An Orchestration of Narcissistic Expressions in John Osborne’s The Picture of Dorian Gray -A Moral Entertainment: A Reflection on Kohutian Self Psychology Psychoanalysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1212.25Keywords:
Kohut, self-psychology psychoanalysis, narcissistic personality disorder, self-object needs, empathyAbstract
This paper aims to provide an interdisciplinary space for fruitful debate concerning psychoanalytical representations of narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, and its implications in artistic, literary, and health discourses. A close textual reading of John Osborne's most impressive play, The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Moral Entertainment, reveals narcissistic traits or abnormal behavior patterns in the protagonist, Dorian Gray, who, like the mythological narcissus, orchestrates a flurry of interpersonal abuse and antagonism. As such, the critical analysis and interpretation of the main character, Dorian, provides new therapeutic understanding to clinicians, academicians, parents, and mental health enthusiasts around the world and thereby helps recognize individuals with symptoms of NPD and efficiently deal with them on the grounds of empathy and wisdom as encapsulated in self-psychology psychoanalysis.
References
A. D. Hermann, J. D. Foster, and A. B. Brunell. (2018). “Handbook of trait narcissism." Key advances, research methods, and controversies. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-92171-6.
Akkulah Dogan, E. (2018). “The Picture in Dorian Gray: Object Agency and Oscar Wilde’s Decadent Ideas in The Picture of Dorian Gray and its Screen Adaptations” (MPsych/Ph.D.). Hacettepe University.
Aliaga, N. B. (2020). Femininity and female presence in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Barcelona.
Banai, E.et al., (2005). “Selfobject" Needs in Kohut's Self Psychology: Links with Attachment, Self-Cohesion, Affect Regulation, and Adjustment. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 22(2), p.224-260, doi: 10.1037/0736-9735.22.2.224
Campbell, D. L. (2017). The Selfie of Dorian Gray: Adapting Literature for Modern Media (Unpublished Master's thesis). Eastern Kentucky University.
Campbell, W.K and Miller J.D. (2011). “The Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder". doi: 10.1002/9781118093108.
Christensen, A. G. (2019). On being one’s own heir: British portraiture, metaphysical inheritance, and The picture of Dorian Gray. Word & Image, 35(2), 159-171. doi:10.1080/02666286.2018.1553407
Davies, R. C. (2015). The conceptualization and assessment of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: An investigation of common and unique features (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The University of Melbourne.
Del Barrio, V. (2016). "Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders." doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.05530-9.
Dogan, E. A. (2018). The picture in Dorian Gray: Object agency and Oscar Wilde’s decadent ideas in The Picture of Dorian Gray and its screen adaptations (Unpublished Master's thesis). Hacettepe University.
Ehrlich, R. (2021). “Winnicott’s Idea OF The False Self: Theory as Autobiography,” J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc., vol. 69, no. 1, p. 75–108, doi: 10.1177/00030651211001461
H Kara, O.A.M.A (2014).THE NARCISSIST NEXT DOOR. Paper Knowledge. Toward a Media History of Documents (Vol.7, p.107-15).
Kernberg, O. (1974).'' Further contributions to the treatment of narcissistic personalities''. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic As International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, Volume 55(2), 215-240.
Kohut, H. (1966). Forms and Transformations of Narcissism. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 14(2), 243-272.doi: 10.1177/000306516601400201.
Kohut, H. (1968). The Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders. 23(1), 86-113.doi: 10.1080/00797308.1968.11822951.
Kohut, H. (1971). ''The analysis of the self: a systematic approach to the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders''. London: University of Chicago Press.
Kohut, H. (1977). The restoration of the self. New York: International Universities Press.
Kohut, H. (2014). Selected problems of Self psychological theory. Reflections on Self Psychology (Psychology Revivals), 409-438. doi:10.4324/9781315869858-42
Kohut, H. (2018). “Introspection, Empathy, and Psychoanalysis.” Search Self. p. 205–232, doi: 10.4324/9780429483097-13.
Kohut, H., & Goldberg, A. (1984). How does analysis cure? London: The University of Chicago Press, Ltd.
Kohut, H., & S.Wolf, E. (1978). The Disorders of the Self and their Treatment: An Outline. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 59, 413-425.doi:10.1037/a0027166.
