Exploring Revenge Sentiments in the Lost Apothecary: A Psychoanalytical Study

Abstract

This research aims at exploring Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary viewing it as psychoanalytical writing. The text portrays the long lasting physical and psychological impacts of unfair treatment of females by males. The protagonist Nella Clavinger, as a first-person narrator, presents the clear image of how revenge has left permanent marks on her physical and mental health. The study focuses on tracing the causes of revenge stemming from a combination of anger and hate. Moreover, it examines the individual and collective strategies of characters to execute the revenge plans. The text has been analyzed in the light of Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytical lens of Structural Psyche Theory (1923). The element of anger, which was found to be the prime agent behind revenge, has been studied in the light of John Dollard’s Frustration aggression theory (1939), and hate from the stance of Agneta Fischer (2018). The study finds that it is the maltreatment of female characters at the hands of male counterparts which creates anger and hatred in them. The emergent emotions lead them towards developing revenge plans and they execute their plans relentlessly.