Psychoanalytic Criticism

Literary Criticism and Theory

Psychoanalytic CriticismA Bunch of Psycho-babble?

Uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis to interpret literature

A part of everyday lifeInternet and television has fueled our

“knowledge” about psychoanalysis—no matter how simplistic

Psychoanalysis becomes cliché—psycho-babble

Psycho-babble fuels distrust in psychoanalysis

Psychoanalytic CriticismSimple not Simplistic

Allowing the text to “speak freely”Understanding key concepts of the

human experience by psychoanalysisObserving how these concepts work

in our daily livesDeciphering human behaviorsAnalyzing literary text (which are

about human behavior)

Psychoanalytic CriticismSigmund Freud

The following concepts presented are those psychoanalytic principals established by Sigmund Freud. There is a growing consensus that much of its therapeutic value is limited; his life-work is seriously flawed by methodological irregularities. Nevertheless, is remains a major contributor to the science of psychology, and thus his impact on how we think about ourselves remains immeasurable (Barry 96).

Psychological history begins in childhood

Freud’s major ideas center around the notion of the

unconscious (the part of the mind beyond

consciousness--)

The unconscious has a strong influence upon a humans

actions

The unconscious is akin to the “id” component of the

Freud’s three-part model of the psyche

Psychoanalytic CriticismThe Unconscious: For we know not what we think

“The notion that human beings are motivated, even driven, by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are unaware—that is, unconscious—was one of Sigmund Freud’s most radical insights; and it still governs classical psychoanalysis today” (Tyson 14).

Freud’s major ideas center around the notion of the unconscious (the part of the mind beyond consciousness--)The unconscious is the keeping room for all of those fears, wounds, unresolved conflicts, guilty pleasures, and desires we do not want to know about because they overwhelm us.The unconscious has a strong influence upon a humans actions even though…Repression expunges those unfortunate psychological events from our consciousness.Birth of the unconscious lies in the way we perceive our place in the family structure.

Psychoanalytic CriticismRepression: Forgetting those things which are behind, I repress

Forgetting or ignoring unresolved conflicts, unadmitted

desires, or traumatic past events

Forced out of conscious awareness and into the realm of

the unconsciousness—sometimes called sublimination

Emotion and experiences are NOT eliminated

Helps us organize our current experience

Repression leads us to behave in ways that allow us to

“play out,” without admitting it to ourselves, our conflicted

feelings about the painful experiences and emotions we

repress.

Psychoanalytic CriticismOedipus Complex…I want to do what with my mother?

The male infant conceive the desire to eliminate the father and become the sexual partner of the mother. The Oedipal conflict observes that there is competition with the parent of the same gender for the attention and affection of the parent of the opposite gender._____________________**Many of Freud’s ideas concern aspects of sexuality. You may have heard that men who enjoy cigars are actually “playing out,” latent homosexual tendencies whereby the cigar is phallic (representing the male sexual organ). As a result, some objects such as towers, ladders, and even walking canes in dreams and in our case stories, may be considered phallic symbols. In other words, “if it stands upright or goes off, it might be functioning as a phallic symbol” (Tyson 20). But even Freud himself quipped that “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Freud, of course, was a heavy cigar smoker.

** All things being equal, “female imagery can include caves, rooms, walled-in-gardens, cups, or enclosures and containers of any kind. If the image can be a stand-in for the womb, then it might be functioning as female imagery” (Tyson 20).

Psychoanalytic CriticismDefenses and anxiety, and issues oh my!

Defenses are the process by which the contents of our

unconscious are kept away from our conscious—a way to

keep the hidden, hidden. This can be done by selective

perception (seeing/hearing what you want to see/hear) or

selective memory (modifying memories so that they don’t

overwhelm). Words that may apply are denial, avoidance,

displacement and projection.

Regression is a defense that involves the temporary return

to a former psychological state, which is not just imagined

but relived.

When our defenses momentarily break down, we

experience anxiety. Anxiety reveals our core issues.

Psychoanalytic CriticismYou have issues…Core issues

Fear of IntimacyFear of AbandonmentFear of BetrayalLow self-esteemInsecure or Unstable Sense of SelfOedipal Fixation

Our core issues stay with us throughout our lives and, unless effectively addressed, they determine our behavior in destructive ways of which we are usually unaware. In other words, anxiety can tell us a good deal about ourselves because we are anxious in situations in which our core issues are in play. [As noted], patterns in our behavior, if we can recognize them provide clues, especially in the area of interpersonal relations, and, within that domain, especially in our romantic or sexual relationships, because it is here that our initial unresolved conflicts within the family are reenacted.

Psychoanalytic CriticismDreams…the unconscious at play.

Latent content is the message our unconscious expresses in our dreams.These messages are altered through dream displacement or dream condensation.

Displacement: whenever we use a “safe” person, event, or object as a stand-in to represent a more threatening person event or object.

Condensation occurs during a dream whenever we use a single dream or event to represent more than one unconscious wound or conflict.

We may change our dreams in the unconscious to protect ourselves even further.

Psychoanalytic CriticismDeath…the organizer of our experience

Our relationship to death is a principal organizer of our psychological experience.Death drive—thanatos (Freud)Humans, according to Freud, possess a staggering degree of self-destructive behavior (both psychologically and physically). Death—or fear of death, according to Tyson, is intimately connected to a number of other psychological realities.Death is the ultimate abandonmentFear of death is often responsible for fear of intimacy.Death is not just a physical loss, but also may be considered a loss of attention, love, health, job, looks, money, etc.

Psychoanalytic CriticismSex…Everybody’s doing it (or least in abstract)

Sexuality may a hold most “frightening power in our lives” (Tyson 24).Freud labels this drive as eros, opposite to the death drive which is called (thanatos)Sexuality is part of our identity and relates to our capacity to feel pleasure in ways that are not generally associated with sex.Sexuality is one of the clearest and most consistent barometers of our psychological state. The new interpretation of penis envy (25, 26)The new interpretation of castration anxiety (25, 26).

Psychoanalytic CriticismJacques Lacan and the Order of Things

The fragmented formless infantThe Mirror Stage (6-8 months): The child experiences herself through reaction of others The Imaginary Order: The child experiences through imagesDesire of the Mother: I need mother and mother needs me. That is all.Symbolic Order: A child’s acquisition of language—a separation of the intimate experience we have with our mothers and our most important experience of loss—one that will haunt us all of our lives. We spend the rest of our lives unconsciously pursuing this relationship.

Psychoanalytic CriticismQuestions Psychoanalytic Critics Asks About Literary Texts

How do the operations of repression structure or inform the work?Are there any oedipal dynamics—or any other family dynamics– at work here?How can characters behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind?In what ways can we view a literary work as analogous to a dream?What does the work suggest about the psychological being of its author?What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological motives of the reader?