The Inner Conflicts of Hester Prynne in Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Sukartono in Pane’s Belenggu

Conflict is an important element in the storyline and generally impacts to the character in the novel. Hester Prynne and Sukartono are the main characters who suffer the inner conflicts. Those character struggles with emotional of mental obstacles within him or her because of moral and dilemma. Therefore, the researcher formulates the problems into some research questions, how are inner conflicts portrayed in The Scarlet Letter and Belenggu? What are the similarities of the cause of inner conflicts of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter and Sukartono in Belenggu? And what are the differences of the cause of inner conflicts of Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter and Sukartono in Belenggu? The researcher used theory of psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud focusing on repression and the theory of anxiety by Lois Tyson. The researcher uses qualitative study and comparative literature method in analyzing data. The data are collected by way of identifying, grouping and comparing the two novels. Having collected the data, the researcher analyzed the data by identifying, analyzing and interpreting the data to find out the portrayal, the similarities and differences the cause of the inner conflicts in Hester Prynne and Sukartono. The result shows that Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter and Sukartono in Belenggu portrayed suffering the inner conflicts. The portrayal characteristics of inner conflicts are fear of intimacy, fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, envy, guilt, sadness and indecision. Both of them have similarities and differences in characteristics of inner conflicts. Hester Prynne and Sukartono lives with agony of heart and dilemma. The similarities of the cause the inner conflicts in The Scarlet Letter and Belenggu are fear of abandonment, fear of betrayal, depression, indecision and sadness. Moreover, the differences in The Scarlet Letter and Belenggu are fear of intimacy, guilt, envy, loneliness and low self-esteem. The conclusion are the dominant similarity characteristics that causing the inner conflicts in both novel is fear of abandonment. Whereas, the different characteristics of the cause of inner conflicts is envy