CRITICAL TEXTUAL ANALYSIS--TYPES, PART 4 (PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY)

A. Freudian Psychoanalysis◦ 1. First formulated by Freud◦ 2. Concerned with internal psyche structures &

the complex relations between them◦ 3. Drives, desires, & wants are geared towards

satisfaction a. Motivation is primarily pleasure-seeking (or

hedonistic) b. Blocked motives lead to frustration, producing

pain.

c. Pain eliminated from the conscious mind via repression into the unconscious or unorganized mind (or the id)

d. Control of the id role of consciousness (the ego) e. The internalized ideas of others, plus self-criticism,

creates the super-ego 4. Defense mechanisms

◦ a. Condensation--combination of two or more ideas, desires, or memories into a single episode, image, symbol, or sign

◦ 1) Condensation occurs in dreams, where the manifest content (remembered events) represents repressed, underlying wishes & memories (the latent content); e.g. a locked door

◦ 2) Condensation also operates in innuendo & punning (similar to metonymy (part for whole/whole for part)

b. Displacement◦ 1) Process by which significance of something

is transferred (displaced) onto something else◦ 2) Similar to metaphoric transposition◦ 3) Redirect energy away from a frustrating goal

& towards a more vulnerable target

c. Projection◦ 1) Process by which ideas, images, & desires

are imposed on an external environment. ◦ 2) Projection denies unpleasant self-

accusations, projecting such accusations onto others (fueling scapegoating, prejudice, etc.)

d. Identification◦ 1) Process by which the individual merges at

least some of another's identity with his/her own

◦ 2) Three ways--can extend into someone else, can borrow from someone else, or can confuse identity with someone else (Rycroft)

e. Narcissism◦ 1) While some self-love is necessary to function,

it is problematic if lead to self-absorption, egoism, selfishness, childishness, etc.

◦ 2) Narcissists seem self-assured, but in reality are extremely anxiety-ridden & insecure.

◦ 3) A problem in identify formation--develop feelings of superiority to protect from feelings of inadequacy

◦ 4) Not the same as egoism--egoists may be selfish, but are often realistic, whereas narcissists are not

◦ 5) Narcissists often deny their self-love; may assume a mask of humility, being altruistic, etc.

◦ 6) Or may be super-confident, self-assured but with grandiose ideas

f. Sublimation◦ 1) Rechanneling sexual impulses from primary

gratification into more socially acceptable gratifications (e.g. shopping, gambling)

◦ 2) Civilization forces us to renounce uninhibited instinctual gratifications (esp. sex & aggression), creating guilt for such impulses

◦ 3) Operates in fetischizing or the substitution of desire onto a less threatening image, usually something that can serve as a substitute phallus

◦ 4) Mulvey notes that the "male gaze" of the camera evokes visual pleasure (sublimation & resolution of the castration complex) by both overvaluing women characters as fetish objects & undervaluing them (punishing them for being sexual objects)

g. Voyeurism◦ 1) A person with a privileged, yet hidden view,

esp. who watches the sexual (forbidden) activities of others, yet without their permission.

◦ 2) Produces guilt (because the scene is private) & a sense of power (it reveals knowledge which we "shouldn't" possess)

◦ 3) Voyeurism implies omnipotence

5. The Oedipal (or Castration) Complex◦ a. The process of maturation found in

everyone--natural instead of environmental◦ b. Mature through 4 stages—oral, anal, latent, &

phallic◦ c. Myth of Oedipus shows how children resolve

crises occurring during puberty (phallic stage) 1) Boys have castration anxiety (fears of castration

by the father); eventually leads to an identification with the father & a rejection of the mother

2) Girls have penis envy (fantasy that they have lost their penises); eventually leads to a re-identification with the mothers

d. There is also a reverse Oedipal complex, involving fantasies of incest with the same sex parent, & murderous wishes toward the parent of the opposite sex

e. A controversial concept, yet also often used to critique literature & film (e.g. Hamlet, Freud argued, plays out a version of the complex). ◦ 1) Brenner (1974) argues that "for a literary

work to have a strong, or, even more, a lasting appeal, its plot must arouse and gratify some important aspect of the unconscious oedipal wishes of the members of its audience" (p. 235)

◦ 2) An example is the original Star Wars, which can be "read" as a working out of Luke's Oedipal complex

1. Jacques Lacan believed that Freud's hypotheses must be interpreted symbolically rather than essentially

2. Language structures the social subject 3 Reinterpretation of psychoanalysis

through semiotics & structuralism 4. Posited 3 stages in place of Freud's oral,

anal, & phallic stages of growth:◦ a. Preverbal phase--undifferentiated identity with

the mother, pre-oedipal, instinctual

b. Mirror phase◦ 1) the moment when the child sees itself as a

self, in a mirror--separates from the mother & sees self as a subject

◦ 2) More representative of femininity than the symbolic phase. with its assumption of narcissism

◦ 3) The child experiences pleasure (jouissance) at seeing itself, yet also alienation & dismay, since separate from the mother (the first object of desire)

c. Symbolic phase◦ 1) Child enters into the Symbolic, or the realm of

language (language replaces the penis/phallus)◦ 2) Gaining the power to speak (through

socialization) provides the child with the primary tool needed to operate in the public world

◦ 3) To gain the power to speak means to repress the hidden desires for the mother, which kicks in a (symbolic) Oedipal complex

◦ 4) Boys can identify with the "rule of the father" & resolve the Oedipal crisis by taking the place of the father, separating fully from the mother, then transferring their affections to an adult woman

6) Girls, however, are characterized by "lack"--they don't possess a phallus, therefore cannot identify with the father

7) Girls must separate from the mother, transferring the forbidden desire to the father (or father substitute); yet, they also cannot separate from the mother, since already “castrated”

8) Without a "voice," girls are thus Other, that which is an object outside of the realm of the symbolic

◦ d. Ideas very useful to feminist critics, esp. when combined with other concepts

5. Difference◦ a. Both language & unconscious signify by

means of binary oppositions ◦ b. Difference, as Other, controls the mind; the

Other & (male) desire become sexualized 6. Jouissance

◦ a. The totality of enjoyment--sexual, spiritual, physical, & conceptual

◦ b. Exists outside linguistic norms (in the realm of the poetic), therefore more associated with women, who are also constituted outside of society

◦ c. Women have the capacity for a decentered, multiple sexuality, "the sex which is not one“ (Irigray)