THE ANALYSIS OF THE MAIN CHARACTER’S “PLEASURE PRINCIPLE” AS PORTRAYED IN GUY DE MAUPASSANT’S THE HISTORY OF SCOUNDREL

Abstract

In this thesis the writer describes about the main character’s characteristics that indicated “pleasure principle” which are pictured in The History of a Scoundrel by Guy De Maupassant, an author from French. This study has two purposes: (1) to describe the main character’s characteristic that indicates pleasure principle. They are amoral, irrational, and lawless. (2) to describe the causal factors of the main character. In analyzing this novel, the writer applies Sigmund Freud’s theory of Psychoanalysis which emphasizes on pleasure principle of the main character in daily life and society. The writer also does a technique of close reading that requires his to read the whole novel in many times to understand the story of the novel. The results show that the main character’s pleasure principle dominates in his life. The novel shows that the main character does not have the reality and morality principle in his life. The instinctual desire and pleasure of the main character makes him loss another principles. The existence of the main character’s pleasure principle is caused by of his desire and pleasure. Those aspects are the factors of the main character’s pleasure principle.

Key Words: The Pleasure Principle (The Id), Amoral, Irrational, Lawless