Critique toward human hypocrisy seen in the main characters of Robert Louis Stevenson`s the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - USD Repository
CRITIQUE TOWARD HUMAN HYPOCRISY SEEN IN THE MAIN
CHARACTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON’S THE STRANGE
CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
AMADEUS SYAILENDRATAMA
Student Number: 014214034
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2008
The world is a dangerous place, The world is a dangerous place,
Not because of those who do evil, Not because of those who do evil,
But because of those who look on But because of those who look on and do nothing. and do nothing.
Albert Einstein
This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to This undergraduate thesis is dedicated to
My beloved parents My beloved parents
My dearest brothers “Leon and Ito” My dearest brothers “Leon and Ito” My My dearest “Rina”
“Rina” and and My dearest big family of
My dearest big family of “English Letters Class 2001” “English Letters Class 2001”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To begin with, I surely want to thank and praise Jesus Christ who has given me this wonderful life to live. Also, I thank my Mother Mary for always there for me.
I am forever grateful to my beloved parents, Papi, and Mami, for their never ending love and care, without them I would not be the way I am today. I also thank my brothers, Leon and Ito, for the guidance, prayers, and support during the process of writing of this thesis. My special gratitude goes to my dearest Theresia Oktorina Kusmiyanti S.Pd. for his never-ending love, care, companion, encouragement, patience, phone calls, and visits to Jogjakarta
I am so much in debt to Mr. Gabriel Fajar Sasmita Aji, S.S., M.Hum, and Mrs. M. Luluk Artika, W., S.S and Mr. Tatang Iskarna, S.S., M.Hum. as my thesis advisors for their patience, their much-needed suggestions and their dedication in guiding me in writing this thesis.
I dedicate my special gratitude to all my friends in English Letters Sanata Dharma University: Eka Dina, Obed, Imbik, Bima, Risa, Sindha, Aryo, Sigit/Koent, Ian, Wisnu, Nova, Dian Kiting, Fangky, Erna, Melia, Yosep, Ikhsan, Fariz, Geri, Wawan, and all of 2001 folks. I thank them for the true friendship they have given to the writer.
Amadeus Syailendratama
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. The Characterization of Dr. Henry Jekyll……………………….25
4. The Characteristic of Id in the Characterization of Mr. Hyde…..42
3. The Multiple Personality Disorder……………………………....40
2. The pressure from the Respectable Society for Being A Respectable Gentleman..……………………………………...38
1. Jekyll’s Addiction to the Drug…………………………………..33
B. The Explanation of the Main Characters’ Abnormal Behavior………....32
2. The Characterization of Edward Hyde………………………….28
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY…………………………………………….. 22
A. Object of the Study…………………………………………………….. 22 B. Approach of the Study………………………………………………..... 23 C. Method of the Study………………………………………………….... 24CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS…………………………………………………........26
A. The Characterization of the Main Characters…………………………...26TITLE PAGE……………………………………………………………………… i APPROVAL PAGE………………………………………………………….......... ii ACCEPTANCE PAGE……………………………………………………………. iii MOTTO PAGE……………………………………………………………………. iv DEDICATION PAGE……………………………………………………………... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………….. vii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….. ix ABSTRAK………………………………………………………………………… x
D. Theoretical Framework…………………………………………………21
5. Theory on Conflict……………………………………………...20
4. Psychoanalytic Theory………………………………………….18
3. Theory on Dissociative Identity Disorder………………………16
2. Theory on Psychology ...……………………………………….14
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ……………………. 11
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION………………………………………………. 1
A. Background of the Study…………………………………………........ 1 B. Problem Formulation………………………………………………….. 5 C. Objective of the Study………………………………………………… 5 D. Definition of Terms…………………………………………………… 6CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW………………………………….... 8
A. Review on Related Studies……………………………………………. 8 B. Review on Related Theories………………………………………....... 11C. The Dualities Existed in the Characterization is Considered as a Critique Toward Human Hypocrisy …….……………………………………….45
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION…………………………………………………. 50 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………… 52 APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………….. 54
ABSTRACT
AMADEUS SYAILENDRATAMA. Critique Toward Human Hypocrisy Seen
in the Main Characters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of
Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2008.The uniqueness of human personality and the existence of the second personality inside human is the basic idea of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The novel tells a story about a doctor
who got obsessed in finding a cure to purge evil in human soul. However, instead of finding a cure, he found a drug which can brought out his evil personality.
