TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF MPD CASE OF THE PROTAGONIST IN ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON’S THE STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE The Portrayal of Dr Jekyll ……… 12
The Portrayal of Mr Hyde ……… 17
The Cause of Dr Jekyll’s Suffering of MPD ……… 20
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS OF MPD CASE OF THE PROTAGONIST IN STEPHEN KING’S THE DARK HALF The Portrayal of Thad Beaumont ………. 23
Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson ………. 42
ABSTRACT
Dalam tesis ini, saya menganalisis penggambaran dua protagonis yang
memiliki kepribadian ganda dari novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde karya R.L. Stevenson dan novel The Dark Half karya Stephen King. Dr
Jekyll, protagonis dari The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, memiliki
kepribadian lain yang bernama Mr Hyde, sedangkan Thad Beaumont, protagonis
dari The Dark Half, memiliki kepribadian lain yang bernama George Stark.
Karakter Mr Hyde muncul karena dipicu oleh ramuan yang dibuat dan diminum
oleh Dr Jekyll sendiri, dan karakter George Stark muncul akibat dipicu oleh tumor
otak yang dideritanya. Namun ada faktor lain yang lebih penting dalam
kemunculan kepribadian ganda tersebut, yaitu faktor latar belakang keluarga dan
peranan orang tua.
Dalam menganalisis dua protagonis tersebut, saya menggunakan teori
Freud tentang id, ego, dan superego. Kepribadian lain yang muncul dari dalam diri
mereka merupakan pencerminan dari id mereka yang seharusnya berada pada
bagian paling bawah diantara ego dan superego. Namun ada hal-hal yang dapat
membuat id mereka muncul ke permukaan. Dalam kasus Dr Jekyll, karena ia
berasal dari kalangan aristokrat, ia sangat menekan idnya sehingga id sama sekali
kecilnya diisi oleh pengalaman buruk akibat ayahnya yang kasar. Superegonya
menjadi lemah dan akhirnya ia memiliki kepribadian lain, karena Freud
mengatakan bahwa untuk sehat, seseorang harus memiliki ego yang kuat agar ego
dapat menyeimbangkan superego dan id.
Sebagai kesimpulan, penyebab munculnya kepribadian lain dari dalam diri
Dr Jekyll dan Thad bukan semata-mata akibat ramuan dan tumor otak, akan tetapi,
APPENDICES
Summary of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
There is a lawyer whose name is Mr. Utterson. One day, his friend, Enfield
tells that a figure named Mr. Hyde tramples a young girl. He disappears for a
while and then come back to give her relatives with a check signed by Hyde. The
name rreminds him of one of Utterson’s clients and close friends, Dr. Jekyll, who
has written a will which says that he will transfer all his property to that name.
Mr. Utterson comes to visit Jekyll and their friend Dr. Lanyon because of
his curiosity.. Lanyon says that he never sees Jekyll again since they heve a
dispute over the Jekyll’s research. Utterson then points out a building that Hyde
visits which he later recognizes as a laboratory which is on the back of Jekyll’s
home.
In the following year, a servant witnesses Hyde beats an old man, Sir
Danvers Carew, to death. Once again he visits Jekyll, but now he claims to have
ended all relations with Hyde. He shows Utterson a note written by Hyde to
Jekyll. Utterson sees that the handwriting is similar to Dr. Jekyll’s handwriting.
For a few months, Jekyll acts friendly and sociably, but then Jekyll
suddenly begins to refuse visitors, and Lanyon dies from a shock that has a
One day, Jekyll’s butler, Mr. Poole, visits Utterson to tell him that Jekyll
has isolated himself in his laboratory for several weeks, and the voice that comes
from the room is different from Jekyll’s voice. Utterson and Poole break into
Jekyll’s laboratory and find the body of Hyde, wearing Jekyll’s clothes and he
dies of suicide. They also find a letter from Jekyll to Utterson that promises to
explain everything.
