Psychoanalytical Criticism

  • What motivates you?

  • Views work through the lens of psychology

  • Looks either at the psychological motivations of the characters or the author

  • Usually applies Freudian psychology to works (others do exist)

Psychoanalytical Criticism

  • Based on premises and procedures established by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

  • Theoretical Framework: Literature consists of the imagined or fantasized fulfillment of wishes that are either denied by reality or are prohibited by the social standards of morality and propriety.

Freud’s View of the Human Mind

Id

Incorporates libidinal and other desires. Our unconscious desires.

Ex. A baby crying for food or attention

Superego

Which is the internalization of standards of morality, what society deems “right” and “wrong.”

Ex. Teaching a baby not to cry when they want food, but instead wait for the next meal.

Ego

Tries to negotiate the conflicts between the id's insatiable demands, the superego's requirements, and the possibilities of gratification offered by the real world.

Psychosexual Development

Stages

Oral Development

  • 0-1 year old

  • Children derive pleasure from oral activities such as sucking and tasting

Anal Stage

  • 2-3 years old

  • Children begin potty training

Phallic Stage

  • 3-6 years

  • Boys are more attached to their mother; girls to their father

Latency Stage

  • 6 years old - puberty

  • Children spend more time and interact mostly with same-sex peers

Genital Stage

  • Beyond puberty

  • Individuals are attracted to opposite-sex peers

Impact of Sexuality

Freud believed that all human behaviour is motivated by sexuality.

  • Oedipus Complex: A boy’s unconscious rivalry with his father for the love of his mother

  • Electra Complex: A girl’s unconscious rivalry with her mother for the love of her father

Application

  • Id: Baby boy wants the attention of their mother and wants to hurt their father for it

  • Superego: Society tells the baby that it is wrong to hurt your father and marry your mother

  • Ego: The boy marries a woman who is like their mother

Chief Mechanisms

  • Condensation: The omission of parts of the unconscious material and the combining of several elements into one

  • Displacement: The substitution for an unconscious object of desire by one that is acceptable to the conscious mind

  • Symbolism: The representation of repressed, mainly sexual, objects of desire by nonsexual objects which resemble them or are associated with them (phallic and yonic)

    • Phallic: Representaiton of male genetalia

    • Yonic: Representation of female genitalia

Freudian imagery

  • Concave Images: (ponds, flowers, and caves) are female symbols.

  • Phallic Symbols: Objects that are longer than they are wide are male images

  • Dancing, riding, and flying are associated with sexual pleasure

Application

Tip: The main character is the ego. Other characters and situations are the id and the superego.

Advantages

  • A useful tool for understanding works where characters have psychological issues

  • Knowing the author’s psychological makeup gives insight into their work

Disadvantages

  • Turns a work into a psychological case study

  • Sometimes attempts to diagnose long-dead authors based on their works

  • Tends to see sex in everything, exaggerating this in literature

  • Some works do not lend themselves readily to this approach

Critical Questions

  1. To what extent does the text reveal the author’s repressed desires?

  2. What conflicts exist among the author’s id, ego, and superego?

  3. Does the text indicate any problems in the author’s psychosexual maturation process?

  4. In what way does the text reflect the psychosexual development of the character?

  5. Does the character demonstrate any neuroses or psychoses?

  6. Is the character’s behaviour indicative of or influenced by repressed desires or conflicts among the id, ego, and superego?