Psychoanalytical Approach to Analyzing Literature

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Psychoanalytical Approach to Analyzing Literature

• a.k.a. Finding Sigmund Freud Wherever you Look

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Interpretation of Dreams 1900

• In the following pages, I shall demonstrate that
  there is a psychological technique which makes it
  possible to interpret dreams, and that on the
  application of this technique, every dream will
  reveal itself as a psychological structure, full
  of significance, and one which may be assigned to
  a specific place in the psychic activities of the
  waking state. Further, I shall endeavour to
  elucidate the processes which underlie the
  strangeness and obscurity of dreams, and to
  deduce from these processes the nature of the
  psychic forces whose conflict or co-operation is
  responsible for our dreams.

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Dreams Wish Fulfillment

• Dreams are a function of the brain intended to
  solve problems the waking brain cannot handle
• Strange, unexplainable features of dreams are
  symbolic, and hold meanings that can be traced
  through patterns of the mind
• Dream Work the conscious minds translation
  of the raw dream material

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Freud Divided the Brain into 3

• ID original state of mind uninhibited by
  boundaries, rules, or responsibilities
• EGO I in Latin the self limited by
  separation of self from others. Negotiates
  between the desires of the ID and the demands of
  the SUPEREGO
• SUPEREGO the mature version of the self,
  imposes limitations from external sources on the
  ID.

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ID

• Humans are ruled by IDs desires
• Desire to be protected (womb symbols)
• Desire to sleep (darkness, caves)
• Desire to die (most protected state, most like
  womb)
• Desire to live (most stimulated state, most
  fulfilled on all levels)

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EGO

• At about six months, infants go through the
  mirror stage
• This fascination with ones own image (whether
  literally in a mirror, or reflected in others)
  rules our conscious lives
• We are in a continual search to define our
  selves, to uphold our visions of our selves, and
  to extend our selves into others reflections.
• This determines the symbolic order, in other
  words, humans tendencies to see things
  symbolically

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SUPEREGO

• At around age 5, children go through the Oedipal
  Stage
• Successful completion of the Oedipal Stage is key
  to understanding ourselves as individuals, and as
  gendered beings
• In short children begin to see their fathers as
  competitors for their mothers attention feel a
  desire to kill their fathers in order to be
  closer to their mothers.

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WHAT?

• Yes. Remember though, that theres a healthy
  resolution
• Boys eventually learn to identify with their
  fathers (through a fear of castration) and
  separate from their mothers (through a fear of,
  well, sleeping with their mothers).

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What about the Girls?

• Girls eventually learn to identify with their
  mothers (through a shared recognition of what
  they lack, or penis envy) and separate from
  their fathers.
• Later, Carl Jung (well get there next year),
  established the Electra Complex, in which girls
  see their mothers as competition for their
  fathers attention.

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SUPEREGO (again)

• The fear of castration and penis envy lead both
  boys and girls to internalize the harsh lessons
  of their parents dont do this, dont do
  that.
• Those internalized voices become the SUPEREGO
  the force that keeps our IDs in check and our
  EGOs happy.

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So Why are We Studying this in English Class?

• Symbols.
• Remember the Mirror Stage? We are hard-wired to
  see the world in Analogical terms (remember the
  Puritans?)
• Literature is filled with symbols and
  interpretable meanings that help us understand
  the conflict of the novel, and ultimately, of the
  outside world (like symbols in dreams reveal the
  conflicts of the conscious minds)

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How to read between the lines

• Understanding the core Freudian patterns can
  provide additional insights into the author or
  characters of a story.
• Every detail counts (thats from Interpretation
  of Dreams)
• Organic Unity of a text is when all of the
  symbolic details are crafted to build into a
  coherent interpretation

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BASIC FREUDIAN SYMBOLS

• Phallic Symbols (swords, missiles, trees,
  tulips, guns, )
• Yanic Symbols (flowers, caves, cups)
• Escape Symbols (flight, birds, wings,
  running)
• Security Symbols (beds, pillows, maternal
  associations,)
• Fear Symbols (walls closing in, weapons,
  jagged edges)

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Example

• Ring around the Rosy
• A pocket full of posey
• Ashes, Ashes,
• We all fall down

• Freudian Interpretation
• We fear, and therefore destroy the flowers within
  ourselves

• Historical Interpretation
• Medieval Plague

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The end.