This thesis presents a discussion on the issue of multiple personality disorder which the writer believes can be considered as the main problem of the main characters’ abnormal behavior and then the writer will connect it with the issue on hypocrisy of human because the writer also believes that the multiple personality issue symbolizes the hypocrisy of human. Therefore firstly, the study is to know how the characterization of the main characters. Secondly is to know the causes of the main characters’ abnormal behavior. Thirdly it is to know how the abnormal behavior is considered as a critique toward human hypocrisy.
There are three steps the writer did in this study. The first step was to read and re-read the novel until the better understanding about the story could be gained. Secondly, the writer tried to collect some books related to psychological theories since the approach applied in this thesis is psychological approach. Thirdly, the writer tried to relate the psychological disorder of the main characters with the hypocrisy of human. The last step, the writer drew the conclusion of the analysis.
This literary work has two major characters, who are Dr. Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde. Dr. Henry Jekyll is the ‘good’ guy while Edward Hyde is the ‘bad’ guy. In the novel the term ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is more related to the idea of id, ego, and superego. When Dr. Jekyll transforms into Hyde, his id is misplaced with his ego. While the superego which has the ability to filter human behavior is changed by the power of the drug. Therefore Dr. Jekyll does what he is not supposed to do. This act is similar with the practice of hypocrisy, Dr. Jekyll is like someone who wears a mask of goodness to hide his rotten self.
ABSTRAK
AMADEUS SYAILENDRATAMA. Critique Toward Human Hypocrisy Seen
in the Main Characters of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra,
Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2008.Keunikan dari kepribadian manusia dan keberadaan kepribadian kedua dalam diri manusia adalah ide dasar dari novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and
Mr. Hyde karya Robert Louis Stevenson. Novel ini bercerita tentang seorang
dokter yang sangat terobsesi dalam mencari obat untuk menghapus sisi jahat manusia. Namun, alih-alih mendapatkan obat untuk menghilangkan, ia malah menemukan obat untuk memunculkan sisi jahat dari kepribadiannya sendiri.
Skripsi ini membahas tentang penyakit dua kepribadian yang dialami oleh karakter utama. Penulis percaya penyakit dua kepribadian ini dapat dikategorikan sebagai pokok permasalahan dari kelainan yang dialami oleh sang karakter utama. Kemudian penulis akan menghubungkan antara penyakit tersebut dengan kemunafikan manusia karena penulis juga berpendapat bahwa penyakit dua kepribadian yang dialami oleh karakter utama melambangkan kemunafikan manusia. Hal-hal yang akan ditunjukkan dalam skripsi ini adalah: pertama, skripsi ini akan menjelaskan pelukisan watak dari karakter-karakter utama. Kedua, skripsi ini akan mencari tahu penyebab-penyebab dari kelakuan-kelakuan tidak normal yang dialami oleh karakter utama. Ketiga, skripsi ini akan membuktikan bahwa kelakuan-kelakuan tidak normal yang dialami oleh karakter utama dapat diartikan sebagai kritik terhadap kemunafikan manusia.
Ada empat langkah yang dilakukan oleh penulis dalam menyelesaikan skripsi ini. Langkah pertama adalah membaca novel sumber berulang kali sampai penulis dapat menangkap maksud dari cerita yang ada dalam novel tersebut. Langkah kedua adalah, penulis mencari buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan teori- teori psikologi, hal ini dilakukan karena pendekatan teori yang dipakai oleh penulis adalah pendekatan psikologi. Langkah ketiga adalah, penulis mencoba untuk menyambungkan antara kelainan psikologi yang dialami oleh karakter utama dengan kemunafikan manusia. Langkah terakhir adalah menarik kesimpulan dari analisis.
Karya sastra ini memiliki dua karakter utama, mereka adalah Dr. Henry Jekyll dan Mr. Edward Hyde. Dr. Henry Jekyll adalah tokoh ‘baik’ sedangkan Edward Hyde adalah tokoh ‘jahat’. Dalam novel ini pengartian terminology ‘baik’ dan ‘jahat’ lebih condong kepada pengertian tentang id, ego, superego. Ketika Dr.
