Narcissism as a Moral Dilemma in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma: A Psychoanalytic Critical Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33806/ijaes983Keywords:
George Bernard Shaw, moral dilemma, narcissism, psychoanalytic criticism, The Doctor's DilemmaAbstract
This study delves into a psychoanalytic analysis of narcissism as a moral dilemma in George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906). Based on psychoanalytic theory, the analysis explores the psychological foundation of narcissistic behaviour presented by characters in the play and its ethical effects. This study examines the application of psychoanalytic theory with literary analysis, focusing on characters in the play. It applies Freud's ideas of “id”, “ego”, and “superego” to George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor's Dilemma. The paper demonstrates how Freudian, Jungian, and Lacanian ideas can be applied to understand characters' motivations and conflicts, and how psychoanalytic theory can provide insights into behaviour, impulses, and society. Challenges include the subjective nature of psychoanalysis and the complexity of characters and themes, such as the analysis of the main character’s behaviour, Sir Colenso Ridgeon, and using psychoanalytic conceptions such as the narcissistic personality, "ego" expansion, and moral development, in this aspect will lead to the struggles between personal desires and ethical considerations. It criticizes them for putting personal gain before patient care, discusses the need for nationalized healthcare, and critiques early 20th-century medical practices. As a result, the study evaluates the understanding of narcissism in psychoanalysis, including its influence on drive theory, ego-ideal function, self-esteem, and object relations through unconscious motivations, inner conflicts, and how a person's mind affects moral choices.
References
Alcorn, Marshall W. (1994). Narcissism and the Literary Libido: Rhetoric, Text, and Subjectivity. New York: New York University Press.
Atkinson, Gary M. (1978). ‘Medical-moral moral dilemma’. Ethics and Medics, 3(1): 1-10. https://doi.org/10.5840/em1978311
Bertolini, John A. (1991). The Playwrighting Self of Bernard Shaw. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press.
Breathnach, Caoimhghin. (2006). ‘The opsonic rejuvenation of tuberculin as portrayed in Bernard Shaw's Doctor's Dilemma’. Vesalius: Acta Internationales Historiae Medicinae, 12(2): 69-72.
Brody, Howard. (2002). 'The Doctor's Dilemma'. British Medical Journal, 325: 721-735.
Buzhala, Saranda and Labinot Berisha. (2023). ‘Transfigurations of the myth of narcissus- intertextuality, re-contextualization and symbolism of reflection: Oscar Wilde's “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and Ernest Koliqi's “Pasqyrat e Narcizit” (“The Mirrors of Narcissus”) '. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 13(4): 66-75.
Childress, James F. (2013). ‘Who shall live when not all can live?’. Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 96: 237 - 253.
Christian, Mary. (2024). ‘George Eliot, Bernard Shaw, and Their Doctors’ Dilemmas'. Shaw, 44(1): 62-77.
Cohen, Josh. (2007). ‘“I-not-I”: Narcissism beyond the one and the other’. In Anastasios Gaitanides and Polona Curk (eds.), Narcissism: A Critical Reader, 31–46. London: Routledge.
Eksi, Füsun. (2016). ‘The short form of the five-factor narcissism inventory: Psychometric equivalence of the Turkish version’. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 16(4): 1081-1096. https://doi.org/10.12738/ESTP.2016.4.0001
Eliot, George. (2000). Middlemarch. New York: Modern Library.
Ellis, Bret E. (1991). American Psycho. New York: Vintage Books.
Fatić, Aleksandar. (2023). ‘Narcissism as a moral incompetence’. Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology, 30(2):159-167.
https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2023.a899946
Fitzgerald, Scott. (1925). The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner.
Fonagy, Peter. (2018). Freud's On Narcissism: An Introduction. London: Taylor and Francis.
Freud, Sigmund. (1914). ‘On narcissism: An introduction’. In James Strachey (ed.), The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, 67–102. London: Hogarth Press
Freud, Sigmund. (2014). On narcissism: An introduction. New York: Read Books Ltd.
Gaines, Stanley O. (2025). A Critical Approach to Conceptual and Historical Issues in Psychology: Soul, Self, and Science. London: Taylor and Francis.
