Psychoanalysis In English Literature

might support Sammy in his decision to quit his job. In Collier’s essay, “Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name,” Collier states, “Each time you try something, you learn, and as the learning piles up, the world opens to you” (Collier 85). Collier would consider Sammy’s decision part of a learning experience. He would advise Sammy to quit his job because it is something new and would teach Sammy life lessons that would help him in the future. I would advise Sammy to think his decision through before quitting his job. In the story, “A&P,” it seemed as though Sammy quit his job rather abruptly for no reason at all. He quit his job to look like a hero in front of Queenie and her friends but they had already left the store. I would advise Sammy to think

Psychoanalytic criticism is a type of literary criticism that analyzes and classifies many of the forms of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. As the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines psychoanalysis, as a form of therapy that is concluced ‘by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind' (Barry 96). One of the most popularized

Reading a narrative from a psychoanalytic perspective can prove to be a sometimes frustrating experience. Psychoanalysis often disregards the actual texts and verbal context of a piece of literature in favor of the Freudian and Lacanian ideas, which seek to find encrypted motifs in the depths of every creation in order to reveal the author’s unconscious mind. Nevertheless, the critiques of psychoanalytic interpretation of literature claim that such interpretations focus on the content of the text at the expense of the literary form and temporal dimension, which can reduce the literary plots to lifeless machinations. Furthermore, psychoanalytic interpretation of a text may tell us less about the author’s unconscious mind and more about the

Sammy’s actions and thoughts in the store reveal the type of person he is. His judgment and immaturity

Psychological criticism has roots as far back as the fourth century BC, when Aristotle “commented on the effects of tragedy on an audience, saying hat by evoking pity and fear, tragedy creates a cathartic of those emotions” (Dobie 54). More recently, however, psychological criticism has been shaped and influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud. He developed theories concerning “the workings of the human psyche, its formations, its organization, and its maladies” that, while further refined by other theorists, are still the basis of the modern approach to literary criticism (Dobie 54). Freud’s theory of the tripartite psyche is used to classify and define the conscious and unconscious mind into the id, ego, and superego. When examined using this theory, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel about a patriarchal totalitarian government that has replaced the United States of America, is particularly interesting.

Peter Shaffer’s Equus and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho explore Freud’s psychological theory that suggests unexpressed emotions will remain buried alive until they are brought forth in malevolent ways. The main characters of both texts have unusual relationships with their parents that influence them to develop a twisted view of ‘normality’. The unsightly acts displayed in Equus and Psycho reflects the protagonists’ inability to resolve conflict from childhood fixations thus driving them into a state of psychosis. Shaffer and Hitchcock take alternative stances to present the hidden consequences of emotional and sexual repression on the state of mind. Equus’ Alan Strang and Psycho’s Norman Bates both develop a strange view of ‘normality’ to cope with their parents’ narrow beliefs.

Freud’s theories have launched what is now known as the psychoanalytic approach to literature. Freud was interested in writers, especially those who depended largely on symbols. Such writers tend to tinge their ideas and figures with mystery or ambiguity that only make sense once interpreted, just as the analyst tries to figure out the dreams and bizarre actions that the unconscious mind of a neurotic releases out of repression. A work of literature is thus treated as a fantasy or a dream that Freudian analysis comes to explain the nature of the mind that produced it. The purpose of a work of art is what psychoanalysis has found to be the purpose of the dream: the secret gratification of an infantile and forbidden wish that has been repressed into the unconscious (Wright 765).

Character development within novels with complex plot structures proves to be a difficult task necessitating the author to add their own inner thoughts and experiences to weave a more realistic story. The historical background of a writer helps glean on information about that person’s unconscious and subconscious processes that become apparent within an author’s literature. As the author develops their thoughts throughout a novel attempting to paint a clearer picture of their purpose, their own persona becomes a part of the literature. Psychoanalytic theory attempts to further this claim by taking information from one’s childhood, inner taboo thoughts and hidden motivations, and synthesizing them for a better picture of the author’s

The approach reads literature as an expression of unconscious desire. Psychoanalytic theorists may focus on the author’s psyche, the psychological effect on the reader, or the phases of emotional and sexual development. The theory examines conscious and unconscious motives of characters and author, and it interprets literature through overt and covert content. Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness can be linked to psychoanalytic theory. The story’s narrator, Marlow, describes his journey up the Congo River working in the ivory trade.

Through psychoanalytic theory, the mind likes to play a lot of games on the victim such as dreams of reality, poems and riddles of the past, and isolation creating the best and worst out of them. Upon the first novel, dreams take control of the mind to unleash the most inner desire. An

Psychoanalysis is a therapy and also a theory which was produced by Sigmund Freud. This therapy stress that human behavior and emotion are unconsciously cause by their past experience and drive in the unconscious part and the client doesn’t know them. The therapist always uses this therapy to help the client understand more emotion and

The true definition of empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of one another. This could be feeling bad for someone because their grandmother has died and you have experienced this and know how it feels. It is much easier when you have been in the situation of the person. Authors will sometimes write their book in a way to make the reader feel sadness and empathy for the characters in the story. The quote by Zooey Deschanel does not speak of stories but it does speak of songwriting. When writers write books, they try to tell a story and either teach the reader something or make them feel an emotion. This is what music does, it tells a story, just

The following essay is an interpretive analysis of Psychoanalysis and Humanism as two influential schools of thought in Psychology. In this essay, the main assumptions of each school of thought will be highlighted, starting with Psychoanalysis followed by Humanism. Furthermore there will be a comparative analysis of both schools of thoughts based on both their strength and weaknesses, in attempt to find where the two complement each other and more over to see where the two schools of thought come into dispute with one another particularly on the basis of Humanism being reaction to psychoanalysis

This paper looks at the movie; A Dangerous Method directed by David Cronenberge is based on true life events that happened on the eve of the World War 1. This movie brings out the theories, techniques, and the central characters in the early history of psychoanalysis. It brings out the effectiveness of psychoanalysis method and shows the risks and dangers encountered when entering the unconscious mind. This movie takes a look at these through the life of Carl Jung who was one of the founding fathers of psychoanalysis. It also takes a glimpse into the turbulent relationship between a doctor, his mentor, and his patient. The paper will begin by giving a short

In 1923 Freud described the structure and function of the psych by using an iceberg analogy, splitting it into three main parts: the id, ego, and superego. Within one person; the Id is described as the instinct, the ego is the realistic portion and the superego the moralistic component. It is important to keep in mind that when discussing about these three aspect of psych, they are not three separate entities, rather they personify the dynamics within one person. Thus, I believe that each play represents one person, each main character of the play signifies either the id or the ego, and the interactions they have within the play illustrates the freudian dynamic of the mind. In this essay, I will be focusing on the first two divisions of Freudian