The Psychoanalytical Criticism Of Psychoanalysis And Education Essay

Following the publication of Freud’s ‘Papers on Technique’ between 1912 and 1917, there have been papers and symposia on the subject. Four symposia in 1937, 1948, 1958, and 1961 were devoted to the examination of therapeutic results of psychoanalysis, the mechanisms behind its curative factors, variations in technique and the ego-psychological approach to interpretations (Rosenfeld, 1972, 454). In 1934, James Strachey published his paper on “The Nature of the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis,” which has since been considered one of the most seminal works on the subject. He holds that his paper is “not a practical discussion upon psychoanalytic technique,” and that “it’s immediate bearings are theoretical” (Strachey, 1934, 127). However, as Herbert Rosenfeld points out in his 1972 critical appreciation of Strachey’s paper, “this is clearly an understatement; the paper both challenges one’s clinical experience and has important clinical implications even though actual case material is not quoted” (Rosenfeld, 1972, 454). It would not be difficult to summarize Strachey’s main points regarding therapeutic action and mutative interpretation, and it would prove similarly sterile to simply compare his ideas with the views of other psychoanalysts, contemporaneous and contemporary. Instead, as Strachey concerns himself primarily with the structural nature of mutative change, this paper will aim to delineate a more in-depth exploration of the way different structures of the

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

To consider the psychological states of the main characters that we are trying to understand "which concepts are operating in the text in such a way as to enrich our understanding of the work and, if we plan to write a paper about it, to yield a meaningful, coherent psychoanalytic interpretation" (Tyson 29) and to see if there is any "Jungian criticism," which "is generally involved with a search for the embodiment of these symbols within particular works of art" (Richter 505).

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory plays a major role in literature, and it is usually described as psychoanalytic literary criticism. Moreover, the psychoanalytic theory incorporates two contradictory critical theories. The first theory focuses on the text itself without having influences of additional sources. From the view of first psychoanalytic theory, the reader can understand the text by analyzing the characters, dreams, conflicts, symbols, and the unconscious desires of the characters. Furthermore, the second theory argues that in the literary work, the dreams, desires, and emotions presented in the work are usually related to author’s own personal experience and the life. For instance, in order to understand the literary work of an

The psychoanalytic lens is one of many ways to observe a work of literature. By

The psychoanalytical lens helps us as the readers to better understand the characters and their actions throughout the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but first we have to understand what exactly the psychoanalytical lens is. The psychoanalytical lens has to do with the ID, Ego, and Super Ego. The ID has to do with people’s natural instincts. Most of the time people don’t even realize they’re using their natural instincts and there’s nothing they can do to change them. In a way, it’s like a new born baby. Next there is Ego. The Ego has to do with figuring out what’s best for each person and not worrying about anyone else besides one’s self. People ask their self, what’s going to make them feel the happiest? It’s almost like they’re being

Personality is what makes people who they are. Some people have different personalities others have very similar personalities; but nobody’s personality is exactly the same. In the past many people have tried to understand personality and explain it through theories. This paper, will discuss the differences between the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Adler. It will then show the characteristics of which I agree with as well as the characteristics that I disagree with. Furthermore, it will describe the stages of Freud’s theory and explain the characteristics of personality using these components; And finally, I will describe uses of three Freudian defense mechanisms by using real life examples.

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

Psychoanalysis Strength: Holland suggests “we all read literature selectively, unconsciously projecting our own fantasies into it and reshaping it to suit our individual identities” (Rollin and West 12).

The psychoanalytic perspective, is the outlook that behavior and personality are effected by the conflict between one’s inner dreams n and expectation of society. Most of this conflict occurs in unconscious, which is outside the knowledge of an individual. Renowned psychologist, Freud established the psychoanalytic theory as an explanation for perplexed phenomena such as the meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and behavioral reflex reactions to stressful situations. The unconscious is a primary focus in psychoanalytic theory due to its typical development in childhood and the ways in which it influences nearly every detail of an individual’s life. The unconscious mind also holds unvented memories and unexpressed urges that make their process into the conscious mind through a variety of different means. However, topographical theory of the mind states that conscious, preconscious, and unconscious serve as motivating forces in human behavior. Corsin & Wedding (2011) define the conscious as mental activity which individuals are fully aware of, preconscious as thoughts and feelings that could be easily brought to mind and unconscious as thoughts, feelings, and desires of which one is unaware of.

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

Psychoanalysis is a form of therapy founded by the Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud. He believed that a person’s actions are motivated by 2 impulses – sex and aggression and that it could be made consciously or unconsciously. His theory also focuses on the time of which a person is born, to the age of 6 as he believed that later personality issues are often stemmed from repressed events that happened in early childhood. (Corey, 2013)

The purpose of psychoanalytic criticism is to offer the reader a better understanding of a literary piece by the analysis and interpretation of certain aspects through psychoanalytical theory. The aim, as is the case with all critical approaches, is to go beyond the surface structure and into the deep structure of a text, this time through the study of the psyche and by looking for patterns which are significant and convey meaning. The focus of such an approach is either the author, the intricate mechanisms of his own mind, which explain how and why the text came into being, or, in some cases, the characters, whose psyches can shed further light on the content.

Psychoanalytical criticism is a form of literary critique, which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. Lacanian critics examine psychoanalytic phases such as the Symbolic and apply this phase while interpreting literary texts. Lacanian critics also associate the literary work’s content to broader Lacanian concepts, such as the Phallic and the Other. The focus of this essay is to apply these psychoanalytical techniques while interpreting Lady Macbeth’s character in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. However, before I begin my argument, I feel that Lacan’s concepts of psychoanalytical theory need some introduction.