Essay on Psychoanalytic Criticism of A Rose for Emily

While one of the most traditional interpretations of “A Rose for Emily” is the variety of meanings for the “rose” presented in the title and how the “rose” fits in with the story. Laura Getty states in her article many varied perspectives that many could ponder when identifying what the “rose” stands for. She states many possible theories that depict what the “rose” means, including theories of other writers that help support her own theory and also that adds another way that most might not consider at first. Most of the interpretations of the rose are all focused on the “internal elements” (Getty 231) rather than the actual rose itself. Getty theorizes about certain characters, buildings, anything that symbolizes a rose in the story as

Littered throughout the story is evidence that the murder took place. When Emily takes up with Homer Barron, a man whom the narrator makes clear was not the marrying kind; rumors start to fly about the two at a time when it was not considered proper for a man and woman to live together. The town, her relatives, and the Baptist minister disapproved of the relationship, and Emily was in danger of loosing Homer. A year after the relationship begins, and the pressures to either marry

The information that we do have about Miss Emily's genuinely mysterious life was obtained through her prying neighbors. They did everything possible, without disrespect, to find out more about her. They knew where she had been, with whom, and when. The secrecy of Miss Emily's life fascinated everyone that knew her. The more that time went on and the more that neighbors pried, the less Miss Emily appeared until soon she was hardly seen at all and let no one into her home. Even at Miss Emily's funeral the whole town came to satisfy some of their curiosity. Miss Emily seemed to enjoy being secretive and did her best to be so.

Criticism from the townspeople caused Emily to go insane. What did Emily ever do to the townspeople? They were always criticizing her in how she was to who she dated. She was already in a struggle with herself, the environment and all those who surrounded her. The society was forcing her to stray in her role of “noblesse oblige.” When Emily’s father died the “people were glad…they could pity Miss Emily. Being left alone…she had become humanized.” Townspeople were jealous that she always had money and her life was set good unlike them. Not knowing the struggle she was going through they made it worse for her by criticizing. She

"A Rose for Emily" is a wonderful short story written by William Faulkner. It begins with at the end of Miss Emily’s life and told from an unknown person who most probably would be the voice of the town. Emily Grierson is a protagonist in this story and the life of her used as an allegory about the changes of a South town in Jefferson after the civil war, early 1900's. Beginning from the title, William Faulkner uses symbolism such as house, Miss Emily as a “monument “, her hair, Homer Barron, and even Emily’s “rose” to expresses the passing of time and the changes. The central theme of the story is decay in the town, the house, and in Miss Emily herself. It shows the way in which we all grow old and decay and there is nothing permanent

Emily comes from a family with high expectations of her a sort of “hereditary obligation” (30). Emily has been mentally manipulated by her as so indicated in the line of the story “we did not say she was crazy then we believed she had to do that we remember all the young men her father had driven away” (32). There is already proof of mental illness in the family “remembering how old lady Wyatt, her great aunt, had gone completely crazy last” (32).

Emily's father suppressed all of her inner desires. He kept her down to the point that she was not allowed to grow and change with the things around her. When “garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated…only Miss Emily's house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps” (Rose 217). Even when he died, she was still unable to get accustom to the changes around her. The traditions that her and her father continued to participate in even when others stopped, were also a way that her father kept her under his thumb. The people of the town helped in

While the citizens of Jefferson never dared to call her crazy, they believed that with all that was robbed from her life and with nothing left to hold onto, she had no choice but to relish the life of her father. Her only silent companion in life remaining seemed to be her manservant; Tobe, who was tasked with all the daily errands and chores of home.

