THE PSYCHOANALITIC CRITICISM TOWARDS

INDIVIDUALISM IN ERA OF ROMANTICISM AS

REFLECTED IN TESS OF THE DURBERVILLES

Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for Proposal Writing in English Literature

Naila Mahardhika
082080042

COLLEGE OF LANGUAGES
ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT
SULTAN AGUNG ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
SEMARANG
2012

CHAPTER IV
Discussion and Analysis

1. What are psychoanalitic criticism aspects from the main character

experiences in her life towards romanticism era?

In this part, the data are analyzed to solve the problems of the study in
the introduction. The problem to be analysis about psychoanalytic aspects in Tess
of DUrbervilles. In the era of romanticism, psychoanalytic aspects serve as
learning about the human personality. Personality is part of psychoanalytic
aspects that people always need necessities in their lives. Psychoanalytic almost
have identical with the figure of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939).
Sigmund Freud developed a dynamic life sciences. Dynamic psychology
is the study of psychology as well as changes in the energy exchange in
personality. He also believed that different driving forces develop during these
stages which play an important role in how we interact with the world. Freud
suggested three specific personality structures that are Id, Ego, and Superego.
Id is a personal desire, someone who is irrational, usually guided by
pleasure and effort to satisfy this need. Id function is to fulfill the principle of
genuine life or the first, called the pleasure principle. The purpose of the pleasure
principle is to reduce the tension. Tension is felt as pain. The purpose of the
pleasure principle can be said to consist of efforts to prevent and find pleasure.
According to Atkinson ( 1953 : 272-273), the id also represents biological
process and constant in the personality as it always present and id is governed by
pleasurable principle, or the notion of hedonism, the seeking pleasure. Id is

one of personal needs for the main character in this novel. Tess of the
D'Urbervilles is a novel that contains a woman who is looking for true love story
in finding love and life.
The statements and utterances below are the parts of Tess of The
DUrbervilles novel which describes the Id as a pleasurable principle. Tess
always wished she was loved by Alec D'Urbervilles even though she does not
love him. The prove can be showed in chapter XII page 93 in which Tess says.
You dont give me your mouth and kiss me back. You never
willingly do that-youll never love me, I fear.
I have said so, often. It is true. I have really and truly loved
you, and I never can She added mournfully.
Perhaps, of all things, a lie on this thing would do the most
good to me now; but I have honour enough left, little as tis,
not to tell that lie. If I did love you I may have the best
ocauses for letting you know it. But I dont. (chapter XII,
page 93)
The statement above describes how Tess was expecting once loved him
sincerely, though she comes from a family that is not noble. She is always asking
for proof that she loved someone. This is an id within her how she needs a real
love even though it is an irrational desire. Desires that cannot be directly she got
from a man. According Hartono ( 2003 : 3) Id work based on a very primitive
principle, so it is chaotic (chaos, without rules), does not know moral, does not
know feeling of right or wrong. The prove can be showed in chapter XII page 114
in which Tess and Alec dialogue.
Ah..thats another matter ,he said
Another matter ...why?
Well I would willingly do so if only we two were
concerned. But I must not for certain reasons.
Just for once, Sir!
Really I must do.
O sir! She seized his hand as she spoke.
He withdrew it, shaking his head.
Then I dont like you! she burst out, and Ill never come
to your church no more! ( chapter XII page 114)

Id contained in the above statement that she was angry because a pastor
is not willing to baptize her son. But she wanted her son to be baptized. In fact
she knew that was not allowed to baptize their own children but she still doing it
for the love of Sorrow, so this rises to the superego inside her. Finally she was
baptizing her own. In addition, according to Bem ( 1953:470), the id has two
basic instincs, the life and the death instinct. Someone who has purpose and
spirit in his or her life would be controlled by life instincts; otherwise someone
who does not have purposes ad spirit in her life would be controlled by death
instinct. Life instinct can lead someone to commit accept the reality of the matter
and live a life with a new sheet. It can be analyzed that the id of such person is
controlled by life instinct. The prove can be showed in chapter XV page 118 in
which narration about Tess.
..........On one point she was resolved: there should be no
more durberville air-castles in the dreams and deeds of her
new life. She would be the dairymaid Tess, and nothing
more. Her mother knew Tesss feeling on this point so well,
though no words had passed between them on the subject,
that she never alluded to the knightly ancestry now (Chapter
XV page 118)
The statements above her desire to move on, even though she has a dark
past. But she did not want to stay in the same place with her past. Finally she
continues lives to move somewhere else where no one knows, and to know about
her.
Secondly, the ego is a system of human beings to face the pressure of
excessive anxiety. According to Freud, the ego develops from the id and ensures
that the impulse of the id can be expressed in a way that is acceptable in the real
world. Ego functions in the conscious mind, the preconscious and unconscious.
The ego refers especially to the element of the human mind that represents the
conscious processes concern with reality ( Atkinson, 1953: 345). Then ego
contained in this novel, when she lost Sorrow, her son, she tried to run away from

