Literary Exposé of First Corporate Raiders: Psychoanalytical Study of William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy

Abstract

This research explores William Dalrymple’s The Anarchy that deals with the psychological tendencies and behaviors of people who wield power, as well as those who are subjected to subjugation, in historical milieus that are conditioned by the earliest forms of corporate and political endeavors. It is a research that tries to understand the roles of power, ambition, and societal factors on human psychology and behavioral transformations, especially among people who are viewed as ‘civilized.’ This research is conducted using Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory as the key framework for inquiry, in which the narrative of The Anarchy by Dalrymple is analyzed in order to investigate the psychological tendencies of important historical characters, their desire for power, their strategies for gaining material possessions or power, and their proclivity to regard themselves as almost demigods. The human behaviour is scrutinized in the context of socio-instinctive versus purely psychological tendencies of human actions. They are classified by their social conditionings or the human prolongations of purely ‘animalistic’ behaviours, besides other psychological facets of human happiness, human misery, or positive or negative human thinking. This research ends by summarizing its findings in order to clarify that the study of The Anarchy by Dalrymple evaluate complicated power-cultural- psychological complexities in their interactions.

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