Jekyll berubah menjadi Hyde, id dari Dr. Jekyll bertukar tempat dengan ego nya. Superego yang berperan sebagai penyaring tingkah laku manusia, berubah fungsi dikarenakan oleh obat tersebut. Alhasil, Dr. Jekyll melakukan hal-hal yang tidak seharusnya dia lakukan. Perilaku ini merupakan perilaku yang munafik, Dr. Jekyll
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study In his book, Psychology: A Concise Introduction, Terry F. Pettijohn says;
“In the very real sense personality forms a core of psychology. It is the sum total of what a person is – including his or her behaviors, thoughts, and feelings…we define personality as the distinctive and enduring patterns of behavior and cognition that characterize a person adaptation to life” (1999:260).
Thus human personalities are very unique and work in very complex ways. It was built neither in a day nor in the same way or conditions as other personalities.
Each human must have different kind of personalities; in general, the society only defines it as good personality and bad personality; however the wide varieties of personality may create different kinds of characteristic, ideas, and conflicts which eventually lead into to a more complex definition rather than just good personality and bad personality. From the excerpt above the writer also conclude that the development of personality can not be separated from the society. Which means every person adapts with the environment he lives in.
The object of this study is the novel created by Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the main focus of this study is the personality of the main character which is uniquely presented as having more than one personality in one single body. Basically the story is about a noble person who is able to find a compound which can reveal the inner side of human. As the result, the person is suffering from some kind of mental illness Dissociative Identity Disorder. However the writer sees the interesting part of the story is about how the noble person manipulates the compound as an oasis of freedom from his dull and hypocrite life. There are big possibilities that the mental illness does not only come from the chemicals compound but actually comes from his own inner desire which have been sealed by his rank in the society.
In order to have a better understanding of what personality is, the writer feel obliged to quote the definition of personality from Phares who views personality as “the characteristic pattern of thoughts, feeling and behaviors of a person that are distinctive and enduring.” (1999:260). From Phares’ definition, the writer concluded that personality is unmatched, no one have the exact identical personality in this whole universe. Furthermore personality grows; it changes through times and keeps changing till human dies.
In addition to the definition of personality, Mischell defines personality as an Individual’s overall, stable, and distinctive patterns of behavior in responding to people and environmental events – that is, each person’s characteristic patterns of behavior that are consistent across a variety of situations (1999:260). From the excerpt above the writer concluded that personality might go differ one to another depending on the surroundings, the place he or she lives, the way he or she raised, and so on. In this case the writer will also a little bit analyze the background society of the nobleman Dr. Jekyll as a probable cause of the incident happens in the story. resembles the real character of human. Essentially, the ‘illness’ (dissociative identity disorder or famously known as multiple personality) exists in the real life and truly happens among people.
Moreover, psychology had played an important role in the history of literature as what Guerin says in his book A Handbook of Critical Approaches to
Literature, it plays important role in literature as early as the fourth century B.C.,
Aristotle used it in setting forth his classic definition of tragedy as combining the emotions of pity and terror to produce catharsis. (1999:126).
In addition, works of literature cannot be separated from the psyche of the author. In his book, The Interpretation of Dream (1900), Freud lays the foundation theory of how our minds work and operate. He believes that the unconscious plays a large part of how we act, think, or feel, and the finest way for discovering the content and the activity of the unconscious is through our dream.
(Bressler, 1994: 148). Related to Freud’s theory, The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyl
and Mr. Hyde (1886) is considered as fiction literature and it originally comes
from the dreams, or specifically the nightmares of the author.However, Daiches in his book Critical Approaches to Literature spoke different subject, he believes that work of literature can be analyzed with psychological approach without considering the author background (Daiches, 1956: 348) and this theory will be the foundation of this thesis for the writer finds it hard to get neither credible nor complete information of Robert Louis Stevenson. characterization, but also applied the psychological approach. The writer considers this approach very important because the writer needs to find out how one character can have more than one personality and the writer agreed that theories on psychology of human specifically theories on identity disorders could provide the information needed. Nevertheless, considering that the object of the study is not a real human but a merely fiction novel, literature theories will also be applied to assist the psychological approach.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to have thorough analysis, the writer will only focus on the problems stated below.
