Robert Browning’in Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession Adlı Eserinde İçebakış Yönteminin Kullanımı

Year 2021, Volume: 38 Issue: 1, 207 - 221, 30.06.2021

Pelin Kut Belenli

https://doi.org/10.32600/huefd.798983

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Robert Browning’in, Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833) adlı eserindeki ana karakterin farklı ruh hallerinin temsilinde bireyin öz-inceleme veya kendi zihinsel ve duygusal süreçlerini birinci elden gözlemlemesi için psikolojik bir yöntem olarak Viktorya dönemi psikologları tarafından kullanılan “içebakış” yöntemini kullandığını savunmaktadır. Buna göre, bu çalışma, Browning’in insanın iç dünyasındaki değişimlerin özünü anlamak ve bunun gerçekçi bir temsilini sunmak amacıyla insan ruhunun tasvirinde kullandığı farklı yöntemleri ele alarak bu şiiri incelemektedir. Ana karakterin öz-inceleme yoluyla benlik bilgisi elde etme çabaları ve içebakışçı bir birey olarak nasıl temsil edildiği farklı boyutlarıyla ele alınmıştır. Ayrıca, Viktorya dönemi kültürü içinde yaşayan Browning’in, benlik imgeleri ve bireysel deneyimleri incelemek için içebakış bağlamında kullanılan ve tartışılan öz-bilinç, birinci şahıs ve/veya üçüncü şahıs konuşma, öznellik ile nesnellik konularını kullanımı irdelenmektedir. Bu incelemelerde, Viktorya dönemi psikoloji biliminin önde gelen isimleri tarafından yapılan bilimsel çalışmalar ve onlar tarafından kullanılan ve tartışılan tanımlar Browning’in insan ruhunun gelişimini konu ediş şekli tartışılırken kullanılmıştır.

Keywords

Robert Browning, Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession, İçebakış, Viktorya Dönemi Psikoloji Bilimi, Dramatik Monolog.

The Use of Introspection in Robert Browning’s Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession

Abstract

This study argues that Robert Browning uses the method of “introspection,” the psychological method of self-examination or first-person observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes, used by the Victorian psychologists, to represent various psychological states of the speaker in Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833). Accordingly, this study analyses it pursuing the different methods Browning used in the portrayal of the human soul to obtain an insight into the changes in the inner world of humans and to achieve a realistic representation of it. The endeavour of the speaker to achieve self-knowledge through self-analysis and how he is represented as an introspective individual are scrutinised. Furthermore, Browning’s use of the matters of self-consciousness, the first and/or third-person speech, and subjectivity and objectivity—that were discussed and used in the discourse of introspection—to examine the images of the self and subjective experience are studied and illustrated in the analysis of the work. In this analysis, scientific studies conducted by the leading figures in Victorian psychology, and definitions used and discussed by them are used in the discussion.

Keywords

Robert Browning, Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession, Introspection, Victorian Psychology, Dramatic Monologue.