Gashout, Muna A. S. (2017). ‘An adventure into the human psyche: A psychoanalytic reading of William Golding's Lord of the Flies’. Asmariya University Journal, 29: 547-560.
Gibbs, Anthony M. (2005). Bernard Shaw: A Life. Florida: University Press of Florida.
Gorovitz, Samuel. (1984). ‘Doctors dilemmas: Moral conflict and medical care’. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 172(1): 56-66.
DOI:10.1097/00005053-198401000-00017
Gustariana, Amaryliani S. (2012). ‘Violation of moral values in Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma’. Lexicon,1(3): 236-245. https://doi.org/10.22146/lexicon.v1i3.42081
Holroyd, Michael. (1998). Bernard Shaw: The One-Volume Definitive Edition. London: Random House.
Johnson, R. (2015). ‘The psychodynamics of narcissism in literature: A Critical Analysis’. Literary Perspectives, 42(3): 187-205.
Jordan, Christian H., Barbara Nevicka and Constantine Sedikides. (2021). The many faces of narcissism: Phenomenology, antecedents, and consequences. Self and Identity, 20(2): 145-151. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2019.1680427
Kinghorn, Keolanani. (2023). ‘Hamlet in cinema: Oedipus lives on’. Quidditas, 44(1): 117-131.
Kumar, Ramesh M. and Christopher G. Christopher. (2022). ‘An orchestration of narcissistic expressions in John Osborne’s The Picture of Dorian Gray: A moral entertainment and a reflection on Kohutian self-psychology psychoanalysis’. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 12(5): 2669-2677.
Landau, William M. (2015). ‘The Doctor's dilemma: Problems that do not go away’. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 32: 505-512. https://doi.org/10.1353/PBM.1989.0029
Lipgart, Andrey. (2013). ‘Concerning the interpretations of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet’. Stephanos, 29(3): 9–15.
Molloy, Eleanor J. (2021). ‘The Doctor’s Dilemma: Lessons from GB Shaw in a modern pandemic COVID-19’. Pediatric Research, 89(3): 701-703. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-0927-1
Mosquera, Dolores and Jim Knipe. (2015). ‘Understanding and treating narcissism with EMDR therapy’. Journal of EMDR Practice and Research, 9: 46-63. DOI:10.1891/1933-3196.9.1.46
Munro, Don, Miles Bore and David Powis. (2005). ‘Personality factors in professional ethical behaviour: Studies of empathy and narcissism’. Australian Journal of Psychology, 57: 49-60.
DOI:10.1080/00049530412331283453
Rand, Ayn. (1943). The Fountainhead. New York: Bobbs-Merrill.
Sharma, Vibha. (2008). Application of literary theory with reference to psychoanalysis to the plays of George Bernard Shaw. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Aligarh Muslim University, India.
Shaw, George B. (1906). The Doctor's Dilemma. London: Penguin Classics.
Smith, A. (2018). ‘'Narcissism and ethics in George Bernard Shaw's The Doctor’s Dilemma: A psychoanalytic perspective’. Journal of Literature and Psychoanalysis, 22(1): 35-52.
Symington, Neville. (2018). Narcissism: A New Theory. London: Routledge.
Teicholz, Judith G. (1978). ‘A selective review of the psychoanalytic literature on theoretical conceptualizations of Narcissism’. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 26: 831-861.
DOI:10.1177/000306517802600407
Thompson, Marc. (2019). ‘The ethics of narcissism in modern drama’. Modern Drama Review, 25(3): 321-339.
Turco, Alfred. (1970). ‘Sir Colenso’s white lie’. The Shaw Review, 13(2): 14-25.
Watt, Stephen. (2018). Bernard Shaw’s Fiction, Material Psychology, and Affect: Shaw, Freud, Simmel. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Wilde, Oscar. (1890). The Picture of Dorian Gray. London: Penguin Classics.
Wilde, Oscar. (2006). The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Yde, Matthew. (2011). The utopian imagination of George Bernard Shaw: Totalitarianism and the seduction of the superman. Unpublished PhD Thesis. Ohio: Ohio State University.
