Essay on Freud's Concept of the Uncanny

Castration anxiety as outlined by Freud is when a boy looks at his mother and realizes she does not have a penis, he views his mom as castrated and thus to him his mother is a warning of his castration. Carol Clover in Her Body Himself and Dumas in Horror and Psychoanalysis have elaborated on this concept in the genre of the horror explaining that castration anxiety is not only fear of penile harm but of one’s power being taken away.

Freud proposes that whether one attempts to collect psychoanalytic experiences of uncanny feelings, or searches through historical meanings of the word ‘uncanny’, the destination remains the same. Freuds goal is to define the uncanny so that he is able to develop a psychoanalytic theory involving these

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires,

Sigmund Freud was the discoverer and inventor of psychoanalysis and coined the term in 1896 after publishing studies on Hysteria with Joseph Breuer in 1895. Psychoanalysis still remains unsurpassed in its approach to understanding human motivation, character development, and psychopathology. Freud’s insights and analyses of psychic determinism, early childhood sexual development, and unconscious processes have left an indelible mark on psychology (Korchin, 1983).

Freudian Analysis: Of Mice and Men Introduction In John Steinbeck's book of Mouse and Men a story that was based on the relationships between people, Steinbeck tackles issues of race relations the dynamics and stereotypes of men and women, but unlike other authors of his time included a character facing a form of mental illness. Throughout the book we see Lennie Small a seemingly innocent giant reliance on a quick talking dreamer who goes by the name of George Smith. American society was never truly ready to face mental illness, and Steinbeck wanted to open the dialogue. With this rejection of the mentally ill as normal beings in society psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud had his own views on the capacity and formation of mental illnesses.

Sigmund Freud was born in Freiberg, Moravia in 1856. Freud was a distinguished child. He attended medical school in Vienna; from there he became actively embraced in research under the direction of a physiology. He was engrossed in neurophysiology and hoped for a position in that field but unfortunately there were not enough positions available. From there, he spent some of his years as a resident in neurology and director of a children’s ward in Berlin. Later on, he returned to Vienna and married his fiancée, Martha Bernays. He continued his practice of neuropsychiatry in Vienna with Joseph Breuer as his assistant. Freud achieved fame by his books and lectures; which brought him “both fame and ostracism from mainstream of the medical

Freud’s concept of the “uncanny” is a highly influential and valued in psychoanalysis and literature. As Freud explains, it reveals much about his understanding of human beings as being essentially determined by their fears and unconscious desires. His interpretation of uncanny can be analyzed in two ways: linguistic and actual. In the beginning, he starts with the term “uncanny”, which is taken from German word “unheimlich”, literally meaning “un-home-like” – something unfamiliar and unknown, never experienced before. The problem is that the definition of the word and the linguistic peculiarities take half of the whole reading, so we get to the point after the second half.

In his essay, Freud explains how Jentsch sees the inanimate/animate opposition as one source of the uncanny which he describes from the Tales of Hoffman; referring to the robotic woman Olympia. He believes that any condition for awakening uncanny feelings can form when there is intellectual uncertainty whether an object is alive or not” (424). However, Freud saw the source of uncanny as the eerie character of the sandman “who tears out children’s eyes” (422). According to Freud, the uncanny is linked to the idea of being robbed of one’s eyes which can create the fear of castration. Freud’s sees uncanny as frightening like the sandman because it is considered both not known and familiar.

In several cultures, oral storytelling of how the world came to be, was the sole explanation behind human existence. These “creation myths” acted as the guide for general understanding, therefore when new and unexplained subjects arose societies felt compelled to answer them legitimately or imaginatively, in order to deviate any fear. This can relate to Burton’s “Six Kinds of Spirits”, in which he explains what spirits are and their capability. Burton’s analysis of these six spirits from his text The Anatomy of Melancholy, written in the 17th century, instills fear rather than dissipates it, through the fear of the unknown and the spirits abilities.

but his theories on dreams seemed to be the most popular, even to this day.Freud thinks that the agent that

Cathy Caruth’s “Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Trauma” claims that “to be traumatized is precisely to be possessed by an image or event” (Caruth 3). This idea of possession is seen in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Ulalume” through the narrator’s enigmatic journey toward his dead lover’s grave. Throughout the poem, the narrator unknowingly works to overcome the trauma that is associated with “surviving” the event of his lover dying. The narrator is seemingly able to understand the true cause of his trauma through the use of the paradoxical duality of attraction/repulsion and familiar/unfamiliar contained in the “Uncanny” as described by Sigmund Freud in “The Uncanny.” The narrator uses the information gained from his trance-like walk to realize his

It has been noted that we feel fear because we see or hear something that makes us frightened or anticipate harm. Let's say you're walking through a haunted house on Halloween and a creepy ghost jumps out in front of you. That ghost acts as a stimulus

The psychodynamic perspective, at the simplest, is the approach to psychology focussing on the conscious, unconscious, and subconscious processes and drives, and the interaction between them. The first use of the approach is widely credited to Breuer and Freud, who published Studies on Hysteria in 1895, cited by McLoed, 2007. Studies on Hysteria popularised the concept that hysteria, a condition that has now been separated into many distinct conditions, could be caused by a traumatic experience that did not integrate into a patient’s view of the world.

In the middle ages, somatoform disorders were believed to be a spiritual disorder of evil and demonic possession, and in the 17th century, it was said that “hysteria could stimulate any medical disease. Freud explained the syndrome of hysteria as “conversion of emotional distress into physical symptoms” Kallivayalil, R. A., & Punnoose, V. P. (2010).

Freud continued his work on repression, memories, and past experiences of trauma to be the motive for all neurotic symptoms. Trauma in past experiences was not always the key determinant for hysteria cases, there needed to be another component for the cause. The combination of past trauma and present trauma awakened memories of the earlier trauma which constituted the true aggravation (Storr, 1989, p. 15). However, he began to see a common factor in his work. Next Freud noticed that a common denominator of all his hysteria cases was premature sexual experiences. Sex encompasses many emotions through mind, body, and spirit that can influence a great deal of character if repressed. Storr pointed out that, “Freud became more and more convinced that the chief