My Guide to Literary Theory: Psychoanalytic Literary Theory

Along with Nietzsche and Marx, Sigmund Freud was the third of the founding fathers of the hermaneutics of suspicion that I covered at the very beginning of this series of blogs. If you haven't read that blog, or have simply forgotten those founding principles, I recommend re-reading before you continue. Psychoanalytical theory centers around the works of Sigmund Freud which was brought back into importance during the 60s, supplemented with post-structuralist ideas, by the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.

Jacques Lacan

Psychoanalysis works by exploring that gap between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Freud claimed that the deepest desires and wishes of the conscious will regularly erupt, uninvited, into our lives. Perhaps the most famous of his ideas are written in The Interpretation of Dreams (1899). In the work, he sets out the theory of an Oedipal complex or Elektra complex that is essential to development. He claims that a child's desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex, and the subsequent rivalry with the parent of the same sex, is a crucial stage in the normal development of every child.

 Also in the work, he sets out the notion of dreams as a release valve for our repressed fears, desires or memories. The interpretation of the symbols in our dreams can then lead us to a deeper understanding of the unconscious. For example, if you were to dream of a Roman soldier that would connect to your life through a series of associations. The Roman soldier may represent your father through associations with strictness, authority and power. We can take that interpretation further - suppose the dreamer is tempted to rebel against his father by entering a sexual relationship he would disapprove of. The Roman soldier may also, at the same time, represent this man; prompted by the cliched phrase "latin lover". Freud believed that psychoanalysis was interminable; that there is no limit to the number of associations and interpretations that can be made. The unconscious can also reveal itself through slips of the tongue or errors. Freud claimed that these were not simply mistakes, but a return of the repressed. It should be noted that Freud said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar", but I suspect it was in the avid cigar smoker's interest.

Tower of Mordor or phallic symbol?

So now to the mechanics of applying it to literature. You will notice that there is a very natural fit between psychoanalysis and literature. Literature is involved in expressing experience through images, emblems and metaphors, and so we merely have to consider what they may say about the unconscious. Basically we are placing overt content against covert content. So when we are reading a text and come across a tower, or perhaps a serpent such as in the book of Genesis, then we could interpret those as phallic symbols.

There are three things that psychoanalytic critics look out for in their criticism. They:

• Pay close attention to unconscious motives and feelings of
  (a) The author (b) The characters in the story
• Demonstrate the presence of classic psychoanalytic symptoms, conditions or phases (oral/anal/phallic stages of development) 
• Identify 'psychic' context of literature over its social or historical context. A good example of this is 'The Anxiety of Influence" (1973) by Harold Bloom that explores the struggle of each generation's poets to find identity as an enactment of the Oedipal complex.

Sigmund Freud

As an example, here is an extract from Freud's own analysis of Hamlet in which he interprets Hamlet's internal conflict as reemergence of his Oedipal desires from the unconscious. Noting Hamlet's reluctance or inability to murder his father's murderer he writes:

"What is it, then, that inhibits him in accomplishing the task which his father’s ghost has laid upon him? Here the explanation offers itself that it is the peculiar nature of this task. Hamlet is able to do anything but take vengeance upon the man who did away with his father and has taken his father’s place with his mother- the man who shows him in realization the repressed desires of his own childhood. The loathing which should have driven him to revenge is thus replaced by self-reproach, by conscientious scruples, which tell him that he himself is no better than the murderer whom he is required to punish."

There are problems with a psychoanalytic approach; it is discredited as a science (if it ever was a science), and most notably, the inherent sexism that was rife in Freud and his interpretations. "Women oppose change, receive passively, and add nothing of their own," he wrote in a 1925 paper entitled The Psychical Consequences of the Anatomic Distinction Between the Sexes. When you place those comments along side his theory that all developing girls experience penis envy the theory become very problematic. Many women have, however, contributed to the progression of psychoanalysis, and denounced Freud's interpretation as distortions of the theory. As a literary theory Psychoanalysis is currently out of favour, but its supporters continue the fight to keep it relevant. Despite the criticism towards Freud, his theory continues to be taught and thus will continue to have some relevance - even if it is out of favour. Its importance has played a significant role in the emergence of trauma theory and queer theory.