Literature Review

Recent years an increasing number of students have done lots of research and analysis on the major works of literature applying the psychoanalytic theory. It can be easily found out that ”I#8217; refers to the theory of id and ”William Wilson#8217; means the spirit of the superego in William Wilson. And the conflicts between id and superego in Allan Poe#8217;s three novels are talked about in some students#8217; theses. Whereas, ”where is the ego ” ? (Bao 121) The experience of author's life results in the absence of ”ego#8217;, while it has returned to the ”id#8217; and turned up in the form of psychological defense which has been sublimated , instead of disappearing. Many scholars have clarified the id, ego and superego in William Wilson. What#8217;s more, comparing two different works with the theories of ego, id and superego. ”Focusing on the conflicts among the ego, id and superego and analyzing the main cause of the maladjustment in protagonists” (Wang 86). A majority of people would like to make concentration on the fight among the ego, id and superego. However, the deeper and comprehensive analyses of William Wilson haven#8217;t been attached great importance to in previous studies.

Some other people pay their attention to the morality in Allan Poe#8217;s novels. Ethical literary criticism is applied to research human-self relationship and human other relationship in two of Poe#8217;s short stories-William Wilson and The Cask of Amontillado.

Allan Poe has published plentiful famous novels, which can be classified into horror fiction, detective novels, humorous story and science fiction. A few people talked about the horror fiction, especially William Wilson. ” When this opposition between the ego and the superego attains an intensity beyond the rational capacity of the mind.... ”(Yang 14). Ego has not been continuous to fight against superego until the superego is perished. The situation of split personality is bound to occur at length, as ego and superego reached an intensity beyond the capacity of the mind like William Wilson. A lot of scholars have found that Allan Poe#8217;s horror fiction often present the theme of split personality, obsession, isolation and alienation. Allan Poe states the self-analysis of human spirit in William Wilson, which was destroyed thoroughly on account of ” the terror caused by the fear in the soul ”(Xu 4). The horror in the depth of one's heart is likely to initiate infinite possibility of horror in mind, finally on the road of spiritual demise. ” Poe#8217;s William Wilson is an example of the doppelganger leitmotif, finding expression not only in modern literature but also in modern psychology ”(Joseph 1). Freud has studied the double in the psyche while the time of Allan Poe#8217;s description of the double is much earlier than Freud. Someone has made a research on the literary phenomenon. This detailed but valuable angle makes great contributions to the study of literature. Some researchers also make a further and deep study on the double character, including the reason for formation as well as progress. For example, Jung, Yonjae mainly talked about ” the imaginary double in Poe#8217;s William Wilson ” (385)under the guiding of interacting heterogeneous orders, put forward by psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. Oxford University Press has released a book called Introduction to Psychological Theories and Psychotherapy in which readers have a profound understanding of the origins of Ego Psychology as well as psychotherapy.