Utterson takes the letter home. At first he reads Lanyon’s letter. It reveals
that Lanyon’s death is caused by the shock of seeing Mr. Hyde take a potion and
metamorphose into Dr. Jekyll. The second letter is a testament by Jekyll. It
explains how Jekyll, seeking to separate his good side from his darker side. He
finally discoveres a way to transform himself periodically into a monster free of
conscience,Mr. Hyde.
At first, Jekyll reports, he is delighted in becoming Hyde and rejoiced in
the moral freedom that the creature has. Eventually, however, he finds that he is
turning into Hyde in his sleep, even without taking the potion. One night the urge
grips him too strong, and after the transformation he immediately rushes out and
violently kills Sir Danvers Carew. Jekyll tries harder to stop the transformations,
and for a time he proves successful. One day, however, while sitting in a park, he
suddenly turns into Hyde, the first time that a metamorphosis happens while he
was awake.
The letter continues describing Jekyll’s cry for help. Far from his
laboratory and is hunted by the police as a murderer, Hyde needs Lanyon’s help to
get his potions and become Jekyll again. But when he transforms in front of
Then Jekyll returns to his home, only to find himself even more helpless
and trapped as the transformations increased in frequency and necessitated even
larger doses of potion in order to reverse themselves. Eventually, the potion
begins to run out, and Jekyll was unable to find a key ingredient to make more.
His ability to change back from Hyde into Jekyll slowly vanishes. Jekyll writes
that even as he composes his letter he knows that he will soon become Hyde
permanently, and he wonders if Hyde will face execution for his crimes or choose
to kill himself.
Summary of The Dark Half
Thad Beaumont was still a young boy when two big things happened to
him. The first thing was he was awarded an Honorable Mention in the contest’s
Fiction category. His mother was very happy while his father only complained
because Thad did not receive money. The second thing was he occasionally had
terrible headaches which brought him to the operation room. He was diagnosed to
have a brain tumor. During surgery, it turns out that it is not a brain tumor. It was
his unborn twin which is thought to be absorbed into him and later removed from
his skull.
When Thad grows up, he becomes a writer. His own books are not really
successful, but under the pen name George Stark, he becomes a successful and
popular writer. He writes crime novels about a violent killer named Alexis
Machine. But when someone blackmails him, he “buries” George Stark publically
But then the empty grave of George Stark is found to have been dug as if
someone gone out from there. From that point on a series of violent murder
happens and Thad becomes the prime suspect as his fingerprint is found at the
murder scene.
At first, Sheriff Alan Pangborn thinks that Thad is the killer as the
fingerprints that were found in place of evidence matched with Thad’s
fingerprints. But, then he realizes that Thad’s family also is in danger. The
murderer who is believed to be George Stark threatens Thad’s family. It is quite
strange that Stark’s voices and fingerprints are identical to Thad’s.
Finally it is revealed that the murderer is Thad’s alter ego that transforms
into a new person whose appearance is similar to Thad, except his bigger body
and blonde hairs. His name is George Stark, the name of Thad’s pseudonym.
Stark is mad and takes his wife and his twin children as a hostage. But in the end
Thad is successful in killing Stark that actually was never born.
Biography of Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 13
November 1850. He was the only son of Thomas Stevenson, a prosperous
joint-engineer to the Board of Northern Lighthouses, and Margaret Balfour, daughter of
a Scottish clergyman. It was from this side of the family that he inherited his love
of adventure, joy of the sea and for the open road. His maternal grandfather,
Lewis Balfour, was a professor of moral philosophy and a minister.
Since his childhood, Stevenson suffered from tuberculosis. During his
learned to read. He produced a short historical tale at the age of sixteen. In 1867
he entered Edinburgh University to study engineering. Due to his ill health, he had
to abandon his plans to follow in his father's footsteps. Stevenson changed to law
and in 1875 he was called to the Scottish bar. By then he had already started to
write travel sketches, essays, and short stories for magazines. His first articles
were published in The Edinburgh University Magazine (1871) and The Portofolio
(1873).
Stevenson gained first fame with the romantic adventure story Treasure
Island, which appeared first serialized in Young Folks (1881-1882).
