A study of jealousy as reflected on leontes a major character of the winter’s tale a play by William Shakespeare (a psychological appraoch)

Oleh :
Rina Dewiastuti - K2202533 - Fak. KIP

ABSTRAK This study is focused on the psychological phenomena, i.e. jealousy experienced by the major character in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, one of Elizhabethan greatest tragicomedies that was written in about 1609. The play itself is about the jealousy feeling of the king of Sicilia that causes some destructive acts towards people around him, and the end is in happy ending. Using psychological approach, the study is aimed at: (1) describing the causes of Leontes’ jealousy; and (2) describing the reflection of Leontes’ jealousy. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. In conducting data analysis, it applies interactive model proposed by Milles and Huberman. Firstly, data are collected using purposive sampling based on the concepts of theory presented in the theoretical review. This activity is accompanied with data reduction to get the most data. The data, then, are presented in data display added with sufficient description to be used in analysis before eventually the final conclusion can be obtained. These activities are still accompanied with data collection and data reduction until the end of analysis. The result of the study shows that (1) Leontes’ jealousy arises because of cognitive factors, sexual dysfunction factors, and social and marital factor; (2) to reflect his jealousy Leontes does the following acts: major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder or maniac episode, and borderline personality disorder. It is hoped that the result of the study can give a clear example for literary study in the psychological point of view so that it can help the readers who want to carry out further study in literature using the same perspective or any other one. Later, this study can give a significant contribution to English teaching and learning especially in selecting teaching materials. The next, the result of the study hopefully can help theatrical students who are interested to perform the play on the stage. Finally, the result of the study may deepen the readers’ understanding about life, since literature is regarded as a mirror of the nature.