The Morbid Psyche

As one of the most prolific writers and philosophers in the 20~thh century,Murdoch is distinctive for her eclectic embrace of different philosophical elements.Freudian psychoanalysis,Existentialism,Platonism and Nietzsche’s philosophy reach a brilliant harmony in her 26 fictions and 5 philosophical works.Focusing on her two fictions,The Time of the Angels and A Severed Head,this thesis attempts to probe into the dark psyche of desire and obsession which,when mirrored in daily interpersonal relationships,becomes a morbid dynamic of domination and submission.Chapter One intends to dissect the concept of Eros against the social and historical background as well as the dark mechanism of human psyche controlling us in deep unconsciousness together with Murdoch’s diagnosis of the morbid modern human state.Chapter Two highlights the concept of power in Murdoch’s works and its general meaning in interpersonal relationship through the form of characterization.Through the analysis of the main characters,the psyche of the power characters as well as the sadomasochistic nature of relationship between the power characters and the victim characters in these two novels are clarified.Chapter Three discusses the ludicrous interpersonal relation in these two novels and how this abnormal relationship gradually deteriorates into a malicious cycle of revenge which ultimately leads to the transference of suffering as defined by Murdoch as“Até”.The final chapter draws a conclusion from the previous discussion with the focus on the polarized yet intertwined balance between love and power under the control of higher and lower Eros.In conclusion,Mudoch’s works could be analyzed from two perspectives,one on a macro level as represented in interpersonal relationship and the other on a micro level reflected in her subtle scrutiny of people’s inner psyche.Both of these two levels revolve around two basic elements of love and power,which are resonated in every stage of human civilization.