According toFreud, these aspects of personality often work together in bringing out a certain kind of humanbehavior. How one behaves is actually the result of the wrestling of the three. Therefore, a healthypersonality entails a balance among the three—the id, the ego, and the superego.- - 4 -Chapter 3 A Psychoanalytic Interpretation of The Black Cat This chapter mainly gives an interpretation of the narrator in the Black Catfrom Freudianpsychoanalytic perspective. The Black Cat is one of Allen Poe’s finest horror tales. Poe’s horrortales, featured by the psychiatric traits and psychological significance, serve as a good source for the psychoanalysts to understand both Poe and his works.Traditionally, The Black Cat is taken as a classic horror story permeated with gothic elementssuch as superstition and murder, yet from Freudianperspective, it can be treated as a case study of a patient who is troubled with psychological problems. And this horror tale can be more vividlycompared as a mind-disordered patient’s confession to a psychology doctor.3.1 Ego of the NarratorAt the beginning of the narrator’s retrospect, he described what he was like at his young age.“From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. Mytenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I wasespecially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With theseI spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarof character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principalsources of pleasure. ” (Poe, Tales 161)From above we can see the narrator was very kind and humane when he was young. This isego of the narrator. The ego, according to Freud, operateson the basis of the Reality Principle,attempting to satisfy the id’s desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways. During this period,the narrator liked animals and he gained pleasure by feeding and caressing them.What’s more, when the narrator got married early, he felt very happy because his wife alsoliked animals and had same nice characteristics like him. They raised animals together and thenarrator formed firm friendship with a black cat—Pluto, his favorite pet. “I married early, and washappy to find my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality fordomestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds,gold-fish, a fine dog, a small monkey, and a cat.”(Poe, Tales 161) The narrator’s ego enables himwent on a happy and normal life in realistic and socially appropriate ways.3.2 Id of the Narrator- - 5 -However, after he became addicted to alcohol, “a disease”what the narrator called, hisdisposition gradually changed and turned to a villain. He began to ill - treat his once loving pets andwife."I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. Isuffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personalviolence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition."(Poe, Tales 162)He even harmed his favorite cat."One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fanciedthat the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted aslight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knewmyself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more thanfiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from mywaistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poorbeast by the throat, and deliberately cutone of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity." (Poe,Tales 162)At last, he killed his wife with an axe out of rage."One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the oldbuilding which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and,nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in mywrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, ofcourse, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrestedby the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrewmy arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without agroan." (Poe, Tales 168)All his behaviors showed signs of mental distortion. The narrator was not born a bad person.He himself sensed his changing disposition. He did fell remorse about cutting an eye of his first cat.However, he couldn’t restrain himself from his inner evil. Again hesubmitted the cat to hisviolence--hanging it. He attributes his maltreating and killing of his first cat to the “FiendIntemperance”and “the spirit of perverseness”. He believes perverseness was “one of the primitive impulses of the human heart--which give direction to the character of Man”. Perverseness gives thereason of his unjustifiable acts, suck as hanging his first cat, rapping with a cane on the wall that- - 6 -concealed the body of his wife. Poe gave further arguments on the spirit of perverseness. Hebelieved man often do bad or stupid things just because we know we should not, and tend to violatelaws only because we are aware that is wrong. This exactly dovetails with id, one part of the humanpsyche Freud proposed in his late work. The id is the completely unconscious, impulsive, child-likeportion of the psyche that operates on the "PleasurePrinciple" and is the source of basic impulsesand drives; it seeks immediate pleasure and gratification, with the least regard for socialconventions, legal ethics, or moral restraints. In The Black Cat, the narrator’s unconscious evil wasawaked by the addiction of alcohol.3.3 Superego of the NarratorEvery time after the narrator’s perverse acts, his superego would appear.The first time is that after the narrator cut