Marchbanks’ neurotic need of love and its influence on his pursuit of happiness portrayed in George Bernard Shaw’s Candida (psychological approach)

A literary work is a world of word that is created by men of letters through the medium of language (Damono, 1979, p.69). Through the range of words, an author creates” a new world” in his work. These new world might be created through his deep thinking of the phenomenon around him. Those phenomenon might be the environment surrounding the author, both his human and nature environment. Human being and his personality is one of the sources of his idea for author to deliver his work. It is a subject that is never empty when he digs deeply. On the other hand, the reader might find the idea about human being and their personality by digesting the literary work. It shows the close relation between psychology and literary work. Therefore, one way for analysing a literary work is through psychological approach. Rene Wellek and Austin Warren in Theory of Literature give their opinion about literature and its relation with the real life that is: “ Literature is social institution, using as its medium language, a social creation – But furthermore , literature ‘represents’ ‘life’; and ‘life’ is , in large measure, a social reality, even though the natural world and the inner or subjective world of the individual have also been objects of literary imitation. “ (Rene and Wellek, 1956, p. 94). It means that the life in literature can be a representation of the real life, which exists in a society that might be found by the author. By the creative process, the author who cannot be separated from his society in his process of making literature will make a new life by his language and his point of view about the phenomenon to be a literary work. This means that literature and the life which exists in it is taken from a real life. It is combined with the writer’s idea that resulting a literature which has an aesthetic meaning and it functions as a mirror of society because it might full of norm and value of certain society. Furthermore, Henry Hudson states: “ Literature is the expression of what is being watched by people in daily life, what is contemplated and felt about the interesting life, essentially is the expression through the language” ( Hardjana, 1994, p.10) It gives us a clear explanation that people need many ways to express their impressions about human experiences and the life itself, one of this is a form of literary work. It becomes an answer or way to show an area to discuss the human life’s experiences. Drama is one kind of literature works which has a different genre with others. It serves an imitation of life more life fully in the world of literature. For, it has a unique aspect such us the dialogue and actions of the characters. It means that the characters and the dialogue among them in drama have a big role to make the drama more interesting as stated in the American Literature: “ For many of us, an interest of in literature is an outgrowth of our interest in people and their personalities. Drama is particularly satisfying in this respect, for plays are inevitably and immediately concerned with the human beings “(Hooper, 1967, p. 1155 ) It means that character in the literature is identical with the real person since it is an imitation of life. Therefore, it has psychological aspect that can be analysed. The psychological aspect of character in a literary work is so various. One of the psychological topics which are very interesting to discuss is the neurotic personality and its cause. In the field of psychology, the neurosis is caused by many factors. One of them is caused by the disturbances in interpersonal relationship of human in his childhood. Apparently, this disturbance is very responsible to the later development of someone personality, since its influence needs and the strategies that adopted to cope those needs. It explains clearly in the Dictionary of Behavioural Science as follow : “ Each individual has two fundamental needs : safety and satisfaction. The gratification of the satisfaction needs without feelings of safety and acceptance produces basic anxiety, a basic feeling which leads to the development of neurosis”. ( Wolman, 1973, p.28 ) One of George Bernard Shaw’s dramas, Candida might have several themes such as ignorance, brutality, hubris and self-righteousness. One of the main characters in Candida is Marchbanks. He may be the most dynamic and pivotal character viewed from psychological point of view especially in his problem of interpersonal relationship that leads him to be a neurotic people in pursuing his happiness. Candida is the second drama wrote by G.B. Shaw. The first performance was in 1897. Candida was very important for English theatrical history, for its successful production at the Royal Court Theatre in 1904 encouraged by Harley Granville-Baker and J. E. Vedrenne to form a partnership that resulted the series of productions. The researcher chooses G.B Shaw’s Candida as the object of the research because this drama has never been analysed before by other researchers. As it seem less noticed among the other G.B Shaw’s work such as, Arms and the Man, The Man of Destiny, Caesar and Cleopatra, Pygmalion and etc. The researcher thinks that this drama is very interesting to be analysed. It is a unique drama which offers a personality of Eugene Marchbanks and his neurotic need. The researcher is interesting to search the cause of Marchbanks’s neurotic personality related to his need of love and how it influences his pursuit of happiness. Therefore, to get better understanding of the personality of Eugene Marchbanks, the researcher applies Karen Horney’s Interpersonal Psychoanalytic Theory