Psychoanalytic Criticism
Psychoanalytic Criticism
Psychoanalytic Criticism
Essay questions
1.Define Psychoanalysis. How does it influence literary criticism
Definition of Psychoanalysis
1. Analysis of Characters
Freudian Concepts: The id, ego, and superego help explain a character's
motivations. Hamlet's indecision, for instance, can be analyzed as a conflict between
his id’s impulses and his superego’s moral constraints.
Oedipus Complex: The analysis of familial relationships, such as those in Sophocles'
Oedipus Rex, illustrates unconscious desires and their effects.
Psychoanalysis examines the psychological relationship between the text and its readers,
highlighting how readers project their unconscious desires and fears onto a text. This
perspective emphasizes the subjective nature of interpretation and the text’s impact on
individual psyches.
Conclusion
Id: The reservoir of primal instincts and desires operating on the pleasure principle.
Ego: The rational self, balancing the id's demands with reality.
Superego: The moral conscience, representing societal norms and values.
This model explains inner psychological conflicts and their manifestations in behavior
and creativity.
Freud emphasized the unconscious as the repository of repressed memories, desires, and
emotions. He believed unconscious thoughts shape conscious behavior and dreams, offering
insights into hidden mental processes. His method of free association and dream analysis
aimed to access and interpret these unconscious elements.
3. Psychosexual Development
Freud's theory of psychosexual development outlined five stages—oral, anal, phallic, latency,
and genital—that influence personality. He introduced the concept of the Oedipus Complex,
suggesting that unconscious desires toward the opposite-sex parent play a central role in
psychological development.
4. Defense Mechanisms
Freud identified defense mechanisms, such as repression, denial, and projection, as strategies
the ego employs to manage anxiety and conflicts between the id and superego.
Conclusion
According to Sigmund Freud, dreams are a window into the unconscious mind, revealing
repressed desires, unresolved conflicts, and hidden emotions. In his groundbreaking work,
The Interpretation of Dreams (1900), Freud argued that dreams serve as a form of wish
fulfillment, providing an outlet for desires that are unacceptable or inaccessible in waking
life.
Freud distinguished between the manifest content (the literal storyline of a dream) and the
latent content (its hidden, symbolic meaning). He believed that the manifest content often
disguises the true meaning of the dream through processes like condensation, displacement,
and symbolism. For example, a seemingly ordinary dream about a journey might symbolize a
deeper desire for personal transformation.
Freud viewed dreams as a vital tool for accessing the unconscious mind. By analyzing
dreams through free association, he sought to uncover repressed memories and unresolved
issues that influence behavior and mental health. Dreams, therefore, act as a therapeutic
mechanism, offering clues to the workings of the psyche.
Conclusion
For Freud, dreams were not random or meaningless but a pathway to understanding the
unconscious. Their importance lies in their ability to illuminate hidden aspects of the mind,
offering insight into human desires, fears, and inner conflicts.
4. Discuss Jacques Lacan's Contribution to Psychoanalytical criticism.
Lacan introduced the concept of the Mirror Stage, which describes the moment in infancy
when a child recognizes its reflection in a mirror and begins to perceive itself as an
independent entity. This recognition creates a split between the real self and the idealized
self-image, leading to the development of the ego. In literary criticism, this concept helps
explore characters’ fragmented identities and their struggle for self-coherence.
Lacan argued that the unconscious operates through language, relying on symbols,
metaphors, and metonymy. This idea emphasizes that texts, like the unconscious, are
structured linguistically, allowing critics to analyze recurring symbols and narrative patterns
to uncover hidden meanings.
Conclusion
Lacan's contributions, particularly his focus on language, identity, and the unconscious,
enriched psychoanalytical criticism. By blending psychoanalysis with structuralism, he
provided critics with sophisticated tools to dissect texts, unravel characters’ psyches, and
explore the interplay of language and desire in literature.
In his seminal essay "The Insistence of the Letter in the Unconscious", Jacques Lacan asserts
that the unconscious is structured like a language. Drawing from Ferdinand de Saussure’s
linguistic theories, Lacan reinterprets Freudian psychoanalysis through the framework of
structural linguistics, emphasizing the pivotal role of language in shaping human subjectivity.
Lacan adopts Saussure's distinction between the signifier (sound or word) and the signified
(concept or meaning) but shifts their relationship. For Lacan, signifiers do not directly
correspond to fixed meanings; instead, they form chains of associations, where meaning is
deferred and constantly reinterpreted. This fluidity mirrors the workings of the unconscious,
which communicates through symbols, metaphors, and metonymy.