one of Pluto’s eyes from the socket when id wascontrolling him, he felt sorry and was frightened by what he had done to the poor cat, when hewaked up the next day. “When reason returned with the morning --when I had slept off the fumes ofthe night's debauch --I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime ofwhich I had been guilty”. (Poe, Tales 162:163)The second time is that after the fire accident, the narrator was haunted by the terror of killingthe cat. “For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, therecame back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as toregret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habituallyfrequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which tosupply its place.” (Poe, Tales 165)The last time appears at the beginning of the tale. The narrator was already in the prison andwas to die. He confessed his crime and said, “These events have terrified --have tortured --havedestroyed me.” (Poe, Tales 160)The narrator seemed to be a normal man in sanity and regret what he had done in this tone. Atall this times, superego dominated the narrator and let him be conscious of what he had done.According to Freud, superego holds all the internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquirefrom society. The major function of the superego is to perfect and civilize human behaviors,suppressing all unacceptable urges of the id and struggling to make the latter act upon idealisticstandards instead of realistic principles. The narrator in The Black Cat regretted every time when hefinished a crime. When the narrator recovered from alcohol or his irritation, he would act as a- - 7 -normal person. This is the result of the narrator’s superego. At this moment, the narrator realized his crime because his behaviors surely went against the society’s moral standards. Consequently, hewould feel sorry and terrified.Id, ego and superego are three parts of human psyche that Freud proposed. Normal people aredominated by ego and superego and superego can repress id. If id overweigh superego, like thenarrator in The Black Cat, the person will become spirit disordered and commit a series of abnormalthings against social conventions, legal ethics, or moral restraints. Every reader will take thenarrator in The Black Cat as a psycho, he killed his pet, ill-treated animals and murdered his wife.The narrator, indeed, is not a normal person. The beginning of this tale is the narrator’s confession,which will let others feel that he is mind-clear. As the story is scrolling, people will be frightened by the change of the narrator’s disposition and his deeds. In most parts of the tale, the narrator’sactivities are crazy and unbelievable. While his regret or horror about his doing is just in fewsentences. That means, the id of the narrator overweighs the superego in a great extend. It seemsthat the narrator is fond of cruelty and violence. And his conscience is just a piece of ice in front ofhis deep evil.The murderer is an unreliable narrator. He told the story, confessed his wrong-doing andregretted. This was just one of the short times when his superego dominated the narrator’s mind.The narrator was a mind-disordered patient rather than a murderer, because when he committed hiscrime, he didn’t think it was wrong, but took it as a normal thing. When the narrator killed his wife,he was not frightened, he did not fell upset or depressed. On the contrary, he figured out a good wayto hide the body calmly and showed out later in front ofthe police. He did all of these just as normalas his daily routine. This is a typical example ofmind-disordered patients’ behaviors.For common people, they behave themselves because of the moral standards or the law. Thatis, their superego wins over their id. People cannot do whatever they like because superego teachesthem not to go against those rules. Once the relationship between superego and id is broken, peoplewill abnormal, or worse, mad. In The Black Cat, the narrator’s id occupied his mind, thoughsometimes his superego would come out now and then, so he became crazy and cannot controlhimself. It seems that a monster was released from the deep evil of the narrator.- - 8 -Chapter 4 ConclusionWinning high praise from many critics, The Black Cat is considered one of the finest horrortales ever created by Poe. The innovative handling of the gothic elements as well as the dealing ofthe mentally disturbed protagonist, makes the taledistinct from its traditional counterparts. In the story, Poe drew upon superstitions about cats and explored into the human psyche, creating a horrornot only on a cultural scale but also on a psychological level. This thesis has analyzed the narrator’spsyche using Freudian theory.The Black Cat looks into the dark side of man, witnesses the down fall of a man, examinesthe primitive impulse of a man—perverseness. This makes it a classic gothic novel. As a master ofshort stories of horror, Poe applied different types of elements of horror, which are either from hispersonal writing technique, like the imagery and symbolisms suggesting horror, and thesynchronization of peak and emotional explosion, or from his personal psychological illusion, likethe description of dark unconsciousness and the death and resurrection of beauty. Poe’s horror talesare still very popular nowadays, because he is good at illustrating the heroes’abnormal spirit.Needless to say, the analysis of Allen Poe’s works through Freud’s psychoanalysis has greatsignificance.。