excessive grief by moving to Blackmoor from Marlot as s dairymaids. The prove

can be showed in chapter XVI page 121-122 in which narration the author.
.................between two and three years after the return from
Trantridge,silent reconstructive years for Tess Duerberfield,
she left her home for the second time ( page 121)......Tess
didnot stop at Weatherbury, after this long drive, further than
to make slight nondescript meal at noon at cottage to which
the farmer remommended her......It was intrinsically different
from the Vale of Little dairies, Blackmoor Vale, she had
exclusively known till now............( page 122)
Dialogue above provides an understanding, that she found herself
wanted to get out of her native, but after she walked from one place to another
she not realize that she was in Blackmoor vale. Finally she decided to stay there
as a Dairyman.
Hartono (2003: 345) said the ego is an aspect of personality that can
define between imagination and reality and it can bear the tension of a situation
for certain limitation. Ego forced to take extreme measures to eliminate the
pressure. Ego in self of Tess decides to run away and meet Angel. The prove can
be showed in chapter LVII page 448 in which Tess says.
Angelshe said, as if waiting for this,do you know what I
have been running after you for? To tell you that I have
killed him!(chapter LVII, page 448)
Statement at the above recognition of Tess about what she has done in
order to meet with Angel again. She turned back to the behavior that they once
experienced. It is in the ego defense mechanism called regression. She also
created a plausible excuse that she did with Alec is true but she's never denied if
she had killed Alec.
Thirdly, Superego is the moral part of the human personality, usually the
value of good-bad, right wrong done by humans. According Wayne ( 1986: 475),
superego is the moral component of personality that incorporates social

standards about what represents right and wrong. In this novel, she is described
Superego in several phases. As the sentences below.
Then will you give him a Christian burial?she asked quikly
Ah thats another matterhe said
Another matter?why?asked Tess, rather warmly.
Well, I would willingly do so if only we two were
concerned.But I must not, for certain reasons.
Just for once, sir!
Really I must not.
O sir!She seized his hand as she spoke Then I dont like
you!and Ill never come to your church no more! (chapter
XIV page 114)
Dialogue in above, shows that she was angry with the pastor at the
church where she lived, because the pastor is not willing to baptize her son,
Sorrow. She eventually decided not to go to church again and baptized her son
with her own hands. It is actually not justified in Christian, because the only
person allowed baptizing people are religious leaders. She actually knew it was
wrong but she did it anyway because she did not want to if her son was not
baptized. This is one of the superegos within her that she knew but she chose to
do the wrong thing. Other evidence also contained in chapter LVI page 443-444,
as shown below.
And then my dear, dear husband came home to me...and I
did not know it!And you had used your cruel persuasion
upon me...you did not stop using it, no you did not stop!My
little sisters and brothers and my mothers needs..they were
the things you moved me by..........(chapter LVI, page 443 ).
She continued:And he is dying, he looks as if he is
dying!...And my sin will kill him and not kill me!...O, you
have torn my life all to pieces......( chapter LVI, page 444 ).
In the statement explains that Tess is very upset about what has been said
by Alec. Tess felt lied to and she is really frustrating. Alec has finally hatred
cannot be buried again and she kills Alec with a knife. This suggests that other
side of her personality that is difficult to predict and she decided to do something

bad. She could not think about consequences of her actions, because her superego
to do bad more dominant than logic.
The superego is hand who judges the ego, superego is the highest in
human beings. According Koeswara ( 2003: 4), superego is a personality system
that contains the values and rules that it is avaluative. Superego according to
something that must be approved by the environment and will obey the rules of
society that aims to improve the moral values of an individual or the environment.
Other evidence also contained in chapter V page 38, as shown below.
Id rather try to get work, she murmured
Durbeyfield, you can settle it, said his wife, turning to
where he sat in the background. If you say she ought to go,
she will go.
I dont like my children going and making themselves
beholden to strange kin,murmured he. Im the head of the
noblest branch o the family, and I ought to live up to it.
Well, as I killed the horse, mother,she said mournfully,I
suppose I ought to do something. I dont mind going and
seeing her, but you must leave it to me about asking for help.
And dont go thinking about her making a match for me. It
is silly.
Very well said, Tess! observed her father sensentiously.
Who said I had such a thought?asked Joan.
I fancy it is in your mind, mother. But Ill go.
(chapter V page 38)
Dialogue of the three figures above between Tess mother, Joan, Tess
father, John and Tess. In the dialogue Joan asks her, to visit family D'Urbervilles
and claimed as their family has been lost, although Tess initially objected but she
still did what was ordered by her mother. She always complies with all the things
that are commanded parents and the rules of society. Tess is an innocent girl, who
never break the rules whether the rules of society or family.
In addition, interaction between the id, ego and superego can be
understood more clearly from the examples above dialog. Sometimes the id wins

against the superego but sometimes the superego and the id in the same situation,
because each one of them trying to use the ego for its own purpose. There is also
an imbalance between the id, ego and superego is usually caused by an unstable
life can be seen when the superego is controlled by the id. This imbalance can
cause them to fall and then being someone who has a different personality in their
lives.
2. How does the main character do as reaction towards the existence
of individualism in era of romanticism?

