Freud & Modern Thought Henderson

The father of psychoanalysis  Doesn’t matter that his version of psychoanalysis has been widely debunked; he has still vastly influenced the way we think.

 Freud said that there had been three great humiliations in human history: Galileo's discovery that we were not the center of the universe, Darwin's discovery that we were not the crown of creation, and his own discovery that we are not in control of our own minds.

Repression  Freud argues that for the human race to survive and be productive, we must repress our “pleasure principle” to some degree, or we’d sit around all day doing nothing.  We do so because we assume that such repression will result in a delayed and possibly greater gratification.

A “neurotic animal”  If too much is demanded of us – if we constantly repress our desires with no end in sight – we become sick. For Freud, this is what causes neurosis.

Sublimation  One way in which we cope with repressed or unfulfilled desires is by “sublimating” them into something more socially productive.  For Freud, civilization is dependent on sublimation; our cultural history has been produced by our ability to harness our instincts and achieve something higher.

The Interpretation of Dreams, © 1900  Freud argued that dreams are really emotions buried in our unconscious minds.  Previously, dreams were thought to be bizarre portents or side-effects of indigestion.

Ego, Super-Ego, & the Id  Id – “fully unconscious”, or totally repressed by the conscious mind; our instinctive, biological “drives”  Ego – “mostly conscious”, our everyday, external reality  Super-Ego – conscience, internal moral judge

Psychosexuality, or Why Victorian Readers Loved Freud So Much  Argued that the libido (sexual drive or individual development) developed through fixations: oral (infancy), anal (toddlers), and phallic (adults).

 These fixations overlap somewhat, but as a child progresses through them, he organizes himself into a libidinous, “gendered” creature.  The increasing awareness of his own body is inherent in a child’s ability to form an identity outside of his mother, on whom he has depended for life.

 When this level of awareness happens, the child also becomes conscious of his father.

This is where it gets weird…  The boy feels threatened by his father. He unconsciously perceives the father as a sexual rival.  In this rivalry, the boy lives under the threat of castration by his father.  He perceives that a woman is “castrated” and fears that he will be, too.

This is called the …Problematic because Oedipus didn’t have an Oedipus complex.

Positive effects of the Oedipus Complex The boy represses the Oedipus Complex, submits to his father, and detaches himself from the mother.  Delayed gratification: he now sees the father as the head of the household and lives under the promise that one day he will be the head of the household, too.  Is introduced into the symbolic role of manhood.

Negative effects of the Oedipus Complex  If the boy’s early trauma from perceiving women as “castrated” is too severe, he may not be able to engage in satisfying relationships.  If he cannot entirely overcome his O.C., he may place his mother above all other women.

What about early female sexuality?  Freud’s treatment of women is more sexist and less straightforward.  The male-dominated society in which he lived is reflected in his theories as he addresses the “dark continent”.

 The young girl perceives that she is inferior because she is “castrated”.  Is disillusioned by her similarly castrated mother and turns to seducing her father.  When she realizes that this attempt will ultimately be thwarted, she must accept her feminine role and return to her mother.

 Part of the induction into womanhood is the decision to have a baby to replace the “castrated” penis.  This process is called “The Electra Complex,” but this is even more problematic than the boy’s Oedipal complex.  Fear of castration makes the boy submit to the father, but since the girl is already castrated, there is no motive for her incestuous drive to dissolve.

Why does the O.C. matter? “It is not just another complex: it is the structure of relations by which we come to be the men and women that we are.” ~ Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory

“Fort-da!”  As Freud watched his grandson throw a toy and retrieve it, crying “Fort!” (gone away) and then “Da!” (here), he realized that this game encompassed all human narratives.

So…!  To Freud, all art was a manifestation of suppressed desires – wish fulfillment.  We, as the audience, respond to the sublimated wishes of the artist.  That means that, as twisted as Freudian theories might be, they do resonate with us.

Beavis gets it.

Keep these tidbits in mind…  Freud does NOT practice sexual reductionism! He simply argues that the sexual drive is enough of a survivalist/production drive to permeate all that we do. Sex becomes a SUBTEXT of nearly everything, but everything is not reduced to sex alone.

More tidbits…  Freudian theory operates under the principle that humans seek pleasure and avoid pain – hedonism.  So, if we create poetry as an outlet for a repressed pleasure drive, we read poetry because we find it pleasurable.

Freud infiltrates art…

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