| Keywords [eng] |
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", detective fiction, Stapleton, hound, abject, alter ego, animal with-out, projection, moral corruption, boundary collapse, self-cohesion, fragmented psyche, Self, Other, human, animal, beast, uncanny, agency, seras Arthuras Conanas Doyle’is, "Baskervilių šuo", detektyvinė literatūra, Stapletonas, šuo, skalikas, abjektas, alter ego, projekcija, moralinis sugedimas, ribų griūtis, savasties vientisumas, susiskaldžiusi psichika, Aš, Kitas, žmogus, gyvūnas, žvėris, nejauka, agentiškumas |
| Abstract [eng] |
This MA thesis examines the multifaceted bond between Stapleton and his hound in The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. As the story has so far been analysed primarily through Freudian theories, the relationship between the antagonist and the animal has, overall, remained relatively underexplored. Seeking to address this gap, the study proposes a hybrid psychoanalytic–posthumanist theoretical framework that aims to demonstrate that the aforementioned relationship is not merely symbolic but rather psychologically intricate and paradoxical. Drawing on three concepts, namely, Julia Kristeva’s abject, Heinz Kohut’s alter ego, and Heholt and Edmundson’s animal with-out, the thesis advances three arguments. First, the hound may be interpreted as an abject projection of Stapleton’s inner instability and immorality. It is a figure that embodies its owner’s transgressive desires, which are masked in order to maintain the coherence of his gentlemanly persona. Second, the hound also functions as Stapleton’s alter ego, symbolising the antagonist’s internal psychological fragmentation and revealing how Stapleton and the animal reflect or complement one another. Although the hound’s strength and the terror it brings emphasise its beastial nature, Stapleton, from a moral perspective, ultimately emerges as the “true” beast of the story. Thus, third, from a posthumanist perspective, the hound cannot be approached as a mere symbol or a psychological extension of its master. Rather, the animal emerges as an autonomous and ultimately unknowable being whose existence and individuality challenge anthropocentric interpretations of the Stapleton–hound relationship and expose the limits of human self-knowledge. By foregrounding the paradoxes of psychological projection and internal resistance, as well as dependence and alterity within this relationship, the thesis reconsiders the assumption that detective fiction ultimately always restores epistemological order and neutralises fear. Although the crime in The Hound of the Baskervilles is resolved rationally, the moral horror experienced by those who encountered evil is not entirely eliminated; rather, through Stapleton’s actions, it materialises in the form of the hound. Finally, the study also observes that the novel itself may question the stability of such dichotomies as human/animal, Self/Other, and tool/agent, revealing them as porous instead of fixed. Despite certain limitations, for instance, its focus on a single novel and only one human–dog relationship depicted within the Holmesian stories, the thesis ultimately aims to draw attention to the continuing relevance of the human–animal relationship and the importance of rethinking it even within canonical literature. |