Stevenson often traveled abroad in search of more healthful climates. His
earliest works which are An Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey in
the Cevennes (1879) are descriptions of his journeys. His long journey finally
ended in Samoa, where he and his wife settled as a final effort to restore his
health.
On 3 December 1894, Stevenson died of brain hemorrhage in Samoa and was
buried on a mountaintop behind Vailima, his Samoan home.
Biography of Stephen King
Stephen King was born in 1947 in Portland, Maine. He was the second son
of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when he
was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother in Fort
Wayne, Indiana. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back
Stephen has been writing since an early age. When in school, he wrote
stories based on movies he had seen recently and sold them to his friends. At
around the age of thirteen, Stephen discovered a box of his father's old books at
his aunt's house, mainly horror and science fiction. After this, he started to love
that genre. His first published story was In a Half-World of Terror published in a
horror fanzine issued by Mike Garrett of Birmingham, Alabama.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls
High School, graduating in 1966. At the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a
weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He graduated
from the University of Maine in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to
teach on the high school level.
He married Tabitha Spruce in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to
find placement as a teacher immediately, his family lived on his earnings as a
laborer at an industrial laundry, and his selling his short stories to men's
magazines.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at
Hampden Academy. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued
to produce short stories and to work on novels.
In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co. accepted his novel Carrie for
publication. Then Stephen learned from his new editor at Doubleday, Bill
Thompson, that a major paperback sale would provide him with the means to
leave teaching and write full-time. Stephen has two pseudonyms which are
Carrie was published in the spring of 1974. In the fall of the same year, the
Kings left Maine for Boulder, Colorado. They lived there for a little less than a
year, during which Stephen wrote The Shining, set in Colorado. They returned to
Maine in the summer of 1975.
In 1977, the Kings spent three months of a projected year- long stay in
England and returned home in mid-December, purchasing a new home in Center
Lovell, Maine. After living there one summer, the Kings moved north to
Orrington, near Bangor, so that Stephen could teach creative writing at the
University of Maine at Orono. The Kings returned to Center Lovell in the spring
of 1979.
The Kings have three children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip,
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Multiple personality disorder which is also known as dissociative
identity disorder is the existence in an individual of two or more different
personalities or ego-states, and to be qualified as dissociative identity disorder
there must be at least two personalities take control of the individual's behavior
regularly (Cherry).
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), is one of the topics which is
most talked about and the center of much debate and criticism. The cases of MPD
have increased in the past two decades, but there are many professionals who are
still doubtful about whether it even exists (Cherry). The case of multiple
personality disorder has also appeared in literature for some 300 years and is still
a mystery.
In this thesis, I want to analyze MPD which occurs to the protagonists
in the two novels that I choose as I found the case of MPD is a very interesting
Psychological criticism is the most suitable approach for my thesis
since the case of MPD is a psychological case. MPD itself is a psychological
illness which is caused by psychological experiences in someone’s life. Through
this thesis, I want to analyze the protagonists in both novels who suffer from the
MPD. I use Freud theory which I will explain in the next chapter.
R.L Stevenson’s work titled The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde portrays powers of invention and depth of psychological insight. As a
novelist, Stevenson has a skill defined by G.K. Chesterton as being able ‘to pick
the right word up on the point of his pen.’ (Penguin Popular Classics 3). His style
of writing is very captivating, like what the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said that
‘Stevenson is a master of a consummate style, and each phrase is finished as in
poetry’ (Dury). The publisher Penguin Classics even said that Stevenson had
made an enormous contribution to the world of English literature with his novels,
poetry, and essays (Penguin Group (USA)).
As the comparison, I choose a contemporary American novelist,
Stephen King as he is the most productive and prominent horror writer of the 21st century. His profound influence on modern horror literature cannot be denied.
