A Freudian Psychoanalytical Interpretation Of Oliver Twist

Charles Dickens, a very popular English novelist of the Victoria era, enjoys aworldwide reputation. Oliver Twist is his second novel. With the foggy London as thebackground, Dickens tells us a story of a miserable orphan boy, Oliver Twist, whowas brought up in the workhouse.This thesis adopts Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytical theory as the theoreticalbasis. By using his psychoanalytical theory, in particular, his classification of id, egoand superego, this thesis intends to analyze the internal link between the fates ofmain figures in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist and their personality structure.The whole thesis consists of three parts. The introductory part includes a briefintroduction of Charles Dickens and his major works, a variety of literature reviewson Charles Dickens especially on Oliver Twist, a necessary explanation of Freud’spsychoanalytical theory, and a brief introduction of the thesis organization. And then,three closely related chapters which analyze the personality structure of the mainfigures in Oliver Twist form the body of the thesis. Chapter One centers on theincarnations of the id. Chapter Two deals with the representative of the ego. ChapterThree delves into the embodiments of the superego. The conclusion part sums up thewhole thesis, restating the internal link between the fates of main figures in OliverTwist and their personality structure. More significantly, from the analysis ofDickens’ life experiences, the thesis also reveals Dickens’ creational significance.