A Psychoanalytic Reading Of Beth Henley’s Crimes Of The Heart

Beth Henley is an outstanding playwright in modern southern America.She produced many successful plays,including Crimes of the Heart(1978),The Miss Firecracker Contest(1979),The Wake of Jamey Foster(1981),The Debutante Ball(1985),The Lucky Spot(1986),Abundance(1990),Control Freaks(1992)etc..Her Crimes of the Heart is considered as the most successful one,with which she has established her reputation as a well-recognized playwright.Drawing on Freud’s psychoanalytic theories of “two topographies of the psychical apparatus,” conflicts,anxieties,defense mechanism and core issues,this thesis takes Crimes of the Heart as a sample and attempts to analyze Magrath sisters’ psychological development on the basis of an examination of the key factors that have influenced their psychological development.First,Magrath sisters’ id,ego and superego,the essential elements working on Magrath sisters’ personalities,are analyzed and their relations to the sisters’ psychology development are clarified.Second,Magrath sisters’ conflicts and their subsequent anxieties and nervousness,resulting from the imbalance between their id,ego and superego,are elaborated.Third,the performances of Magrath sisters’ defense mechanism in mitigating their anxieties and nervousness in hopes to protect their unconscious from their conscious are examined.Fourth,Magrath sisters’ core issues are pointed out,for when defense mechanism momentarily breaks down,these core issues expose themselves with the disguise of unfixed conflicts and wounds entering their conscious.A conclusion is drawn that Magrath sisters’ neuroses’ formation is aconsequence of an interaction of the external environment(including their family,the community and the social culture)and their internal psychological systems(including their “two topographies of the psychical apparatus” and their defense mechanism).The thesis further points out that Magrath sisters’ neuroses is rooted in the imbalance between id,ego and superego,and the same is true of the case of those who are struggling with their neuroses.