1. How are the characterizations of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?
2. What are the causes of the characters’ psychologically abnormal behaviors?
3. How can the characterization be considered as a critique toward human hypocrisy?
C. Objective of the Study
The thesis is meant to present a discussion of a critique toward human hypocrisy by using duality which happens on the main characters of the novel The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The discussion is mainly to answer the
problem listed in the problem formulation above.According to the problems formulation above, there are three aims that can be obtained from this study. First, this study attempts to find out how is the main dualities happens in the main character’s personality, therefore it is a must to reveal how the characterization of Dr. Jekyll as the main character is. Secondly, the study is aimed to see how Dr. Jekyll as the main character could have such mental abnormality.
Furthermore the second problem formulation aimed to find the root of the mental abnormality shown by the main characters regarding the main characters’ psychological aspects. The first root is the chemical compounds or the drugs that Dr. Jekyll invented. The second root is the pressure from the high class society where Dr. Jekyll lives. The writer believes that those two roots are connected to each other which then form the dissociative identity disorder illness. In accordance, the writer also believes that the dissociative identity disorder presented in the novel has resemblances with Sigmund Freud’s theory of id, ego, and superego.
Finally the writer will explain how the characterization of Dr. Jekyll can be considered as Stevenson’s critique on human hypocrisy in general.
D. Definition of Terms
1. Hypocrisy According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of English
Language, hypocrisy means:
a. a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not possess.
b. a pretense of having desirable or publicly approved attention (1989:2150)
Mental illness is characterized by disturbances in a person’s thoughts, emotions, or behavior. The term mental illness can refer to a wide variety of disorders, ranging from those that cause mild distress to those that severely impair a person’s ability to function. Mental health professionals sometimes use the terms psychiatric disorder or psychopathology to refer to mental illness. (Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005).
3. Psychological Aspects According to Lester D. Crow and Alice Crow, (1956: 7) psychology is
“the study of human behavior and human interrelationship”. Moreover, in their book they explain that a person’s behavior can not only be seen from their vivid act but also from every bit of their responses to the world (surrounding environment).Therefore, psychological aspects means the aspects that have connection with psychology. It concerned with every phase of human development, behavior, and interrelationship. They can be in the form of motivation, emotions, personality, and so on.
4. Dissociative Identity Disorders / Multiple Personality According to the book entitled The Dictionary of Psychology written by
Arthur S. Reber, multiple personality is defined clearly as a relatively rare disorder in which the usual integrity of one’s personality becomes so fractionated that two (or more) relatively independent sub-personality emerge. (Reber, 1985:476)
In the broadest sense, a symbol is anything which signifies something; in this sense all words are symbols. In discussing literature, however, the term symbol is applied only to a word or a phrase that signifies an object or event which signifies something or has a range of reference. (Abrams, 1981:205)
6. Message In order to give depiction to the reader, the author has to give physical description of the characters. By giving the physical description, it means that the author gives a description of a character through physical appearance, such as how is the face, the physique, and the appearance of the character. This method will help the readers to visualize how the character’s appearance is. (Murphy, 1972:161)
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Review of Related Studies Robert Louis Stevenson received a lot of acknowledgements as well as
criticisms from the other authors at that time. These show that Stevenson’s works were well noticed and appreciated by other writers. However in this sub-topic, the writer would like to present the criticism after the publication of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The other writer’s criticisms toward the novel can be checked over in the books, for instance: a Record, an Estimate and a Memorial, written by Alexander H. Japp, and also the book that shows his biography entitled, Stevenson, written by Sir Walter A Raleigh. The writer successfully found these books not from the library but from the internet. Since Stevenson is a Scottish writer, somehow the biographies and critical studies of his works are rarely found at several libraries, therefore, the only way that the writer found is by searching over the internet.
