Split Motherhood And Split Personality Two Sets Of Triplets In The Sound And The Fury

The masterpiece of William Faulkner has long been the focus of attention from the critical world as well as general readers. Various interpretations have been offered about this great work. After some detailed reading of William Faulkner, the writer and his works, the author of this thesis comes to realize that to have a thorough and sound understanding of William Faulkner, psychoanalysis is indispensable. Based on the theory of oedipal complex, the tripartite model of human psyche, and split personality, the article is meant to find out the psychological factors that underlie the fate of the Compson boys. Born by an unnerved and unnerving mother, the Compson boys have to turn to others for maternal love and spiritual support. Unconsciously and subconsciously they reject their own mother's motherhood. They also refuse to recognize the motherhood in their nurse, a black woman. In the end all their expectations for their mother are shifted to their sister, Caddy. But their only hope turns out to be their last straw—Caddy becomes promiscuous. Caddy's moral corruption causes mental destruction to all her brothers.Motherhood is split into Mrs. Compson, Dilsey and Caddy. It is split motherhood that causes split personality. The three Compson boys make up another triplet. They respectively represent the id, the ego and the superego. Benjy holds on to the pleasure principle and demands maternal love that Caddy once bore for him. Jason sticks to the reality principle which helps him to avenge his loss and collect property. And Quentin is devoted to the morality principle. He wishes for family honor and female virginity, which is impossible to be realized in a half-bankrupted family and the decaying South. So he has to end his agony by ending his own life.To be short, the purport of the thesis is to expose the psychological factors that underlie the fate of the Compson boys through these two sets of triplets.