An Analysis Of The Mental Deformity Of The Characters In The Mill On The Floss

George Eliot (1819-1880), a Victorian woman under the pseudonym of a man,has been universally acknowledged as one of the best English women novelists. In herlife, George Eliot completed a large number of literary works which, together with herlife story, have drawn much attention of the critics both at home and abroad. Hernovels are well-known for her profound philosophic thoughts and vivid description ofthe psychology of her characters. Eliot is good at the combination of speculativephilosophy and rich creation of literary works, which endows her works withprofound insights. Since her novels create the new depth of the psychologicaldescriptions, George Eliot is considered to be the pioneer of the psychological noveland her influence and position in the world literature can not be displaced. One of herearly works, The Mill on the Floss, is a good embodiment of her effort in thepsychological exploration of human minds. By analyzing the mental deformity of themain characters in the novel from the perspective of personality structure, this thesistries to expose the suppression and distortion that the Victorian patriarchal systemforces upon the personality of the individuals, both women and men.According to Freud, the human psyche can be divided into three agencies: the id,the ego and the superego. The id is the reservoir of the instinctive impulses seekingsatisfaction in accordance with the pleasure principle, regardless of time, morality,and outside forces, etc. The ego is the cooperation between oneself and theenvironment, between the id and the superego; it endeavors to substitute the realityprinciple for the pleasure principle. And the superego severely exercises moralcensorship in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt inaccordance with the morality principle.This thesis consists of three chapters in addition to the introduction andconclusion. Introduction offers a brief account of George Eliot’s literary achievementsand the main plot of the novel, summarizes the current research on the novel andmakes a brief introduction to the basic theory of Freudian psychoanalysis—theTheory of Personality Structure. Chapter One makes a brief introduction to the social background of the novel. Itintends to explore the social causes for the mental deformity of the main charactersfrom the aspects of the Victorian patriarchal system and the social status andpsychological appeals of the Victorian women.Chapter Two focuses on the psychological analysis of Maggie, the main femalecharacter in the novel, by applying Freud’s theory of personality structure. To beginwith, the author of this thesis tries to analyze her uncontrollable morbid mentalityfrom her id-dominated aspect, which is mainly reflected in two parts: her Electracomplex and her morbid love to her brother Tom and her lover Stephen. Secondly, afurther interpretation on Maggie’s morbid mentality is made in two aspects: Maggie’sunbalanced psyche and her ambivalent personality.Chapter Three attempts to make a psychological analysis of the three malecharacters that have close relationship with Maggie in the novel. It analyzes thepossible causes of the formation of the id as well as the negative effects of the id onthe characters’personalities in the patriarchal Victorian society. Their mentaldeformities give themselves away in their relation with Maggie.The last part is the conclusion, which works as a summary of the thesis. Ingeneral, this thesis aims at an analysis of the different types of characters in The Millon the Floss by virtue of Freudian psychology. With the analysis of the personality ofthe main characters and the relationship between them, it comes to the conclusion thatthe patriarchal Victorian society is not only the root of woman’s plight but also thechief culprit of man’s distorted personality. This thesis, by dissecting the personalityformation of the characters in the novel, aims to offer a deeper understanding ofGeorge Eliot’s masterpiece.