An analysis of Tragic Characters’ Psychological Development through Shakespeare’s selected works

Abstract

Literature plays an important role in forming learners' correct perception of life through educational values ​​from works (Hoang, 2021). Prominent in the “world literary village”, William Shakespeare is inherently an impressive and outstanding name that transcends time, typical with tragic plays in which psychological elements exist in the personality of a person which are most clearly represented. The research was conducted to explain how Shakespeare built and developed the psychology of the tragic character and also to understand the influence of value in each tragedy. Previous studies were done in relation to Shakespeare's four famous value tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth), projects that revolved around the psychological factors of the characters along with the content of the great psychological theories were the primary source of documents for this study. Shakespeare's “golden” tragedies are inherently inseparable from the character's psychological element. In other words, the psychological problem is the source to lead to tragedies such as crime, punishment, loss and grief covered in the works. In this way, the researcher explored the correlation between Freud's theory (psychoanalysis), Jung's theory (analytic psychology) and Shakespeare's tragic plays. The study used the literature review method as a tool to synthesize data for analysis, comparison and discussion. The approach used in this research was a psychological approach in literary works. The results from this study show how uniquely Shakespeare built his character's psyche. The profound value to modern life that exists in each tragedy through the image of each individual character is also found in the study.