References

• Bain, A. (1855). The senses and the intellect. London: Parker.
• Bourne Taylor, J. and Shuttleworth, S. (1998). Introduction. In J. Bourne Taylor and S. Shuttleworth (Eds.), Embodied selves: an anthology of psychological texts 1830-1890 (xiii-xviii). Oxford: Clarendon.
• Browning, R. (1969). Pauline. In R. A. King, Jr., et al (Eds.), The complete works of Robert Browning with variant readings & annotations, vol. 1 (pp. 3-52). Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. (Original work published 1833)
• Burrows, G. M. (1820). An inquiry into certain errors relative to insanity; and their consequences; physical, moral, and civil. London: Underwood.
• Consciousness. (2001). In B. B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale Group.
• Depression. (2001). In B. B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale Group.
• DeVane, W. C. (1955). A Browning handbook (2nd ed.). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. (Original work published 1935)
• Dunlap, K. (1912). The case against introspection. Psychologiccal review, 19, 404-413. Retrieved from https://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Dunlap/introspection.htm
• Faas, E. (1988). Retreat into the mind: Victorian poetry and the rise of psychiatry. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
• Fox, W. J. (1833). Pauline. [Review of the poem Pauline, by R. Browning]. The monthly repository, vii, 252-62. Retrieved from https://www.browningscorrespondence.com/reviews/363/?rsId=46417&returnPage=1
• Hallam, A. (1972). On some of the characteristics of modern poetry, and on the lyrical poems of Alfred Tennyson. Englishman’s Magazine I: 84-101. In I. Armstrong (Ed), Victorian scrutinies. Bristol: Western. (Original work published 1831)
• Honan, P. (1961). Browning’s characters: a study in poetic technique. New Haven: Yale University Press.
• Id. (2001). In B. B. Strickland (Ed.), The Gale encyclopedia of psychology (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale Group. James, W. (1950). The principles of psychology, vol. 1 (1890 ed.). New York: Dover. (Original work published 1890)
• Johnson, E. D. H. (2000). And then I first explored passion and mind. Retrieved from http://www.victorianweb.org/books/alienvision/browning/1.html#pauline
• Kennedy, R. S. and Hair, D. S. (2007). The dramatic imagination of Robert Browning: a literary life. Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press.
• Kut Belenli, P. (2018). The use of introspection in Robert Browning’s early poetry (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://tez.yok.gov.tr/UlusalTezMerkezi/tezSorguSonucYeni.jsp
• Maher, M. (1918). Psychology (9th ed). New York: Magi Books.
• Mandler, G. (2007). A history of modern experimental psychology: from James and Wundt to cognitive science. Cambridge: MIT Press.
• Mill, J. (1829). Analysis of the phenomena of the human mind, vol. 2. London: Baldwin and Cradock.
• Nugent, P. (2013). Doubt. Psychology dictionary. Retrieved from: https://psychologydictionary.org/doubt/
• Orr, S. (1892). A handbook to the works of Robert Browning (6th ed). Somerset: Purnell and Sons. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg.
• Paradis, J. and Postlewait, T. (Eds.). (1981). Victorian science and Victorian values: literary perspectives. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 360. New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
• Pepper, S. C. (1918). What is introspection? The American journal of psychology 29(2), 208–213. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
• Raymond, W. O. (1966). “The jewelled bow”: a study in Browning’s imagery and humanism. In P. Drew (Ed), Robert Browning: a collection of critical essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. (Original work published 1955)
• Reid, T. (1827). Essays on the intellectual powers of the human mind: to which are added, an essay on quantity, and an analysis of Aristotle’s logic. London: T. Tegg.
• Richards, G. (2009). Psychology: the key concepts. London and New York: Routledge.
• Robinson, P. W. (1981). Fundamentals of experimental psychology. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
• Ryals, C. de L. (1983). Becoming Browning: the poems and plays of Robert Browning, 1833-1846. Columbus: Ohio University Press.
• Rylance, R. (2000). Victorian psychology and British culture: 1850- 1880. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
• Schwitzgebel, E. (2019). Introspection. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/introspection/#NecFeaIntPro (Original work published 2010)
• Shuttleworth, S. (1996). Charlotte Brontë and Victorian psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Smithies, D. and Stoljar, D. (2012). Introspection and consciousness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Soul. Def. 2. (1991). The Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed., Vol. 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Soul. Def. 3a. (1991). The Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed., Vol. 2.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Soul. Def. 3b. (1991). The Oxford English dictionary (2nd ed., Vol. 2.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Stolte, T. M. (2009). Mind reflected on paper: Dickens, Victorian psychology, and the first-person novel (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0067750
• Stout, G. F. (1898). A manual of psychology. London: Clive, U Correspondence College.
• Symons, A. and Browning, R. (1906). An introduction to the study of Browning. London: J. M. Dent. Retrieved from Project Gutenberg.
• Tate, G. (2012). The poet's mind: the psychology of Victorian poetry, 1830-1870. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Titchener, E. B. (1912). The schema of introspection. The American journal of psychology 23(4), 485–508. Retrieved from JSTOR database.
• Wundt, W. (1904). Principles of physiological psychology (Trans. from 5th German ed., Vol. 1.) (E. B. Titchener, Trans.). London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co; New York, NY: The Macmillan Co. (Original work published 1874)