Jim as a Tragic Character: A Psychoanalytic Study of Conrad’s Lord Jim
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Department of English
Abstract
The present thesis explores Joseph Conrad’s best-known novel Lord Jim as a
text of analysis to explore its themes that are the ambiguous nature of good and evil,
the importance and fragility of ideals, the isolation of the individual, and the threat of
disaster and failure that looms behind the calm surface of every day. It focuses on the
psychological process of the protagonist, Jim, by employing Freud’ and Lacan's
psychoanalysis approach.The major concern of this study is how anxiety is reflected
in the major character’s personality.Thus, Conrad describes human psychological
problem which appears in his main character Jim.Therefore, with the theories of
characterization, conflict, and redemption as well as psychological and
psychoanalytical theories, the writer tries to analyze the process of Jim's search for
recognition to gain his honor but he is entangled between desire and lack throughout
his life.