爱伦·坡作品中的女性情结分析_英语论文

Analysis of the Female Complex in Allan Poe’s Works

摘要

爱伦·坡是美国文学史中独树一帜的人物，他凭借自己出色的才能，在小说与诗歌中塑造了众多令人难忘的女性形象。她们或美若天仙、或善良无私，或博学多才，但最终都在风华正茂之年香消玉殒，命运十分不幸。由此可见爱伦·坡复杂的女性情结。一方面，他对女性怀有深厚的感情，珍惜彼此的情谊，不舍她们的离去，在作品中塑造的大量女性角色都与其生活中的女性尤为相似；另一方面，他深受父系社会根深蒂固的影响，认为男子是社会和家庭的核心，把女性视为“他者”，其笔下几乎所有的女性角色都在出场没多久便去世了。

根据弗洛伊德的理论，爱伦·坡这种复杂的女性情结很大程度上是俄狄浦斯情结与精神创伤影响下的双重产物。俄狄浦斯情结表现为孩子对母亲的不正常依恋，每个人都会伴随这种情结长大，而母爱的缺失会让其将母亲的形象理想化, 并把这种形象投射到他人身上, 使母亲的形象得以重生和延续。爱伦坡自幼失母，他作品中完美的女性形象无疑是弥补母爱缺失的表现。精神创伤指因生活中较为严重的伤害事件所引起的心理上的不正常状态。精神创伤者往往会不断重复回忆某种经历；受过精神创伤的作家，常采用第一人称的交流模式，不但因为读者可以同他们自己的经历相连，而且能让读者对他所受到的伤害有更深刻的理解，以此来缓解修复内心的创伤。爱伦·坡在他的作品中娴熟运用第一人称反复多次描写女性的死亡，正是契合了精神创伤者受其创伤影响的表现。本文通过观察爱伦·坡作品中的女性人物形象，以及挖掘形成这些女性形象的原因，力争从客观真实的角度审视爱伦·坡的女性情节。

关键词：爱伦·坡；女性情结；原因分析

Abstract

The representative writer in the history of American literature, Allan Poe, has created tons of impressive female roles in his poems and short stories. They are described as seraphic, or warmhearted, or intelligent while all leave the world at a young age. By this token, the female complex of Poe is complicated. For one thing, he is affectionate to them and was loath to part with them so that he created massive female characters resemble his beloved women in the real life; for another thing, as a follower of the patriarchy system, he believed that males were in the dominant place in the society and regarded females as “the other”, followed by the consequence that almost all the female characters in his works ended in death.

 In accordance to Freud’s theory, the complicated female complex of Poe is mainly resulted from both the Oedipus complex and the impact of trauma. The Oedipus complex manifests as an abnormal affection to mother. However, the absence of maternal love can lead to one’s idealization in the image of mother. In Poe’s works, the perfect images of female characters are exactly his attempt to compensate for the lack of maternal love. Trauma refers to a disordered psychological state caused by harmful events in one’s life. The aftermath is that one may recall those miserable memories over and over again. Additionally, authors of trauma literature prefer using the first person to communicate with their readers. This technique of expression not only encourages readers to resonate but also render them learn his pains so as to release his sufferings. In Poe’s works, such impact of trauma is well presented by the repeated presentation of the death of female characters in the first person. This thesis, centering in the female characters in Allan Poe’s works and the reasons of their formation, attempts to explore the female complex of Poe from an objective and accurate perspective.

Key words: Allan Poe; female complex; analysis

Contents

Introduction 1

1. Major Females in Poe’s Life 2

1.1 Childhood 2

1.2 Adulthood 3

2. Female Characters in Poe's Works 5

2.1 Beauty, Kindness and Wisdom 5

2.2 Early Death 6

3. Impacts on Poe's Female Complex 7

3.1 Family 7

3.2 Society 8

3.3 Psychology 9

3.3.1 Oedipus Complex 10

3.3.2 Trauma 11

Conclusion 12

References 14