A Tour of the Unconscious Made Manifest

Psychoanalytic CriticismA twentieth-century school of thought.Consider literature and art analogous to

dreams.Like dreams and folklore, literature and art

uses images and symbols to make unconscious psychological conflicts and feelings manifest.

Early art, mythology and folklore contained these images unconsciously. In the post-Freud years, artists and writers chose to include images which would recall the unconscious.

Sexual ImageryPhallic Symbols

Any image recalling the male reproductive

organs.Some emphasize the

generative or creative power.

Others emphasize the penetrating, invasive or destructive power

Feminine Symbols

Any image recalling the female reproductive

organs.Some emphasize the warm,

nurturing maternal side of women.

Other depict the Freudian idea of the nightmarish, monstrous feminine.

Dream Imagery and InterpretationFreud believed that dreams operated on two

levels.The “manifest content” was the imagery of the

dream which the dreamer could sometimes remember.

The “latent content” was the hidden significance of the dream, which could be interpreted through the dream’s symbolic language.

Freud believed that all dreams were significant and revealed something about the unconscious.

Unconscious Desires and Fears are Symbolically Represented Id impulses--which the conscious mind

perceives only dimly as hunger, thirst, sexual desire--are often symbolically represented.

Fears which cannot be held in the conscious mind--such as the fear of castration, or loss of the parents--can be represented symbolically.

The Phallic SymbolAchievement of

ManThe phallic image is

rooted in architectural history.

The Phallic SymbolAchievement of

ManThe phallic image is

rooted in architectural history.

The Phallic SymbolAchievement of

ManThe phallic image is

rooted in architectural history.

The Phallic SymbolAchievement of

ManThe phallic image is

rooted in architectural history.

Skyscrapers symbolize dominance of the natural world.

The Phallic SymbolAchievement of

ManThe phallic image is

rooted in architectural history.

Skyscrapers symbolize dominance of the natural world.

“World’s tallest building”

The Phallic SymbolDestructive

PowerMost weapons of war

have a phallic nature

The Phallic SymbolDestructive

PowerMost weapons of war

have a phallic natureMasculinity and the

ability to destroy are closely linked.

The Phallic SymbolDestructive

PowerMost weapons of war

have a phallic natureMasculinity and the

ability to destroy are closely linked.

The Phallic Symbol

The Phallic Symbol

The Phallic SymbolNightmarish

Visions

Castration complex & phallic anxiety.

In Freudian dream analysis, ‘walking into a room’ is thought to represent sexual intercourse

The Phallic SymbolNightmarish

VisionsCastration complex

& phallic anxiety. In Freudian dream

analysis, ‘walking into a room’ is thought to represent sexual intercourse

The Phallic SymbolNightmarish

Visions

Castration complex & phallic anxiety.

In Freudian dream analysis, ‘walking into a room’ is thought to represent sexual intercourse

The Feminine Symbol

Like the phallic symbol, the feminine symbol appears in two variations.

The Feminine SymbolNurturing

WomanThese images recall the

warm, maternal aspect of woman, and the safety and security of hearth and home.

The Feminine SymbolNurturing

WomanThese images recall the

warm, maternal aspect of woman, and the safety and security of hearth and home.

Flowers and other plants often represent the feminine, as in the work of Georgia O’Keefe.

The Feminine SymbolNurturing

WomanThese images recall the

warm, maternal aspect of woman, and the safety and security of hearth and home.

Flowers and other plants often represent the feminine, as in the work of Georgia O’Keefe.

The Feminine SymbolThe recognition that boys and girls have

biological differences, and the beginnings of the castration complex, lead to a fear of women by boys.

This fear of women and their power becomes manifest in a nightmarish image called the vagina dentata, or ‘devouring woman.’

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman”The Gorgon Medusa is

one of the earliest mythological representations of this monstrous feminine figure.

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman”The Gorgon Medusa is one

of the earliest mythological representations of the monstrous feminine.

The female vampire is another symbolic representation which has its origin in antiquity but has persisted in modern culture.

Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger

The Feminine Symbol

The Vampire

Philip Burne-Jones

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman”The Gorgon Medusa is one

of the earliest mythological representations of the monstrous feminine.

The female vampire is another symbolic representation which has its origin in antiquity but has persisted in modern culture.

Science fiction has also drawn on this image, as in this still from Aliens.

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman” James Cameron’s film, in

fact, climaxes with a striking confrontation between the dichotomous mother-images.

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman”The image of the

mythological earth-mother as voracious devourer can be found throughout hero fiction from Beowulf. . .

The Feminine Symbol“Devouring

Woman”The image of the

mythological earth-mother as voracious devourer can be found throughout hero fiction from Beowulf to Return of the Jedi.

Unconscious Desires and FearsIdeas which are difficult to express

consciously often manifest themselves in art, folklore and literature.

Fear of the Feminine

• Traditional or enforced standards of dress one way to control.

Fear of the Feminine

• Traditional or enforced standards of dress one way to control.

                                     

Fear of the Feminine

• Traditional or enforced standards of dress one way to control.

• ‘real’ live women replaced by perfect re-creations.

• ‘real’ women often depicted as helpless or trapped.

        

                              

                                                                               

Unconscious Desires and FearsAnimals, such as wolves

and apes, often symbolize aggressive, id-driven impulses, combining hunger and sex.

Fairy-tales become warnings about the dangers of premature or illicit sexuality.

“Straying off the path” leads to danger for both Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.

Unconscious Desires and FearsOf course, children love

their mothers, but there’s often a fair amount of anger and resentment towards the parents, too. Since this cannot be safely psychologically expressed towards the real parents, wicked witches and evil stepmothers provide convenient substitutes.

doppelganger: a psychological double-or stand-in onto which anxiety or aggression can be safely projected.

Unconscious Desires and Fears

Castration ComplexBoy realizes physical differences between boys and

girls.Boy theorizes that maybe, just maybe, girls and

boys originally had penises, but lost them. Since the power in the household lies mostly with

the father, the boy assumes that the father can and possibly will castrate him for misbehaving.

Fear of castration is also related to the terrifying image of the vagina dentata--or woman as castrator.

Fear of castration cannot be consciously expressed.

Castration ComplexCommon Castration Images

Include:

Injuries to, or severing of hands or other limbs.

Castration ComplexCommon Castration Images

Include:

Injuries to, or severing of hands or other limbs.

Castration ComplexCommon Castration Images

Include:

Injuries to, or severing of hands or other limbs.

Blinding--as in the original myth of Oedipus who blinds himself in guilt.

Castration ComplexCommon Castration Images

Include:

Injuries to, or severing of hands or other limbs.

Blinding--as in the original myth of Oedipus who blinds himself in horror.

Castration ComplexCommon Castration Images

Include:

Injuries to, or severing of hands or other limbs.

Blinding.A small or ‘diminished’

man.

Don’t Worry; Women Get a Complex, too.

Penis Envy In Freud’s view, when

girls noticed the basic differences between the sexes, they would feel cheated, and want what the boys had.

Eventually, they would identify with their mothers and accept their role as women.

If unable to resolve this problem, they would continue to seek to develop masculine characteristics.