In relation to the study, the writer would like to present a criticism from the introduction of the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Claire Harman, she says “I doubt that there are many contemporary readers of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ who can pick up the story for the first time and not already know – or think they know—what it is all about”(1996:vii). The compelling storyline of the novel is actually simple yet – if
9 Stevenson were able to deliver a story which is not only entertain but also thought provoking.
One of the homepage containing information about Stevenson’s works is
This homepage provide some books which are
written by Stevenson himself and other writers that describe him. Unfortunately, the books does not have page number, so instead of inserting the page number in the bracket of quotation, the writer will write the chapter number, the last name of the author, and the year of publication. The book which is written by Alexander H. Japp, a record an Estimate a Memorial, also criticizes on Stevenson’s The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, especially Stevenson’s philosophy of
life, dealing with the way he views the good and bad in life.But terrible thing about the Stevenson philosophy of life is that it seems to make evil over some good in the sense of absorbing it, or preventing it, or at best lowering it. When good and evil come in conflict in one person, Dr. Jekyll vanished into Mr. Hyde. (Japp,1905:10) Other Criticism also comes from Hammerton’s point of view in tackling
Stevenson’s philosophy of life. He cites that sometimes Stevenson offers the contrastive insight in his fiction and real life.
In the story, Hyde, the worse one, wins, in Stevenson himself – in his real life – Jekyll won, and not Mr. Hyde. This write, too, might have added the Master of Ballantrae also wins as well as Beau Austin and Deacon Brodie. R.L. Stevenson’s dramatic art and a good deal of his fiction, then was untrue to his life, and on one side was a lie – it was not in consonance with his own practice or belief as expresses in life. (Japp, 1905:16) Besides criticizing his philosophy of life, another writer namely Walter
Raleigh in his book Stevenson, also tackles directly this gothic work. Stevenson’s
10 Even The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and the story of the bottle IMP are manufactures bogeys, that work on the nerves and not on the heart, whatever may be said by those who insist on being allegory in what is only dream-fantasy. The supernatural must be rooted deeper than these in life and experience if it is to reach an imposing stature: the true ghost is the shadow of a man (1915:3)
The reaction of other critics toward this novel has been described in the previous paragraph. In order to criticize Stevenson’s personality and his works in general, the writer adopt one strong criticism (1914 – early 1950’s) that comes from Frank Swinnerton’s R.L. Stevenson: A Critical Study. He cites:
Stevenson was now considered outmoded: his literary greatness was questioned with changes in taste, and his bohemian persona was analyzed by new psychoanalytic biographers. His reputation did not necessarily collapse so much outside Britain. (1914:12)
Swinnerton’s opinion about Stevenson is not totally true. Stevenson’s literary works are still regarded as masterpiece even until now. His reputation did not fade in Britain or elsewhere. In contrast with Swinnerton’s opinion, Stevenson’s books are still published until the present day.
Prof. William P. Trent in his statement in says that Robert Louis Stevenson made a wonderfully successful book based on his real experience. From his statement, we can see that most of Stevenson’s books have more messages to the real life of human because they are based on real experience.
The books about Stevenson’s works after his death are, to mention some,
Edinburgh edition, The life of Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson: A
Critical Study, Stevensoniana, Bibliography of the Works of Robert Louis
11 works. For instance, Goldsmith cites in Stevenson: “To be the most beloved of English writers what a title that is for a man! The majority of Stevenson’s Literary works contain less symbol, more individuality and man-centered” (In Raleigh, 1915:4). This statement might be true. However, Stevenson as one of the greatest writers may have his own method in conveying his ideas. Personally, the writer comments that most of Stevenson’s novels can be considered as men-centered because the novels themselves are mostly adventures and thriller ones. Goldsmith criticize that Stevenson’s novels have “less symbol”. It is not totally true, from the title itself; The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde already symbolizes something. The name Jekyll could be meant as jackal (a wild dog) and the name Hyde could be meant as skin or cover.
However, from the other studies above, the writer had a different point of view in studying the literary works. The writer more concerns about the personality disorder which happened on the main character of the novel The
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to find out how and why this
personality disorder happened and to reveal the message of the personality disorder.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory on Character and Characterization Abrams has two definitions of character in his Glossary of Literary Terms.