Lichtenberg, J. D., & Kaplan, S. (2014). Reflections on self psychology (1st Edition). Hove, UK: Routledge. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315869858
Linda, O. (2015, January 28). The Unacceptance of a Sinful Protagonist's Moral Standards: The Cause and Effect of Censoring Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. [Scholarly project]. In Karlstad University. Retrieved from http://www.kau.se/en
MacDonald, P. (2014). Narcissism in the modern world. Psychodynamic Practice, 20(2), 144-153.doi: 10.1080/14753634.2014.894225.
Mann, G. (2015). The Selfobject Function Revisited: Reaching out beyond the individual. International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, 10(3), 212-223. doi:10.1080/15551024.2015.1043839
Marcus, S. (1975).Freud’s three essays on the theory of sexuality. Partisan Review (New York, N.Y.:1936), Volume 42(4), 517-535.
Miller, J.D et al., (2010). “Narcissistic personality disorder and the DSM-V.” J. Abnormal. Psychol. vol. 119, no. 4. p. 640–649. doi: 10.1037/a0019529.
Ornstein, P. H. (2022). “The Disorders of the Self and Their Treatment: An Outline,” Search Self, no. p. 359–385, doi: 10.4324/9780429483110-10.
Paris, J. (2014). “Modernity and narcissistic personality disorder.” Personality disorder: Theory, Research, and Treatment, vol. 5, no. 2, p. 220–226, doi: 10.1037/a0028580.
Pereira, T. F., & Jappe, R. (2018). The setting configuration in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray ‘by Oscar Wilde. Disciplinarum Scientia| Ciências Humanas, 19(2), 235-246.
Pincus, A. L., & Lukowitsky, M. R. (2010). Pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. Annual review of clinical psychology, 6(1), 421-446. doi:10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131215
Playll, C. (1885). "Ovid’s metamorphoses.” vol. s6-XI, no. 286. 1885. doi: 10.1093/nq/s6-XI.286.489-d.
Regier, D.A et al., (2009) W. E. Narrow, E. A. Kuhl, and D. J. Kupfer, “The conceptual development of DSM-,” Am. J. Psychiatry, vol. 166, no. 6, p. 645–650, doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2009.09020279.
Robinson, D. E. (2021). The gothic genre, classical allusion, and other influences in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Literator, 42(1). doi:10.4102/lit.v42i1.1737
Ronningstam, E. (2019).'' Narcissism and Its Discontents: Diagnostic Dilemmas and Treatment Strategies with Narcissistic Patients'', vol. 25, no.3. doi: 10.1097/PRA.0000000000000379.
Rowe, C. E., & MacIsaac, D. S. (2004). Empathic attunement: The "technique" of psychoanalytic Self Psychology (p.304-306). Lanham, MD: Jason Aronson.
Schalkwijk, F.et al. (2021). “Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Are Psychodynamic Theories and the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders Finally Going to Meet?” Front. Psychol., vol. 12, no. July, p. 1–13, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.676733.
Solomon, R. Z. (1973). The Analysis of the Self: a systematic approach to the psychoanalytic treatment of narcissistic personality disorders. Psychiatric Annals, 3(8), 52–57. https://doi.org/10.3928/0048-5713-19730801-06.S
Sigalinggi, B. M. (2010). Moral Lessons as seen in Dorian Gary’s Character Development in John Osborne’s The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Moral Entertainment, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Sanata Dharma University.
Taghizadeh, A., & Jeihouni, M. (2014). Aestheticism versus realism? Narcissistic Mania of the unheeded soul in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(7). doi:10.4304/tpls.4.7.1445-1451
Taylor, C. J. (1992). Mark's signs/Twain's twins: Narcissism in mark twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson. Journal of Literary Studies, 8(1-2), 70-86. doi:10.1080/02564719208530001
Veronese, G.et al., (2015). “Narcissism and Defending Self-Esteem. An Exploratory Study based on Self-characterizations,” Open Psychol. J., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 38–43, doi: 10.2174/1874350101508010038.
Yakeley, J. (2018). Current understanding of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. BJPsych Advances, 24(5), 305-315. doi:10.1192/bja.2018.20
Zeigler-Hill, V. (2010). The connections between self-esteem and psychopathology. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 41(3), 157-164. doi:10.1007/s10879-010-9167-8
