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Psychoanalytic Literary Theory
Freud, Lacan et. Al.
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Sigmund Freud: Life and Career
Austrian Doctor Work largely concerns the unconscious mind Developed Psychoanalysis Therapy aimed at treating mental and nervous disorders Attempts to explain how human personality works Studies how individuals function within personal relationships and society Dream analysis
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Freudian Psychoanalysis: Overview
All humans inherently born with instinct to fulfill desire for food and shelter Considered sexual in nature Mind divided into Consciousness and Unconsciousness In order to function in society, many natural urges and feelings must be controlled The conflict between the need to fulfill one’s desires and the ability to fulfill those desires create anxiety Unconscious mind is governed by the law of transformation Sublimation—transform unwanted or unacceptable urges to acceptable ones Repression—things too painful to remain in conscious mind
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Interpretation of Dreams
Possess 2 components: Manifest Content—memories, events that will occur later Latent Content—desires and ideas coded Dreams are unconscious wish fulfillment and repressed desires The mind censors these desires and hides them beneath symbols Phallic Brooms, bats, swords, etc. Vaginal Baskets, buckets, pots Sexual intercourse Frenetic movement, horseback riding, etc. Not all dreams are sexual
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Divisions of Mind Conscious Unconscious Preconscious (later redacted)
Aware of thinking Concerned with logical thinking Unconscious Repressed thoughts and desires Past history Preconscious (later redacted) Between conscious and unconscious Information can be recalled easily
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Structure of Mind More complex organization 3 parts
Id Ego Superego Primitive urges must be repressed in order to function in society These urges are too dangerous and stay in the unconscious
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The Pleasure Principle and Reality Principle
Two opposing forces control human behavior: Pleasure Principle Immediate gratification of wishes Generally sexual in nature Reality Principle Logical thinking, allows people to delay gratification
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Id Oldest part of the mind, primitive
Disorganized in nature, selfish, amoral Desires commonly expressed in dreams No concept of time Impulses generally illogical and fantastical Governed by the Pleasure Principle
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Ego Reacts to external reality, practical Anxiety comes from this area
Has unconscious defense mechanisms to protect itself from unwanted thoughts or realities Weak, but organized Can barely control Id desires Governed by the Reality Principle
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Superego Prior to its development, the Superego function is associated with the parent(s) 2 aspects Conscience—sense of morality Ego ideal—the need to pursue perfection Gives sense of right and wrong, judges and punishes Channels behaviors to be acceptable by society Communicates feelings through pride, shame and guilt Allows ego to measure self to strive for perfection Humiliates ego
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Defense Mechanisms When unwanted thoughts, desires or unacceptable events occur, Defense Mechanisms arise to protect the ego from anxiety or injury If they are over-active, could be damaging Repression- undesirable information is locked away in unconscious Denial- not accepting reality of situation Displacement-redirect emotion to another object instead of intended object Projection- cannot face reality of self, project onto another person or thing Rationalization-find an excuse for behavior that is more acceptable Sublimation-transform unacceptable desires to acceptable practices
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Stages of Psychosexual Development
Conflict between the Ego and the Id’s desires How infants and children mature into sexual beings The way a person copes with each stage determines their adult personality and sexuality Trauma at any of these stages can lead to fixation Oral Stage- desire is fulfilled through the mouth Anal- the child can control own bowels, takes pride Phallic-discover that genitalia provide pleasure Latency-free oneself from dependence on parents Genital-renewal of sexual desire directed towards opposite sex
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Crisis of Development Each stage is fraught with its own problems
Oral Stage—weaning from breast feeding Anal Stage—potty training, the need to establish control Phallic Stage—Oedipal Crisis Boys—Oedipal complex Girls—Electra Complex
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Oedipal Complex During the Phallic Stage, boy realizes his genitalia
Sees girls and believes they have lost their penises—beginning of Castration Anxiety Begin to fear castration as a punishment for unacceptable desires Boys want the mothers to themselves and want to eliminate the father Fear of castration by the father leads the boy to identify with father and find an acceptable mate Transfers these desires to a woman and identifies with heterosexuality (Latency Stage) Key to the construction of own Superego
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Electra Complex Penis Envy Girls also in love with their mothers
Notices their own lack of penis and desire one Knows the impossibility of obtaining a penis, so desires a substitute (baby) Wants to be impregnated by father, but father is already taken by mother Does not fear castration Less rigidly heterosexual than men
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Key Concepts Family Romance Fetish The Uncanny
The child creates an elaborate fantasy about springing from “noble origins” The child does not recognize his parents as his “true” parents Fetish attribution of inherent value or powers to an object Based on associating a desire with an unintended, unrelated object Not always sexual in nature (Marxist term) Derive from a fear of castration and the mother’s castration; a substitute object that stands in for the missing phallus Remains a symbol of triumph over the threat of castration and prevents it from occurring The Uncanny Something both familiar and strange, paradoxically attraction and repulsion What reminds of our own repressed impulses Represented in doubles, ghosts, taboos, the supernatural
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Objections to Freudian Psychology
Poorly developed theories on the psyche of women Overemphasis of the importance of sexuality Inconsistencies with homosexuality Saw it as an “inversion” but also saw people as inherently bisexual Male Overattachment to the mother (identification with her)
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Post Freud—Jacques Lacan
Mirror Stage Child recognizes that he/she has an image and can be an object The infant identifies with an image of itself The identity becomes dependent on the outside world for its sense of selfhood Child recognizes self as an “I” and begins the creation of a fantasy image of one self
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The Male Gaze—Lacan, Mulvey and Berger: Overview
The Male Gaze objectifies its subject The subject understands that it can be objectified, and can be controlled or dominated Awareness that one is being watched Loss of autonomy
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The Male Gaze-Laura Mulvey
The Male Gaze used to objectify the woman The female gaze replicates the male perspective Used film to identify the gaze (camera focusing on the female body) Perpetuates male power over the woman Central to feminist theories on film Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère
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