In romanticism era individualism are dominated and existed in life.

Individualism is a social psychological term that refers to the ways in which
people identify themselves and focus their goals. Identity and Individuality are
ones personal identity is what a particular person or their social group sees as
their distinguishing characteristics, roles and values. Individuality includes
particularly unique personal traits or style.
According to Allport (1971) personality is a dynamic organization of
psychophysical systems that participate in determining their unique individual
ways or specific to adapt to their environment. Because each personality is
unique, it is very difficult to make a general description of the personality. What
we can do is try to know someone by knowing his personality structure. This
personality structure can be known through examination of the history of life,
ideals, and issues that are faced by someone.
Some reactions of people in tackling problem sometimes have different
ways. It is also happening within her how she should react in individual

communities in the era of romanticism. The statements and utterances below are
the parts of Tess of The DUrbervilles novel which describes reaction towards the
existence of individualism in era of romanticism. The prove can be showed in
chapter IV page 27 in which Tess says.
She is rich, and shed be sure to take notice o the maid,
continued Mrs. Durbeyfield; and twill be a very good thing.
I dont see why two branches o one family should not be on
visiting terms.(chapter IV, page 27)
On the statement mean that the attitude of the individual has shown Mr.
D'Urbervilles that they are from wealthy and powerful families surrounded by the
social environment of certain people making them do not even want to admit their
family even though from a different clan. Attitude makes her feel confused and
cannot do anything; she could only be a servant of the D'Urbervilles family that
she and her family recognized as the D'Urbervilles family too.
The oppressive sense of the harm she had done led Tess to
be more deferential than she might otherwise have been to
the maternal wish; but she could not understand why her
mother should find such satisfaction in contemplating an
enterprise of, to her, such doubtfull profit. Her mother might
have made inquiries, and have discovered that this Mrs.
DUrberville wasa lady of unequalled virtues and charity.
But Tesss pride made the part of poor relation one of
particular distaste to her.(chapter V, page 37)
According to Blos (1967) concept of the second individuation process
of adolescence takes this notion into the realm of identity formation, but he is
still referring to a largely psychological struggle with parental introjects, rather
than a social challenge with cultural imperatives. The prove can be showed in
chapter IV page 27 in which narrator says.
Almost at a leap thus changed from simple girl to complex
woman. Symbol of reflectiveness passed into her face and a
note of tragedy at times into her voice.Her eyes grew larger
and more eloquent. She become what would have been

called a fine creature; her aspect was fair and arresting; her
soul that of a woman whom the turbulent experiences of the
last year or two had quite failed to demoralize. But for the
worlds opinion those experiences would have been simply a
liberal education ( chapter XV page 117)
The change in her personality because as a teenager she had become the
victim of rape by Alec D'urberville, until she gave birth but the child Sorrow
cannot survive and died. People in Marlot cannot accept her situation. Finally she
decided to move and start a new life. This situation resulted from the
individualism in the era of romanticism in which she did it all except for herself
but also for the love of the parents.
Individuals always sacrifice one's freedom, freedom as men in general to
do whatever they want. Locke, John (2007:30) An individual, by this light, is not
the absolutely free entity of the state of nature and the state of war; the individual
has compromised freedom for rights. The prove can be showed in chapter XXXV
page 268 in dialogue between Tess and Angel says.
In the name of love, forgive me!she whispered with dry
mouth.I have forgiven you for the same! And, as he didi
not answer, she said again...
Forgive me as you are forgiven! I forgive you, Angel !
You..yes, you do.
But you do not forgive me?
O Tess, forgiveness does not apply to the case! You were
one person; now you are another. My God , how can
forgiveness meet such a grotesque...prestidigitation as
that!(chapter XXXV page 268)
She felt cornered Angel attitude who will not accept her anymore, since
she told about her past. She sincerely apologized because she loves Angel. But
Angel cannot accept an apology from her. This suggests that Tess does not react
as usual because here she begged to be forgiven as Angel when she forgave Angel

before. She asked her rights as demand Angel to marry her, and she had
considered telling her parents.
I have done it, I dont know how, she continued. Still I
owed it to you, and to myself, Angel. I feared long ago, when
I struck him on the mouth with my glove, that I might do it
some day for the trap he set for me in my simple youth, and
his wrong to you through me. He has come between us and
ruined us, and now he can never do it any more. I never
loved him at all, Angel, as I loved you. You know it, dont
you? You believe it?You didnt come back to me, and ?I was
obliged to go back to him (chapter LVII, page 448)
This statement contains a profound meaning for Tess because she had to
accept Angel's decision not to consummate the marriage. That is because Angel
could not accept her past that had been raped and had a child. Yet on the other
hand she is willing to forgive all past Angel. It becomes something that is not fair
to her, she tried to continue to convince Angel how much she loved him more
than anything. But whatever is said Tess cannot be accepted by Angel. His
individual attitudes formed from his family made he unable to forgive her.