A Psychoanalytic Study Of Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe,one of the most brilliant romantic novelists of America in the 19 th century,has enjoyed worldwide reputation for deep thoughts and excellent writing techniques.Although he led a hard life throughout his lifetime,he has been considered a highly productive writer whose fruitful works include short stories,poems and literary criticism.The Tell-tale Heart,one of his most famous short stories,has attracted the attention of many researchers at home and abroad upon its publication.The scholars and researchers have analyzed and interpreted the novel from various perspectives such as psychology,aesthetics,linguistics and narratology,since the mid twentieth century.All of these researches have been helpful for readers to understand the story.However,few researches focus on the interpretation of the narrator from the perspective of Freud's psychoanalysis which is an important method for literary criticism.Therefore,this thesis tries to interpret the tale from the perspective of psychoanalysis,which explores not only the narrator's inner heart but also Poe's philosophical viewpoints.Freud's psychoanalysis states the individual experiences five stages of the psychosexual development;whether the psychosexual needs of these stages are met or not makes a great effect on the personality.In addition,it emphasizes that the personality is composed of id,ego and superego.Besides,it pays much attention to the conscious and unconscious.Based on this method,this thesis attempts to explore Poe's philosophical viewpoints,worldview and views on life,all of which are significant for us to understand the relationship between man and man,man and himself as well man and environment by analyzing the fragmented language and actions of the narrator.The thesis is made up of five chapters.Chapter One is the overall introduction of the study.Firstly,it presents the brief introduction of Adgar Allan Poe's The Tell-tale Heart.Secondly,it concentrates on the significance of the study.Lastly,it expounds the main structure of the thesis.Chapter Two is the literature review,on which the thesis is based.To start with,it makes a brief introduction of Adgar Allan Poe and his main works.Then,it focuses on the studies on Allan Poe and The Tell-tale Heart Abroad,collecting and summarizing many researches on the short story.Finally,it generalizes relevant studies on Allan Poe and The Tell-tale Heart in China.Chapter Three is the theoretical framework,which gives an explanation to Freud's psychoanalysis in detail.Chapter Four is the key part of the thesis.It presents the psychoanalytic interpretation of The Tell-tale Heart.Based on the unconscious,the structural model of personality and the stages of the psychosexual development,it firstly explains the root for the narrator's disease,then interprets the incessant interaction between narrator's id and his ego during the murder and lastly explores the tell-tale heart awakened by superego.Chapter Five,serving as the conclusion of the study,firstly makes a summary of Poe's philosophical viewpoints,worldviews and views on life which are implied in The Tell-tale Heart.Secondly,it summarizes the social significance drawn from this tale.Thirdly,it is hoped that readers could learn from the novel and balance themselves among id,ego and superego to lead a peaceful life.The last part is the limitations of the study.