An Analysis Of Maud's Psychological Process In Fingersmith

Sarah Waters,who is regarded as a contemporary outstanding British writer,is best known for her novels set in Victorian society.Meanwhile,she is also an active lesbian protagonist.So far,among all the works she wrote,most of them are related to the lesbian themes somewhat except The Little Stranger,which she wrote to dedicate to her parents.Besides,she has also published articles on gender,sex and history in many journals.Although most of the themes in Waters' works are relatively marginal,she wins numerous awards.Waters has been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize for three times.Moreover,she was also named as one of “Best of Young British Writers” by Granta among other distinctions.As one of the representative works of Waters,Fingersmith depicts us a story about the love and hatred between two heroines who have different growth experiences but are closely related through different views from Maud and Susan.This thesis is divided into three parts.The first part is the introduction,helping the readers to build up a better understanding about Sarah Waters and her work Fingersmith.Meanwhile,it also presents some information about the previous studies being made at home and abroad and the general outline of the thesis.The second part is the main body of the thesis,which is composed of four chapters.The first chapter is the theoretical foundation,presenting a summary of the origin and development of Freudian Psychoanalysis.Meanwhile,it also states the connotation of Freudian Psychoanalysis applied in the thesis which includes personality structure,life and death instincts,and anxiety and ego-defense mechanisms.The second chapter focuses on the unbalanced personality structure of Maud and it also reflects Maud's struggle between love and freedom through the conflicts among her id,ego and superego.The third chapter discusses about the life and death instincts promoted by Maud and how Maud's life instincts finally defeat her death instincts so that it has a positive impact on Maud's fate.The fourth chapter analyzes Maud's anxiety and the ego-defense mechanisms applied for alleviating her anxiety.With the assistance of the denial,repression and sublimation,Maud ultimately breaks the anxiety dilemma which demonstrates that women in the patriarchal society are keen to get rid of the controlfrom others to resist the oppression of the male power,to get the spiritual freedom and to achieve the financial independence.Finally,it comes to a conclusion that based on Freudian Psychoanalysis,this paper adopts Fingersmith for the case study,aiming to explore the metal distress faced by the lower-middle-class women at that time,exploring their desires for overcoming the difficulties to get a better life.The thesis not only helps the readers have a better understanding of Maud's psychological process,but also provides a new perspective for the research on Fingersmith.