CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Literature
The world literature is frequently used in very general sense of the work to
refer the whole body of writing in a culture regardless of his purpose. In this sense
both informative writing, such as books on history or geography and imaginative
writing belong to the realm of the literature.
Literature sprang up from the imaginative mind of people who have the talent
to create the stories, they created it from their experience in their life, and they made
it become a literary work as a reflection of a real life, we can see all social problems
in the real life through the literary work.
One genre of literary work is the novel. Novel present as a documentary
picture of life. Alongside the fact, that the novel look at people in society. In fact, the
people in the novel, was the character even it major or minor character, protagonist
and antagonist character. A lot of novel have and use to look for the young people as
the main character in a story, because as a young man, the people felt that they could
to be most to face odds as usually and character in novel dominated by people. The
writer thought that novel also as a mirror of our life, because the entire story in the
novel took from the real life of human by the professional authors or a people who
2.2 Character
The people in the novel are referred as a character, character in novels have
been specially created by authors. When authors create characters, they select some
aspect of ordinary people, develop some of those aspects whilst playing down others,
and put them together as they please. The result is not an ordinary person but a
fictional character that only exists in the words of novel.
In some novel there are characters that are known from the inside and the
outside but who, nevertheless, are not as rich, varied or original. They are characters
who have a much more limited life. Their authors have given them a few
characteristics, but they do not develop or change very much, and consequently they
rarely surprise the reader.
Character is very important in real-made creation of literary works such as
novel, drama or even some of poems. The nature of character presentation brings a
positive impact for readers to find out what is going on and what it is for. Since, the
character mirrors quality of person. It can be traced to generalize opinion for man in
general.
2.2.1 Types of Character
The British novelist and critic E.M. Forster in his critical work aspect of the
novel, calls the two major types “round” and “flat”.
Round Characters
The round character usually the major figure in a story profit from experience
actions (2) the realization of new strength and therefore the affirmation previous
decision, (3) the acceptance of a new condition, or (4) the discovery of unrecognized
truths.
Because round they usually play a major role in a story, round characters are
often called the hero or heroin. Many major characters are anything but heroic,
however, and it is therefore preferable to use the more neutral word protagonist, and
exhibits the ability to adapt to new circumstance. To the degree that round, characters
are both individual and sometimes unpredictable, and because they undergo changer
or growth, they are dynamic. The round characters also known as the major character
because they play a major role in a story of novel.
Flat Characters
In contrast, flat character does not grow. They remain the same because they
may be stupid, incentive, or lacking in knowledge or insight. They are static because
they end where they begin. However, flat characters are not therefore worthless, for
they usually highlight the development of the round characters. Usually, flat
characters are minor (e,g. Relatives, acquaintances, functionaries), although not
all-minor character is necessary flat.
Sometime flat character are prominent in certain types of literature, such
cowboy, police, and detective story, where the focus is less on character than on
performance. These kinds of character might be lively and engaging, even though
they do not develop or change. They must be strong and clever enough to perform
recurring tasks like solving a crime, overcoming a villain, or finding a treasure. The
stock characters have many common traits, they are reprehensive of their class, or
group.
Type of character according to Plato based on Psychology;
1. Make sense
2. Wish or desire
3. Natural appetite
Ewald give the limitation characters as the totalities from the conditions and
how the psyche toward the stimulus.
Theoretically, he makes it different namely:
1. Character since new born
Character since newborn (Angeborener character, genotypes character,
namely aspect), which represent the basic of the character, and genotypes character is
very tight the relation with psychologies condition, namely, the qualities of centre of
nerve structure.
2. Character that we get
The character which had received (Erworbener Character, phenotypes
character), namely the character which have influenced by the environments,
experience and education. From the explanation of the character, which related with
personality or character in psychology, we have known that character not only acted
2.3 The Characteristics of Victorian Novel
Since the novel that will be analyzed is from Victorian era, it should be better
if we know the characteristic of the Victorian era novel. There is a web site
addressed in
that the literature of the Victorian age entered in a new period after the romantic
revival. The literature of this era expressed the fusion of pure romance to gross
realism. Though, the Victorian Age produced two great poets Tennyson and
Browning, the age is also remarkable for the excellence of its prose.
The discoveries of science have particular effects upon the literature of the
age. If you study all the great writers of this period, you will mark four general
characteristics:
1. Literature of this age tends to come closer to daily life which reflects its
practical problems and interests. It becomes a powerful instrument for human
progress.
2. Moral Purpose: The Victorian literature seems to deviate from "art for art's
sake" and asserts its moral purpose. Tennyson, Browning, Carlyle, Ruskin -
all were the teachers of England with the faith in their moral message to
instruct the world.
3. Idealism: It is often considered as an age of doubt and pessimism. The
influence of science is felt here. The whole age seems to be caught in the
4. Though, the age is characterized as practical and materialistic, most of the
writers exalt a purely ideal life. It is an idealistic age where the great ideals
like truth, justice, love, brotherhood are emphasized by poets, essayists and
novelists of the age.
2.4 Description of Sigmund Freud’s Theory Personality
The psychoanalytic to personality was created and articulated by Sigmund
Freud (1856-1939) and elaborated by others. Freud’s was the first major theory of
psychological development; he attempted not only to account for the origins of traits
and other behavior but also to provide a complete explanation of psychological
functioning. This approach actually had its beginnings as a theory of mental illness
based on Freud’s analysis of his patient’s cases.
