| The Duchess of Malfi is a typical Jacobean tragedy written by John Webster in the seventeenth century,which is considered as one of his representative dramas.Lots of scholars and critics have made substantive researches into this tragedy from various perspectives,and many of them focus on exploring the theme and characterization,analyzing writing skill and structure,discussing the sibling relationship and the clandestine marriage,and interpreting images and symbols in the play.However,research papers about major factors leading to the tragedy are few,and studies of the major factors from psychoanalytic perspective are rare.Therefore,this thesis would center on the exploration of the main cause of the tragedy of the Duchess and Bosola.The theory used in the thesis is Freud ’s personality structure,and the thesis would apply the theory to the analysis of the personality structures of the Duchess and Bosola in The Duchess of Malfi.By applying Freud’s personality structure to analyzing their life experiences and different roles in different situations,it is argued in the thesis that mental conflicts lead the Duchess and Bosola to the road of tragedy and external environment plays a trivial part in their tragedy.Based on the personality structure,the thesis would analyze why they have mental conflicts and how imbalance of the personality structure leads to their mental conflicts and final destruction.Through the analysis of their personality structures,it demonstrates that their mental conflicts are caused by imbalance of the id,the ego and the superego,because their egos are not powerful and strong enough to balance their ids and their superegos. |
