On The Themes Of Allan Poe' Works From The Perspective Of Psychoanalysis

It is nearly a century since people analyzed and studied the works of Poe. He always writes about murders and deaths. Poe is an influential writer in the history of America. He is not only a poet but also a novelist and a critic. This talented creator who lived in poverty and bad luck tries all his efforts to fight against the ocean of life and death. He wants to find a position in the main stream of American literature but he only gains ignorance, scorn, pessimism and disappointment. Though Poe writes only about seventy novels, he obtains great fame in the kingdom of novels, such as"the founder of short novels","the father of detective fictions","the pioneer of modern scientific fictions". Poe's works are always filled with murder and death with a frightful and absurd atmosphere. And in this thesis his typical short stories which concentrate on the themes of horror, absurdity and death will be analyzed from the point of view of psychoanalysis.This thesis includes introduction, main body and conclusion.Introduction gives a brief review of the analysis and study of Poe's works in China and overseas in the past one hundred and fifty years. Poe lived during the period of a rise in the American burgeoning economic. At that time people's spiritual world was full of aggressiveness and blind optimism. Poe observes this spiritual crisis of main culture, so he uses his works to express the inner horror, sin and death. As he has a different writing concept, his works are neglected and criticized during his life. However, with the development of time people come to realize the artistic value of Poe's works which influence generations of great writers, such as Lawrence, Eliot and Hemmingway. Poe shadows their works in different ways.The main body is divided into three chapters:The first chapter analyzes the theme of horror through the theory of three structures of personality in The Black Cat. There are id, ego and superego in this personality. Id represents the primitive impulse of human beings. People in this state lose the control of their reason and their evil instinct makes them do what they want even though it is wrong. Ego is the media of id and superego because superego pays much attention to the conscience and morals. Sometimes it is not practical. Ego serves to balance id and superego, so it is very difficult to have ego in mind. In The Black Cat the hero at first is a kind-hearted man. He has his ego and he has his humanity. But suddenly he changed into another man because he maltreats his pets that he used to treat them very well and even kills his wife. He drops his ego and superego but surrenders to id. As no rules can control the hero, readers'soul gets chilled. Though Poe's fictions always bring darkness and tragedy, a kind of release of mind can also be achieved.The second chapter makes a detailed survey of the theme of absurdity through analysis on the irrationalism in personality in the short story The Tell-Tale Heart. Ration and irrational are two aspects of man's psychology. Ration sticks to social morals and social standards. They have a belief in science and technology. However, irrational means lose the self-control and all the reason. People who are irrational will have no ration in their mind and their behavior will be mad and cruel. In the story The Tell-Tale Heart the hero in this story is such a person who has no reason at all but he tries every effort to improve his sanity. His attempts are in vain because his mad behavior betrays him. Absurdity is a life experience. It has several sources, such as the meaningless of life, the passing of time, or the feeling of the approaching death. People who have these experiences will taste absurdity. And this feeling brings serious anxieties and endless worries to the bottom of people's heart. The hero tries to defeat the absurdity in his life. And he is obsessed with the hatred of an old man's vulture-like eye. Eventually, he kills the man so that he extricates himself of that evil eye. The hero's irrational leads him to the world of absurdity where is filled with meaningless.The third chapter is a research on the theme of death from the perspective of narcissistic personality in The Fall of the House of Usher. There is an ancient Greek legend of the word"narcissism". There lives a handsome boy who is called Narcissus falls in love with his reflection. As he can never achieve this love, he stays at the pool and finally dies of starvation. In this part the reason and features of narcissistic personality is expounded. People who are narcissistic have a selfish love. They only pay attention to themselves and are unfeeling to others. They always believe that no one can compare with them and have superiority over others. In the story The Fall of the House of Usher as the image of Roderick is the most perfect pen-portrait of Poe himself, they have the same intention of narcissistic personality. In the short story there is another important character, that is, Madeline, who is the sister of Roderick. From their unusual relationship readers will find that Madeline is just like the reflection of Roderick. And Roderick loves himself and his reflection. He puts all his love on his sister. When he knows she is leaving and dying, Roderick finally collapses. However, from his death, readers can also feel a thirst of love and life. That is what Poe gives to his theme. He wants to love and to be loved. And he hopes to transcend life.Conclusion explains the feature of Poe's writing. He brings psychology into novels. This provides a new method to analyze Poe. Readers can find that his wisdom lies not only on the independent settings or plots, but also connects with the characters. Poe's works will help readers to understand the psychological state of people living in the modern society. Though the society is developing forward, the soul of human beings is becoming more lonely, painful and desperate. Therefore, the exploration of Poe is also a study of man's psyche and it provides a key to probe into man's twisted mind.