Background of the Study
The great playwright, Oscar Wilde, had written his only and most popular novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in 1890. He opened an opportunity to
researchers to study many things from his novel. Desire or sexual drive is the major theme in this novel. Sexual drive is considered as the most powerful instinct
within human mind. It is located in the unconscious that mostly tied to the biological desires and obey what Freud called the pleasure principle.
On the other hand, within human mind there is also what is called as the consciousness. According to Freud, the conscious mind is a survival system that
has logic and reason that is forced by the external environment. Freud said that this rational process of the mind obeys the reality principle. “For all his
lawlessness there is one venue where the subject of desire featured in The Picture of Dorian Gray has proven himself as the most exemplary citizen” Butler, 2000:
240 The Picture of Dorian Gray is the only novel published as the lead story in
Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine on 20 June 1890. Wilde later revised this edition, made several alterations, and added new chapters, and Ward, Lock, and Company
published the new edition in April 1891 http:findarticles.comparticlesmi qa3708is 200310ai n9329138pg 2
The Victorian age or Wilde’s time believed that art could be used as a tool for social education and moral enlightenments illustrated in literary works by
writers such as Charles Dickens and George Gissing. This view is contradictory to Wilde’s perspective in which art does not need to posses any other purpose than
being beautiful http:oascentral.sparknotes.comRealMediaadsclick_1x.adsww
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w.sparrknotes.comlitdoriangray This thesis tries to reveal the complexities of human psyche. It is believed
that in human’s psyche there is an inner-psychological conflict, which according to Freud’s term called as the battle between the pleasure and the reality principles.
These two principles, the reality and the pleasure principles, represent two opposite natures of human. According to Freud, it is the battle between the
pleasure principle immediate gratification and the reality principle delayed gratification that causes consciousness to emerge in a child.
The novel by Oscar Wilde tells about a man who adores himself too much. To gain eternal beauty and youth he sells his soul to the devil. This novel is a
perfect reflection of the battle between the body and soul within a human, the characters and the conflicts in the novel portray the battle between two principles
of Freud, the pleasure principle and the reality principle. According to Freud, the pleasure principle represents human’s wildest
desires, such as sexual desires. On the other hand, the reality principle is the filter of the pleasure principle or part of the psyche that recognizes the boundaries or
the norms made by the society or the societal standards. The novel tells Dorian Gray’s developing desire describes a trajectory of
de-essentialism, in which his erotic passions appear less and less an expression of inherent attribute, and more and more a function of external
influence, less and less like natural hunger that arises from within the subject and more and more like infection” Butler, 2000: 240
Therefore, this paper tries to discuss Freud’s theory on the pleasure and reality principles seen in Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, about the battle
between two principles within the characters, and that are represented by the
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characters and the conflicts within the story. In other words, the writer tries to relate literature and psychology. Wellek and Waren 1956: 81 in their book
Theory of Literature state that analyzing literary works relating to psychology means studying theory of psychology that may exist within works of literature.
In reproduction of literary works, the author gave the biggest influence. The story plays a role as the author’s media to share and express his or her
messages, minds, feelings, and also imagination. According to Van De Laar and Schoonder Woerd novels or other literary works are, whether directly or
indirectly, the portrayal of the author’s experience of life. Consequently, besides revealing the battle between the two principles brought by Freud, the writer also
wants to discuss about the author’s inner conflicts related to Wilde’s novel. Directly or indirectly, conscious or unconscious, every novelist
necessarily presents in his novel a certain way of life and some of the problems of life. He represents incidents, characters, motives and etc. in
such a way to reveal more or less directly and clearly the way in which he looks upon the problems of life 1969: 174.