First, it is the name of a literary genre which is usually a short and humorous prose of a distinctive type of person. Second, it refers to the person presented in a
12 being provided with moral, dispositional and emotional qualities that are expressed in what they say (the dialogue) and by what they do (the action) (1993: 23). The second definition of character is the most appropriate in discussing the definition of character in this study. To make it simpler, Kennedy and Gioia in their Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, define character as an imaginary person who inhabits a story (1999: 60).
Sometimes, it is not easy to understand character in a literary work such as short story or novel. As stated by Guth and Rico (1997: 69), in much modern fiction, the author may let the reader make their own conclusion by watching the character from outside. Other author may take the reader inside the character’s mind, let the reader overhear private thoughts and share in feeling masked to the outside world.
Murphy in his Understanding Unseens describes several ways of how the author “gives life” to their character so that the reader could have a good understanding of them (1972: 161-173): a. Personal description.
The author describes the character from the physical appearance, the clothes, the structure, the feature, etc.
b. Character as seen by other. The author describes the character from the other character point of views and opinions.
13 c.Speech.
The author gives the reader a clue of the character’s personality through the speech of the character, whenever the character talks, whenever the character in conversation with other characters.
d. Past Life. Letting the readers know and learn something about a person’s past life surely can give a clue to shape the person’s character.
e. Conversation of other. The author can also gives us clues to a person’s character through the conversation of other people and the things they say about him.
f. Reactions. The author can also give the reader a clue to a person’s character by considering the reaction of the character toward specific events. The author creates a condition which will draw the character’s personality so the reader will understand the character from his reaction.
g. Direct comment. The author describes or comments about the character directly. The author merely gives definition of the personality of the character.
h. Thoughts. The author can give the direct knowledge to the reader of what the character thought.
14 i. Mannerisms.
The author can describe a person’s mannerisms or habits in order to tell the readers something about his character.
2. Theory on Psychology
In some aspects, literature and psychology have a close relationship with each other. According to Richard A. Kalish, psychology and literature can walk simultaneously, as in the following quotation, “Writers can use the understanding provided by psychologist to enrich their stories, and psychologists can gain in their understanding of human behavior by drawing from the deep sensitivity of good authors” ( 1973: 8).
James C. Coleman in his book Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life states that even though “literature cannot provide the theoretical or practical basis for understanding and treating specific cases of abnormal behavior, but it does complement psychology in giving a different kind of understanding of such behavior” (1972: 8). Moreover, based on Derek Wright’s theory of character, taken from his book The Psychology of Moral Behavior, there are six main types of character; the amoral character, the conformist character, the authoritarian character, the collectivist character, the conscientious rule-following character, and the altruistic-autonomous character. The details are stated below.
1. The Amoral Character A character is called amoral if he says and does whatever he wants at the time without having a certain thought about it (1971:208)
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a. Premoral Infant, human start life amoral, so it is the purest example of the character. The influences of the amoral character are really bad, broken, and morally corrupt.
b. Psychopatic character, the character taking of socializing influences is not as big as others. What he takes is insufficient and defective c. Unsocialized, the character’s conflict with parents brings him to reject all humanizing influences angrily. He is insulated from others caused his own hostility towards and suspicion.
2. The Conformist Character The conformist character is a person who cannot be himself. He needs to have his faith attachment in a collective. His personality depends on his environment or his group, he becomes an unstable personal. He gives everything for himself and never share with others. His morality is the morality of the group.
If the group changes, his morality will follow his new group.
3. The Authoritarian Character The social position and the status are important for the authoritarian character which influences one’s sense of identity, security, and worth. Actions done by other which endanger the stability of social order and the hobby for pleasurable self of others are two main sources of personal threat to the authoritarian personality. The ways of thinking are conventional and conservative, which does not want other to criticize him, but he likes to look down others as inferiors. His moral belief orients to people whose status and power are higher
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4. The Collectivist Character The socializing influence of the educational polities adopted by society brings him to be a collectivist character. It is not caused by parents who abdicated their responsibility. His faith to the group is really conscious from his own desire, not because following others. His moral beliefs are determined by ideology of public rather than by group norms.
