Freudian (Psychoanalytic) Literary Criticism

By: Vanessa, Brittany, and Sam

Definition

• Sexual Desire

• Psychic Apparatus id, ego, super-ego

• Viewed as a dream

• Analysis of symbols and imagery

• Subconscious

Questions Asked

• Are the characters’ actions influenced by their

motives ?

• Are the symbols representing the character’s sexual

implications?

• Do the characters exhibit the three parts of the psychic

apparatus?

• Is the characters’ subconscious mind controlling their

everyday actions?

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages • Repression of the

characters’ sexual desire • Id, ego, and super-ego

reveal character• Examine character action• Shows complexity of

characters’ relationships

Disadvantages• Characters’ intentions

exaggerate a sexual message

• Characters’ actions conflict with different ideas

• Reader digs too deeply into characters’ motives

When We Have Used This Technique

• Catcher in the Rye

• Shakespeare

• Psychology

• Social Studies

Real World Examples

Literature Examples

• Sigmund Freud's Leonardo da Vinci and a memory of his childhood (1910)

• Edmund Wilson's The Turn of the Screw (1948)

• Marie Bonaparte's The Life and Works of Edgar Allan Poe (1949)

• George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four

Media Examples

• The 40 year old virgin (2005)

• Inception (2010)• The Wizard of Oz (1939)• Alice in Wonderland (1951)• Lollipop by Lil Wayne• Only Girl (In the World) by

Rhianna• Pour Some Sugar On Me by

Def Leppard• Anything by Lady Gaga

Where and How to Use Technique

• Psychology Class

• Social Studies

• English literature discussions

• Focus on desires

• Read about the author

• Other works of the author