His works have been regarded as an insightful reflection of fears, anxieties, and
obsessions of the late twentieth century (enotes.com). Stephen King has written
more than forty novels and two hundred short stories. Since 1976, King has been a
nominee in many awards almost every year and often he becomes the winner of
the awards. He even becomes the recipient of Medal Distinguished Contribution
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde gives something different
compared with the other Stevenson’s works. This novel mixes psychological
aspect with science that emerged at Victorian era. It offers something new and of
course it is really interesting. Once again Penguin Classics gave their opinion
toward R.L. Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that said
‘Few Victorian mysteries are more haunting, sinister and profound than Dr Jekyll
and Mr Hyde’. (Penguin Popular Classics 100). This novel also has been made
into films with many versions (Dury).
The Dark Half, from many mystery novels written by Stephen King, is
the only one which tells about psychological matter that has always been debated
in decades, multiple personality disorder. This novel mixes mystery,
psychological aspect, and also medical science. Flint Journal said the novel as ‘A
knockout thriller…brilliant, compelling…grips you by the throat.’ And New York
Times Book Review said it as ‘A chiller.’ (Signet 2).
Both novels which I want to analyze have a case of MPD. There are
similarities in the novels. First, both of the protagonists in the novels, which are
Dr. Jekyll and Thad Beaumont, have double personality in one body. Dr. Jekyll
has Mr. Hyde and Thad Beaumont has George Stark. The second similarity is that
their alter egos are evil, compared to their conscious personalities.
There are also differences in both novels. The first difference is the
protagonist of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Jekyll is aware
that he has another unconscious personality in him and it also appears because he
wants it. He wants to separate the bad side of him from the good side. So, the alter
different with the case in the novel The Dark Half. The protagonist in the novel,
Thad Beaumont, at first does not know that he has another personality. The alter
ego of him comes out accidentally. Second, the causes of their multiple
personality disorder are different. While the cause on the surface of the existence
of Mr. Hyde is a potion which is made by Dr. Jekyll to separate the bad side of
him, the cause of the emergence of George Stark is the tumor which is believed as
his unborn twin brother. The last difference is the setting of time; The Strange
Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is in 19th century, while the setting of time in The Dark Half is in 20th century.
In this thesis, I want to prove that the causes of MPD in both the
novels are not simply the potion which was drunk by Dr. Jekyll or the brain
tumor, which is considered to be his unborn twin, in Thad’s head. I will propose
to analyze the cause of MPD case experienced by the two protagonists. According
to the psychological theory of MPD, the background of life, including the
psychological experience, plays important part in revealing the cause of MPD
case.
Statement of the Problem
1. How do the authors portray the protagonists who suffer from MPD in
these novels?
2. What are the causes of MPD suffered by the protagonists seen from
Purpose of the Study
1. To show how the authors portray the protagonists who suffer from MPD in
these novels.
2. To show what the causes of MPD suffered by the protagonists seen from
Freud’s Theory of Mind.
Method of Research
In this major thesis, I use library and internet research. I use
psychological approach by Freud’s Theory of Mind: Topographical Models of
Personality and Structural Model of Mind. First, I read Stevenson’s The Strange
Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and as the comparison I also read King’s The
Dark Half. After reading both novels, I choose the most suitable approach to
analyze the MPD case in them which is psychological approach. Then, I choose
Freud’s Theory of Mind as I find it can explain the cause of MPD case from the
psychological perspective. I search the theory of Freud and MPD through internet
and by reading other sources. Then I make the conclusion.
The Organization of the Thesis
My major thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one is the
Introduction which contains Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem,
Purpose of the Study, Methods of Research and Organization of the Thesis.
Chapter two is Theoretical Background. Chapter three is the Analysis of MPD
of MPD Case in The Dark Half. Chapter five consists of the Conclusion of the
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION
MPD is the existence in an individual of two or more personalities. MPD
itself is still a mystery since many professionals are doubtful whether MPD really
exists or not. The case of MPD in literature has appeared since 300 years ago, and
both novels which I have analyzed are included in the literature which involves
MPD cases.
After reading and analyzing the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and
Mr Hyde and The Dark Half, I find that both protagonists suffer from MPD and
the causes of their MPD are not merely the potion that Dr Jekyll drank and the
brain tumor which Thad has. The role of their parents in shaping their superego is
also one of the causes and even the most important aspect that causes them to
suffer from MPD. According to Freud, in order to be a healthy person, one should
have strong ego so as to make a balance between superego and id. Superego and
id cannot be too strong or too weak because it can result in an imbalance between
them.
