Psychoanalytic Criticism

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Psychoanalytic Criticism
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The Unconscious

• We are not aware of everything in our minds.

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Sigmund Freud

• Thought of as the father of psychoanalysis.

(May 6, 1856 September 23, 1939), was an
Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded
the psychoanalytic school of psychology.
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Sexuality

• Libido the force by which sexual instinct is
  represented in the mind.

Four stages of sexual development

• Oral
• Anal
• Phallic
• Genital

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Oedipus Complex

• Every person passes through a stage in which he
  or she desires a parent of the opposite sex.

• Overcoming the complex

• Boys fear castration and retaliation from the
  father and renounce the mother.

• Girls experience penis envy and lose interest in
  the father altogether.

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Myth Fairytales

• Allow us to express unconscious thoughts that
  would disturb us.
• Serves important function to our psyches and
  helps cope with psychological difficulties we
  experience.
• Some modern texts are
• fairytales in disguise.

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Id, Ego, Superego

• Id The drive and desires
• Superego Moral functions
• Ego Mediator between the id and superego

These can be applied to characters in texts.
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Defense Mechanisms

• The ego uses defense mechanisms to ward off
  anxieties. (list on pp. 89-90 in text)
• How can we apply these to an analysis of a text?
• Pac-Man vs. Space Invaders.

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Symbols

• Type of defense mechanism censorship by masking
  hidden desires.
• The hidden significance of what people and
  characters do.
• Symbols are messages from our unconscious.

- The keys to unlock the doors shielding our
unconscious feelings and beliefs from scrutiny.
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The Three Types

• Conventional Words we learn that stand for
  things.
• Accidental Personal, private, and connected to
  individual history.
• Universal Rooted in the experiences of all
  people.

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Dreams

• Wish fulfillment.
• Dreams are littered with symbols.
• Symbols are represented in two different ways.

• Condensation One image represents several ideas
  or images.
• Displacement Replacement of issues by
  something else or nothing at all.

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Dreams continued

• They are a visual medium in comparison with our
  texts.
• Must relate what we discover in mediated works to
  personal history of dreamers (the text creators).

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Freud's Dream Interpretation

• Never believed in a dreamers dictionary.
• He did find certain items that were represented
  the same way by different people .

• Houses The human Form
• Royalty Parents
• Tiny Animals Siblings
• Journeys Dying
• Umbrellas, Sticks, Knives, Guns, Swords,
  Airplanes, Cars, Snakes, etc. Phalluses
• Pits, Caves, Jars, Bottles, Pockets, Rooms,
  Doors, Round Fruits, Shrubs and Bushes, etc.
  Female Sex Organs
• Dancing, Riding, Climbing, Violent Acts Sex
• http//www-usr.rider.edu/suler/dreamman.html

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Carl Jung

• Student and contemporary of Freud.
• Broke away due to different views on unconscious
  symbolism

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Archetype

• Universal theme found in myths, dreams, religions
  art.
• Unconscious, coming to us via visual stimuli
  emotional experiences.

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Collective Unconscious

• Source of Archetypes
• Inherent in all humans, regardless of time,
  gender or location.
• Explains universal myths
• Cannot be proven to exist!

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Heroes

• Example of Archetype
• Can be seen in Greek/Roman mythology, Hollywood
  films, Middle age fairy tales and countless
  others.
• Name some heroes!

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The Shadow Element

• Similar to Freuds Id.
• Dark side of the Human psyche.
• Hidden, repressed aspects of a persons
  personality
• Source of Creativity (as is Freuds Id.

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Anima Animus

• Anima Female element of Males
• Commonly leads to viewing pornographic material.
• Also allows men to find suitable mate, ability
  to explore their emotional side.

• Animus Male element of Females
• Formed by influence of father.
• Can lead to both positive negative behavior
  Coldness, hypercritical, inner strength, ambition

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Jung Dreams

• Elements of dreams are representations of self
  (Shadow, Anima, Anumus)
• Avoid assigning meaning to symbols universally.
• What does a monkey smoking mean to you?