Psychological Criticism

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Psychological Criticism
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Psychological Criticism

• The application of specific psychological
  principles (particularly those of Sigmund Freud
  1856-1939) to the study of literature
• Psychological Criticism may focus on the writer's
  psyche, the study of the creative process, the
  study of psychological types and principles
  present within works of literature, or the
  effects of literature upon its readers

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Psychological Criticism

• Most controversial, most abused, least
  appreciated form
• Emphasis on the unconscious aspects of the human
  psyche
• All human behavior is motivated ultimately by the
  prime psychic force, libido
• Because of the powerful social taboos attached to
  sexual impulses, many of our desires and memories
  are repressed

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Psychological Criticism Freud's Model of the
Psyche

• Id - completely unconscious part of the psyche
  that serves as a storehouse of our desires,
  wishes, and fears. The id houses the libido, the
  source of psychosexual energy. (Little Devil on
  the left)
• Superego - often thought of as one's
  "conscience" the superego operates "like an
  internal censor encouraging moral judgments in
  light of social pressures. (Little Angel on the
  right)

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Psychological Criticism Freud's Model of the
Psyche

• Ego - mostly to partially conscious part of the
  psyche that processes experiences and operates as
  a referee or mediator between the id and
  superego.
• Unconscious - the irrational part of the psyche
  unavailable to a person's consciousness except
  through dissociated acts or dreams.

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Psychological Criticism

• Personal trauma hidden, unacceptable fears
• Hidden, unacceptable fears or desires internal
  conflict
• Ways in which internal conflict manifests itself
  depression, emotional disturbance, violence, drug
  and alcohol abuse, obsessive behavior, abnormal
  sexual activity, etc.

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Psychological CriticismMethods of Dealing with
Internal Conflict

• Denial refusing to accept ones unacceptable
  desires or fears, or refusing to accept a
  traumatic event.
• Repression hiding ones desires and fears in the
  unconscious
• Displacement replacing an unacceptable object of
  ones emotion
• Isolation disconnecting ones emotions from a
  traumatic event

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Psychological CriticismMethods of Dealing with
Internal Conflict

• Sublimation redirecting an unacceptable desire
  into a creative act
• Projection placing ones unacceptable or
  unworthy desires or fears onto another
• Intellectualization avoiding ones desires and
  fears by analyzing and rationalizing them
  instead of feeling them
• Reaction Formation believing the opposite is
  true to avoid facing the truth about a traumatic
  event

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Psychological CriticismWhat to Look For

• Instances of repression, isolation, sublimation,
  displacement, denial, projection,
  intellectualization, and/or reaction formation in
  the actions of characters
• Internal conflicts present in characters that
  cause them difficulty fitting into society or
  being happy
• Expressions of the unconscious in characters
  dreams, voices, creative acts (or actions), slips
  of the tongue, jokes, etc.
• Descriptions of the unconscious in texts
• Patterns or repeated behavior in the text
• How a characters identity is developed

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Psychological Criticism

• Advantages
• Helpful for understanding works whose characters
  have psychological issues
• A valuable tool in understanding human nature,
  individual characters, and symbolic meaning
• Disadvantages
• Psychological criticism can turn a work into
  little more than a psychological case study,
  neglecting to view it as a piece of art
• Critics tend to see sex in everything,
  exaggerating this aspect of literature - some
  works simply do not lend themselves to this
  approach

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Psychological Criticism

• Checklist of Psychological Critical Questions
• Why did the author create such a text? What may
  have been his/her unconscious motivations?
• Why did the character act a certain way? What may
  have been his/her unconscious motivations?
• How does your understanding of the characters,
  their relationships, their actions, and their
  motivations in a literary work help you better
  understand the mental world and imaginative life,
  or the actions and motivations of the author?
• To what extent can you employ the concepts of
  Freudian psychoanalysis to understand the
  motivations of literary characters?