In the case of Dr Jekyll and Thad Beaumont, the problem is lies in their
superego. Dr Jekyll’s superego is dominant and his superego is the strongest
his family background. Dr Jekyll comes from an aristocratic family that holds
firmly on the moral, norms, and rules. His parents teach him moral, norms and
rules and moreover, as an aristocrat, he is bound to behave strictly according to
them. His superego develops so well that it becomes dominant. Freud says that if
the superego becomes too strong, the person would be driven by rigid morals and
that is what happens to Dr Jekyll. Dr Jekyll behaves in accordance with the moral,
norms and rules that are valid in the society where he lives. He unconsciously
ignores his id which is his own basic instinct and he always represses his id. His
superego and id are imbalanced and as the result, he suffers from MPD which is
one of the forms of neurosis.
Thad Beaumont, on the other hand, has a weak superego. It is because he
has an unhappy childhood. His father is a drunkard and does not love nor care
about him. As a father who is supposed to be a leader and teach his child moral
values, he only acts as an irresponsible man. He does not contribute anything to
his child’s superego’s shaping. Thad’s mother, although she loves and cares about
him, cannot do anything to defend Thad as she is afraid of his father. When she is
supposed to defend Thad and she does not, it makes Thad confused about his
belief of right and wrong. Freud says that superego consists of two subsystems
which are the ego ideal and conscience. Children develop their ego ideal through
rewards from their parents when they do something good, while conscience
develops through parental punishment when the children do something bad. Thad
does not receive any rewards from his father when he does something good. In
causes an imbalance in his superego, ego and id. Similar to Dr Jekyll’s case, Thad
also suffers from MPD that is a form of neurosis.
In the novel, it is believed that the cause of Dr Jekyll’s duality is a potion
that he makes to split his bad side and good side while the cause of Thad’s duality
is his brain tumor which is considered to be his unborn twin and later transforms
into a new character named George Stark. I think the potion that is made and
drunk by Dr Jekyll is just a trigger and it opens a door for his id to surface into
consciousness. The same with the potion, the brain tumor in Thad’s head is also a
trigger for his id to come out. George Stark is not his unborn twin as their
fingerprints and voiceprints are the same. It is said that even identical twins do not
have the same fingerprints and voiceprints. So, the potion and the brain tumor is
just triggers and the real cause is their family background.
Although the characteristics of Dr Jekyll and Thad Beaumont are different,
their alter egos have quite similar characteristics. They are portrayed as cruel men
who kill people violently, they are rude and egocentric. Their behaviors are driven
by their id which Freud refers as the psyche that does not take social norms into
account when thinking or acting. According to Freud, the id is actually the biggest
part of the psyche of human mind. So, although id is stored in the lower part of
human mind and most of the time is repressed because it is often times against the
morality, the id still can go to the surface and becomes dominant in one’s
alter-ego characteristics.
The authors have their own perception about the superego and the id in
human minds. They can be seen from the way the authors create the physical
and positive psyche in the human mind as he portrays Dr Jekyll as a man with
perfect physical appearance. Stevenson also sees superego as a part of human
mind which satisfies what the society think good because whether he is handsome
or not is in accordance to what the society think. It is the society who evaluates
which physical appearance is good while others are bad, and they also judge upon
these subjectively.
Stevenson sees id as the bad part of human mind as he portrays Mr Hyde
as a man with an ugly and devilish face, he is also portrayed as a short and small
man and has unpleasant aura. But Stevenson also portrays Mr Hyde to be much
smaller, slighter and younger than Dr Jekyll which shows that Stevenson finds the
positive part of id which is freedom. Being smaller, slighter and younger gives me
impression of freedom and agility.
Different with Stevenson, Stephen King sees the positive part of the id. He
portrays Stark to have blonde hair and tanned skin which is more attractive than
Thad. I assume that King views the id as the more interesting part of human mind.
He also portrays Stark to have broad shoulder and bigger body than Thad which
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