3 for her. Isabelle is different from the girls in her sphere. She is brave and
confident. Even, she is brave enough to face her own brother and his strange hobby to hurt other people.
She has twin babies named Adelline and Emelline. These girls are living in a hand of the house keeper of the family. Isabelle does not give them enough
attention and affection for them. Then, she is considered as mad because of many things she has done in her whole life. The twin girls are growing up in the strange
condition of the family. They grow up without the presence of parents and full family who loves them. They are living in the big house of Angelfield family with
an aged house keeper and a gardener only. They do not learn on how to speak and behave properly. The twin girls always talk to each other with the language they
made. They communicate by using the language which no one understands. A teacher then called to teach them how to speak and behave in a proper way.
The teacher has done various ways of teaching but the result is nothing. It is hard because only one of the twins who st
art to understand the teacher’s instruction and follow the rules. Emelline could change her habit, to be a little
better. However, her twin, Adeline, seems to hate the teacher and still lives in her own world. One day, when the teacher resigns and decides to go from the house,
Emelline cannot forget the teacher’s impact on her and makes Adeline do
everything she wants. When Adeline is already satisfied with her life, someone comes and takes Emmeline from her side. It puts Adeline in a deep depression.
The fact that Adeline lives in agony is the interesting part of the story which makes the researcher curious and wants to analyze. Furthermore, through
4 the novel entitled The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, the researcher would
like to discuss the meaning of Adeline’s tragic life. In order to solve the problems, this research is using the psychological approach
B. Objective of the Study
This research attempts to find the meaning of som eone’s tragic life as seen
in Adeline, one of the main characters of Diane Setterfield’s novel The Thirteenth Tale.
C. Problem Formulation
This study is conducted in order to answer these two formulated problems: 1.
How is Adeline described in the novel? 2.
What is the meaning of Adeline’s tragic life?
D. Benefits of the Study
Based on the objectives above, this study attempts to find the meaning of Adeline’s tragic life. Therefore, there are two benefits of this study. The first
benefit is for readers who learn psychology. This study can be used as a reference to analyze someone who experiences a tragic life as seen in Adeline. This study
can be their comparison if they conduct a research or analysis with the other theories. The second benefit is for the other researchers who are interested in the
same field and object, this study can be the reference for their research.
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E. Definition of Terms
These are some keywords which used in this study in order to avoid misunderstanding.
1. Thirteenth
The word thirteenth 13 here has the relation with Western superstition of the number 13. Thirteenth is the age when the character of the novel, Adeline, is
left by her mother. The thirteenth tale is the agony story told by the novelist.
2. Tragedy
According to Moody 2006, tragedy means a very sad event or situation which involving death or suffer. Tragedy is the imitation of an action which is
serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude. It tells of a person who is highly renowned and prosperous and who falls as a result of some error or frailty because
of external or internal forces. Furthermore, it also means a play about death and suffers with a sad ending. Those sad ending can be in a form of death, chaos, and
destruction. In this study, tragedy is referred to Adeline’s life events.
3. Tragic Life
Tragic life is a life with the sad and suffering events experienced by a person. According to Murphy 2007, tragic is an event that shows terrifying
aspects of existence, but an existence that is still human. Tragic life in this study is the illustration of Adeline’s sad life which revealed from every phase of her life.
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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of theories which are used to analyze and solve the problems in this study. There are two main parts in this chapter which are review
of related theories and theoretical framework. In the review of related theories, the researcher reviews theories related to the study and directly relevant with the
study. In the theoretical framework the researcher clarifies the theories used to answer the problem.
A. Review of Related Theories
1. Psychological Approach
The approach used in the study is psychological theory. The psychological approach is used because it has much to contribute to the understanding of
literature and that it permits a conceptual clarity that cannot be derived from literature alone Paris, 1997. The use of this approach is to look and analyze the
personality of Adeline when she faces problems and situations in her life. In this part, Adeline is facing the agony where she never finds the affection from anyone
around herself. Moreover, this approach is chosen to help the researcher to understand the character easier. The basis of this approach is the idea of the
existence of human consciousness, impulses, desires, and feeling about which a person is unaware but which influence emotions and behavior.