5. The Altruistic-Autonomous Character It is the most mature character of all types. Autonomy is the basic for the natural process of development. He chooses some rules for his life and adopts it free to modify with his nature experience which is followed by changes in his behavior. He is flexible and his application to this principle depends on particular situation. The character type is the combination of independence and individuality with moral sensitivity and concern for others.
3. Theory on Dissociative Identity Disorder
Several definitions of Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Identity Disorder are introduced. However, all of them have the same basic idea, which is “the existence of two or more personalities in one individual”.
In the book entitled Understanding Abnormal behavior, David, Derald and Stanley Sue propose the brief and understandable definition of Multiple Personality Disorder. They state:
Multiple Personality Disorder is a dramatic disorder in which two or more relatively independent personalities exist in one individual. Each ego state has its characteristics attitudes, perceptions, memories, associations, and behavior (1986:194).
17 Mark and Judith Vernoy define Multiple Personality or Dissociative Disorder as: A person who has two or more distinct personality systems that becomes dominant at different times. Each personality has unique memories, behaviors, and social relationships. Transition from one personality to another occurs suddenly and often associates with psychological stress (1997:506). In order to identify whether one suffers from Multiple Personality
Disorder or not, it is introduced several symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder. In the book Understanding Abnormal Behavior, written by David Sue et al., the writer adopts three symptoms of Multiple Personality Disorder namely Anxiety, Amnesia, and Affective symptoms proposed by Bliss (1986:198). However, the writer also supplies several explanations to strengthen these symptoms which come from G. Terrence Wilson who stated that an individual with dissociative identity disorder appears to have two or more distinct personality or personality state. These personalities take turns in controlling his actions; Because of this the individual with this disorder is unable to recall personal information – a memory problem which cannot be explained by mere forgetfulness (1996: 181). From this theory it can be concluded that the patient of dissociative identity disorder does not have any memory recollection of what he had done when the alter personality take control of his body. In a more appropriate psychological term this thing is called amnesia.
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4. Psychoanalytic Theory
In 1923, Freud developed a structural model for psychoanalysis that is defined by concepts of id, ego, and superego, which refer to different aspects of people functioning.
a. Id
The id represents the source of all drive energy. The energy for a person’s functioning originally sides in the life and death, or sexual and aggressive instincts, which are part of the id. In its functioning the id seeks the release of excitation, tension and energy. It operates according to pleasure principle, the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. It has qualities of a spoiled child. The id cannot tolerate frustration of inhibitions. It shows no regard for reality and can seek satisfaction through action or through imagining. It is without reason, logics, values, moral, or ethics. In sum, id is demanding, impulsive, blind, irrational, asocial, and finally, pleasure loving (2001:80)
b. Ego
The third structured conceptualized in the theory is ego. Whereas the id seeks pleasure and the superego seeks perfection, the ego seeks reality. The ego’s function is to express and satisfy the desire of the id in accordance with the reality and the demands of the superego. Whereas the id operates according to pleasure principle, the ego operates according to the reality principle: gratification of the instinct is delayed until the time when the most pleasure can be obtained with the least pain or negative consequences. According to the
19 gradually, all in accordance with the demands of reality and the conscience.
Such an operation does not contradict the pleasure principle, but rather represents a temporary suspension of it. The ego is able to separate wish from fantasy, can tolerate tension and compromise, and changes over time. Accordingly, it expresses the development of perceptual and cognitive skills, the ability to perceive more and think in more complex terms. For example, a person can begin to think in terms of the future and what is best in the long run. All these qualities are in contrast with the unrealistic, unchanging demanding qualities of the id (2001:80-81)
c. Superego
In contrast to the id is the superego, which represents the moral branch of our functioning, containing the ideals we strive for and the punishment (guilt) we expect when we have violated our ethical code. This structure functions to control behavior in accordance with the rules of our society, offering rewards (pride, self-love) for “good” behavior. The superego may function on a very primitive level, being relatively incapable of modifying its action depending on circumstances. In such cases, the person is unable to distinguish between thought and action, feeling guilty for thinking something even if it did not lead to action. Excessive use of words such as good, bad, judgment, and trial express a strict superego. But the superego can also be understanding and flexible. For example, people may be able to forgive themselves or someone else if it is clear that something was accident or done under severe stress. In the course of