Psychoanalytic Criticism

1
Psychoanalytic Criticism
2
The Foundation

• Sigmund Freud (pictured on the first slide) is
  considered to be the father of psychoanalysis.
• He was one of the first psychoanalysts to deal
  with the unconscious mind.
• The findings of psychoanalysis has filtered into
  many areas of life, including literary theory.

3
The Gist of the Theory

• The human psyche consists of two spheres the
  conscious and the unconscious.
• Most of the contents of the mind is lodged out of
  sight in the unconscious, which is covered by a
  smaller and less dense conscious.
• Dreams, among other things, express and reveal
  deep, repressed, self-censored wishes, and a
  psychoanalyst works with the subject to interpret
  and decode these dreams.

4
Key Terms

• The unconscious a realm of the human psyche that
  harbors deeply buried wishes and desires (often
  sexual)
• The conscious the part of the mind of which
  humans are aware used to mask the unconscious
  (as a censor)
• Repression the act of burying a desire, wish, or
  anxiety within the unconscious

5
Key Terms Contd

• The collective unconscious a reservoir of the
  experiences of our species
• Archetype a universal model or prototype for an
  idea
• Complex a group of memories or interpretations
  associated with an archetype
• Id the instinctual trends of the psyche
• Ego the realistic part of the psyche
• Super-ego the moralizing part of the pysche
  (conscience)

6
Psychoanalysis and Literature

• Like dreams, literary works can be interpreted to
  discover the authors secret desires, anxieties,
  and so on.
• A literary work is a product of the authors own
  neuroses.
• It can be applied to a particular character in a
  work, but the assumption is that each character
  is an expression of the authors psyche.
• What the author intended is irrelevant, however
  what the author did not intend is important the
  theory seeks, within the work, evidence of
  unresolved emotions, psychological conflicts, and
  so on (i.e. the analysis focuses on the text).

7
Questions a Psychoanalytic Critic Asks

• What unconscious motives are operating in the
  main characters what core issues are thereby
  illustrated?
• Are there any oedipalor other family
  dynamicsrepresented in the work and what do they
  reveal?
• How can characters behaviors, narrative events,
  or images be explained in any psychoanalytic
  terms?
• In what ways can the work be interpreted like a
  dream? Are there repetitive images or symbols
  that can add to an interpretation of the work?
• What does the work suggest about the psychology
  of its author?

8
Ideas to Keep in Mind

• Much of the approach focuses on the unconscious
  (or what is not readily apparent)
• Possible symbolsespecially repetitive
  symbolsare important to an interpretation of the
  work.
• Authorial intent is irrelevant, but the
  unintentional can be important.
• Archetypes are symbols for universal ideas and
  most works represent them in some way.