The author, William Faulkner, has a collection of books, short stories, and poems under his name. Through his vast collection of works, Faulkner attempts to discuss and bring awareness to numerous aspects of life. More often than not, his works were created to reflect aspects of life found within the south. Family dynamics, race, gender, social class, war, incest, racism, suicide, necrophilia, and mental illness are just some of the aspects that Faulkner explored. In “A Rose for Emily” the aspects of necrophilia and mental illness along with the societal biases that were observed in a small-town setting are seen to be a part of this captivating story. These aspects ultimately intertwine with the idea of insanity that characterizes “A Rose

Miss Emily also shows how she is living in the past when her father dies.  She told everyone that came to get his body that her father was still alive, she refused to believe he was dead.  However, she eventually was forced to give them his body.  "After her father's death, she looked like a girl 'with a vague resemblance to those angels in colored church windows-sort of tragic and serene.'  This suggest that she has already begun her entrance into the nether-world"(Rodriguez 1).  The people did not know what to make of Emily.  Many thought she was

William Faulkner is a well-known author, whose writing belongs in the Realism era in the American Literary Canon. His writing was influence by his Southern upbringing, often setting his stories in the fictional Southern town, Yoknapatawpha County. “A Rose for Emily” was one of Faulkner’s first published pieces and displays many of the now signature characteristics of Faulkner’s writing. The short story provides commentary through the use of many symbols. In William Faulkner’s short story, “A Rose for Emily”, the author uses the townspeople as a representation of societal expectations and judgments, Emily and her house as symbols for the past, and Homer’s corpse as a physical representation of the fear of loneliness.

Emily Grierson is to be tried as guilty for the murder of Homer Barron. Witnesses have given the readers sufficient accounts of Miss Emily’s behavior to cause belief in her committing murder of the first degree. “First degree murder is found when the defendant intends to kill and does so with premeditation and deliberation” (Criminal Law Murder Model). The victim, having been found locked away in the house of Miss Emily (327), is the basis of prosecution for the accused. Emily Grierson will be found guilty of murder because she premeditated her crime, was psychologically unstable, and attempted to conceal her crime.

The townspeople often gossip and whisper about her, and there are many things they do not know about Miss Emily. They whisper, “‘Do you suppose it’s really so?’ they said to one another. ‘Of course it is. What else could…’” (Faulkner 4). There are many more examples of the townspeople making assumptions about Miss Emily, because she is a complete shut-in and speaks to quite literally nobody. Throughout the entire story, there is almost a veil between Miss Emily and the rest of the townspeople and the reader. It is only somewhat dropped at the end of the story, when the murder and body are discovered. Nobody really even knows Miss Emily’s feelings and emotion. The reader only knows her actions, and that is not enough to assume most of her feelings. However, if the story was written in the first person point of view of Miss Emily, by the very nature of the narration, the reader would be clued into every emotion that passed through her mind. This way, they would be able to understand her, and maybe why she did the things she did, like staying confined within the walls of her home for most of her life. This may also make the ending more predictable. Instead of the reader’s initial reaction being shock, horror, and disgust, it may now be a grim reality that only slightly shakes the reader. Miss

She did kill Homer, but her youth and spirit were also crushed by her father and the people of Jefferson. She put on a mask, hiding her true self, never letting anyone fully knowing her. So throughout the text, she was misjudged and people’s opinions never managed to capture her real intentions. They considered her unhuman at times, they pitied her, looked down on her, and sympathized with her only on extremely rare occasions, when her life was at its hardest. They thought she would marry Homer, but she didn’t, and when she bought the poison, they thought she would kill herself, when she was actually planning murder – so, had they at least tried to look past the her appearance, a murder could have been avoided. Moreover, even after Homer’s death, the people of Jefferson did not even suspect her hiding the body in the house for a few decades, so oblivious were they and so little were they actually interested in Emily. Hiding a corpse in the middle of a community would seem an aberration in a normal circumstance, but Emily was able to do it without encountering any sort of

The short story A Rose for Emily is the tale about Emily Grierson and the time leading to her death. Emily was raised by her father to have a sense of class and expectation to be treated as such. Emily grew up in an era where black women were not allowed to be on the street without aprons, this was set into motion by her father. Her house was on one of the nicer streets in the town and was kept well. Emily was raised by her controlling father who never thought any suitor for his girl was good enough. He had made arrangements when Emily was a child that he should never have to pay taxes. This was indicative of the power her family once reveled in.