Freud conceptualized the mind or the psyche, as consisting of their levels of
consciousness: the conscious, the preconscious, and the unconscious. The conscious
mind consists of what we are aware of any time. Consciousness however is only the
tip of the iceberg to use Freud metaphor. Freud described cognitive functioning as
taking place beneath the surface of consciousness. The preconscious consist of the
part of the mind which people are not aware but which can be brought to
consciousness without much effort-for example, if they are asked what they did to
summers ago. The unconscious embodies the part of the mind that cannot be brought
directly to consciousness. Within the unconscious lie the basic instinct and drivers,
particularly those that motivate aggression and sex. Freud conceptualized the psyche
as having a fixed amount of psychic energy, the dynamic source of all motivation,
the id, the ego, and super ego. While the id is unconscious, the ego, and superego
span all three levels of awareness.
The id: The original reservoir of psychic energy and is present from birth. Aggressive, sexual, and other impulses from the id always demand immediate
gratification. Thus, the id is said to operate on the pleasure principle, continually
pressing for the immediate discharge of any bodily tension. One want the id reduces
tension is to created an image of what it wants. This image, which cannot be
distinguished from reality, is known as wish fulfillment, but wish fulfilling mental
image themselves cannot reduce tension. After all, hungry people cannot eat images.
The failure of the id to deal with reality opens the way for the ego.
The ego: The ego comes into existence to deal with the objective, outside world and to satisfy the id’s wishes and instinctive demands. For example, it seeks
food when the id calls for appeasement of hunger drivers. The ego eventually
becomes capable of self-reflection and disserves the name Freud gave it: ego, or self.
Until self-reflection occurs there is no “I” but only a mass of undifferentiated
strivings. The ego obeys the reality principle in contrast to the id’s pleasure principle.
The reality principle, because it has to deal with the objective, “real” world, aims to
suspend the pleasure principle until satisfaction-food in this example is found. The
ego is thus the executive personality. It controls actions and chooses outcomes. A
person with a week ago may be dominated by the wish fulfilling fantasies of the id
and fail to deal effectively with objective reality, spending instead a disproportionate
amount of time in fantasy and daydreaming.
The ego ideal’s primary interest pertains to what I sight and virtuous. It holds up an
image of ideals behavior and perfection and says “yes” to morality dood thing.
Conscience, on the other hand, watches primarily over what is bad. It says “no” to
wishes that are morally wrong. Indeed, it attempts to censor impulses from the id and
prevent them entering the consciousness of the ego.
According to Freud, we are born with our id. The id is an important part of
our personality because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met. Freud
believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. In other words, the id wants
whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the reality of the child
cries. When the child needs to be changed, the id cries.
2.5 The Conflict between Ego and Id
Internal conflict between Ego and Id is cause by a person trying to disown his
or her dark side or Id which is the aspect of ourselves that we have repressed or
rejected because we have come to believe that it is unacceptable to those around us.
In order for us to adapt to and become part of society, we each must create an
ego. Ego development depends on our repressing what is wrong or bad in us, while
we identify with what is perceived and reinforced as good by our parents, siblings,
caretakers, and other important sources of love and support. This helps us to
eliminate the anxiety caused by our fear of our parents’ rejection and to gain the
approval of those we care most about. This process of growing an ego continues
throughout the first half of life and is modified by external influences and
The Id as the dark side, is a natural by-product of the ego building process.
Because of the necessarily one-sided nature of ego development, the neglected,
rejected, and unacceptable qualities in a person accumulate in the unconscious
psyche and take form as an inferior personality—the personal Shadow. This
disowned part of the self eventually becomes a mirror image of the ego. We disown
that which does not fit into our developing picture of who we are, thus creating a Id.
What is disowned, however, does not go away. It lives on within each
person—out of sight, out of mind, but nevertheless real—an unconscious alter ego
hiding just below the threshold of awareness. Those who feel they had to disown or
repress many aspects of themselves in order to be accepted by their parents or society
in general will have very large Id.
Ego and Id are therefore in an age-old battle, well known in mythology and
literature—opposing twins or brothers, one good, the other evil—symbolic
representations of the ego and alter ego in psychological development. Taken
together, these twins, or opposites, form a whole. In the same way, when the ego
assimilates the disowned self, a person moves toward wholeness.
Furthermore, the id and ego balance also influence by internal conflict of self.
The most common conflict, experienced by most people at some time in their lives,
is the conflict between the public self and the private self. The public self is the
persona we show to the world—the social self. The social self is the side that is
concerned with how others perceive us, what impression we make on others, what
others think of us. The private self includes our innermost thoughts and feelings, our
personal opinion of ourselves, our beliefs about ourselves, and our self-talk.
Oftentimes, our private and public selves are at odds with each other. We exhibit one
may feel good about ourselves when we are alone with our own thoughts and
feelings but feel insecure and even critical of ourselves when we are with other
people. The reverse can also be true—we can appear self-confident when we are in
public but privately agonize over our self-worth when we are alone with ourselves.
We all have a public self—which we portray to others in order to look good
or to meet their expectations. Yet some people create a public self that is so radically
different from their private or real self that those who know them only superficially