Lacan emphasizes that desire is central to the unconscious, mediated by the Symbolic order
(language and cultural norms). Unconscious desires are articulated indirectly through
linguistic structures, such as slips of the tongue, dreams, and symbolic acts.
Conclusion
Paragraph questions
1.Write a note on Psychoanalytical criticism.
Freudian psychoanalytic criticism has been shaped by several notable practitioners who
applied Sigmund Freud’s theories to literature, interpreting texts through psychological
insights. Below are some key figures and their contributions, along with examples of their
works:
1. Ernest Jones
2. Lionel Trilling
3. Marie Bonaparte
4. Harold Bloom
5. Jacques Lacan
1. Jacques Lacan
2. Slavoj Žižek
Contribution: Žižek is a prominent Lacanian theorist who blends Lacanian
psychoanalysis with Marxist theory, exploring ideology, culture, and popular texts.
Example: In The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989), Žižek applies Lacanian concepts
to film and ideology, analyzing how unconscious desires shape societal structures.
3. Julia Kristeva
4. Joan Copjec
5. Shoshana Felman
Psychoanalytic criticism applies Freud’s theories of the unconscious, repression, and desire to
literature, analyzing characters, themes, and symbols to reveal deeper psychological
meanings within texts.
The Oedipus Complex, proposed by Freud, suggests that a child harbors unconscious desires
for the opposite-sex parent and jealousy toward the same-sex parent, often influencing
character dynamics in literature.
Defense mechanisms, like repression and denial, are used to cope with anxiety. In
psychoanalytic criticism, these mechanisms help analyze how characters avoid confronting
painful truths or desires in literature.
Freud’s model divides the psyche into the id (instincts), ego (rational self), and superego
(moral conscience). These interact to shape behavior, often reflecting internal conflicts in
literary characters.
Freud’s dream analysis suggests dreams are expressions of repressed desires and unconscious
thoughts. In literary criticism, dreams and symbols in texts reveal deeper psychological
insights into characters and themes.
5. What is the Oedipus Complex?
The Oedipus Complex, in Freudian theory, is a child’s unconscious desire for the opposite-
sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent. This dynamic is often analyzed in literary
characters and plots.
The Mirror Stage, according to Lacan, is when an infant recognizes itself in a mirror, forming
the ego. This creates a split between the ideal self and the real self.
Lacan’s three realms are the Imaginary (self-image and illusions), Symbolic (language and
societal norms), and Real (unattainable, beyond language), shaping identity and human
experience in psychoanalytic criticism.
Lacan asserts that the unconscious is structured like a language, with desires expressed
through signs, symbols, and language. The unconscious influences behavior, identity, and
meaning in literature.
Lacanian criticism analyzes how language, identity, and unconscious desires shape literary
characters and narratives. It emphasizes the fragmentation of the self and the role of language
in constructing meaning and subjectivity.
The main users of psychoanalytical criticism are scholars like Ernest Jones, Slavoj Žižek,
Julia Kristeva, and Harold Bloom, who apply Freudian and Lacanian theories to analyze
literature. They explore unconscious desires, repressed emotions, and the symbolic meaning
of texts, revealing hidden psychological dimensions of characters and authors.
1. Who is known for applying Lacanian psychoanalysis to film theory and cultural
studies?
A) Harold Bloom
B) Slavoj Žižek
C) Julia Kristeva
D) Ernest Jones
Answer: B) Slavoj Žižek
2. Which critic is associated with Lacanian psychoanalysis and feminist theory?
A) Joan Copjec
B) Shoshana Felman
C) Jacques Lacan
D) Lionel Trilling
Answer: B) Shoshana Felman
3. Who introduced Lacanian psychoanalysis into literary theory, focusing on
language and subjectivity?
A) Jacques Derrida
B) Julia Kristeva
C) Michel Foucault
D) Slavoj Žižek
Answer: B) Julia Kristeva
4. Which Lacanian critic is known for combining Lacanian theory with Marxism in
the analysis of ideology and film?
A) Harold Bloom
B) Slavoj Žižek
C) Jacques Lacan
D) Joan Copjec
Answer: B) Slavoj Žižek
5. Who explored the Lacanian concepts of the Real and Symbolic in relation to
literature and madness?
A) Jacques Lacan
B) Shoshana Felman
C) Foucault
D) Lionel Trilling
Answer: B) Shoshana Felman