1 Introduction

Welcome to the EN250 Presentation on Psychoanalytic Literary Theory: Background and Practical
Application. This presentation will explore aspects of the human psyche that we can analyze in literary
texts, and will give you the fundamental tools to learn to use psychoanalytic literary theory effectively.
2 Applications of Psychology to Literature
One of the most fun and accessible of all literary theory applications is to use aspects of psychology, or
the study of the mind and of human behavior, in analyzing a short story, poem, play, or novel. This
week well be learning about key terms and applications of psychology to literature. Well cover some
history of psychology as a science and as a field of study, as well as important figures in the field of
psychology. Well also look at key terms and concepts fundamental to psychology. Finally, well
conclude with some practical examples of applications of psychoanalytic theory to a work of literature
so you can have a sense of how you might use psychoanalytic theory in your own literary analysis in the
course and beyond.
3 Looking at the Psychology of Characters
Because literature is rich in character development, as readers we often have a lot to work with in terms
of a characters mental attitudes, beliefs, thoughts, and actions. Often, we can look at a piece to get a
sense of its psychological realism. We can also assess individual characters and their actions in
relationship to other characters in the piece, as well as to the reader in some cases, depending on the
point of view and style of the piece being analyzed. If enough background information exists for a
character, we can analyze connections between the characters present and past, especially childhood
trauma, sexual awakening, and issues in adult life based on fundamental family relationships formed
very early in the characters life.
4 The Death of the Author
Very rarely will a literary critic today analyze the psychological connections between the author and the
text. This is because most literary theorists and scholars of literature abide by a concept called the
death of the author made famous by French theorist Roland Barthes. As Lois Tyson notes, the term
the death of the author refers to the change in attitude toward the role of the author in our
interpretation of literary works. In the early decades of the twentieth century, students of literature
were taught that the author was our primary concern in reading a literary work: our task [then] was to
examine the authors life in order to discover what the author meant to communicatehis or here
message, theme, or moralwhich is called authorial intention. Our focus has changed over the years to
the point that now . . . the author is no longer considered a meaningful object of analysis. We focus,
instead, on the reader; on the ideological, rhetorical, or aesthetic structure of a text, or on the culture in
which the text was produced, usually without reference to the author. So, for all intents and purposes,
the author is dead (Critical Theory Today, p. 2).
5 Key Historical Figures
Now that we know we will not be analyzing the authors psychological connection to the pieces were
analyzing in this course, because we will operate under the rule of the death of the author, lets take a
quick tour of some key figures in the study of the human mind that greatly impacted the field of
psychology and the study of human behavior. Some of these names may seem familiar to you, and
others you may never have heard of before. Yet all have influenced our understanding of human
behavior in profound ways since psychology became a study in the late 1800s. Well be looking at
Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Jacques Lacan to learn a little bit more about their impact on psychology
and on our ability to conduct psychoanalytic literary analysis. Jungian and Lacanian branches of literary
psychoanalysis are very different, deep, and complex areas of psychoanalysis that would be too much to
delve into deeply for the purposes of our course this termin fact, many scholars dont even begin to
plumb these depths until their graduate work in the field of literary analysisbut you should be aware
of the figures of Jung and Lacan as key players in the development of the field. For our course, well be
learning about and applying aspects of Freudian psychoanalysis to literature because this is not only an
easier process but also a very practical one in terms of the theoretical level needed for our
undergraduate course.
6 The Beginnings of Psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud
Who was Sigmund Freud? Freud, a German scientist, lived from 1856-1939, and he became a
prominent player in the developing field of psychology, which was in its infancy beginning at the turn of
the 20
th
century. The world was in a new and ever more complex system of industrial revolution and
change, especially for Europe and the United States in the last two centuries of the 19
th
century. The
shift from rural, agrarian societies to societies based in urban centers was well underway. Machinery
was replacing manual labor at a rapid rate, and science as a field of study to categorize, taxonomize,
divide, name, and place everything from plant species to types of human beings was growing in
strength. People began to question and try to assess the workings of the human mind, how behaviors
were formed. What made people tick? What made one person a murderer while another chose a less
violent path? Was it human nature to act in a certain way, or did the way one was brought up and the
experiences one had in life figure more prominantly in determining who one became as a person?
These are the questions that were circulating in the time of Freuds practice.
7 Key Terms: Freudian Psychoanalysis
As it is with many scientists, theorists, politicians, writers, and other professionals, Freuds ideas
changed over time, and he developed his ideas over a span of time, too. Freud did not often present his
ideas as pure fact or incontrovertible, but rather as a possibility, one way of thinking about a very
complex set of ideas or behaviors. Here on this slide youll see a listing of key terms and ideas in the
field of psychology that relate back to Freuds influence. Take note of them now, and well return to
them in depth later in the presentation. Terms: Unconscious, Oedipus Complex/Electra Complex,
Sibling Rivalry, Defenses and Defense Mechanisms, Displacement, Projection, Regression, Fear of
Intimacy, Libido, Anxiety, Return of the Repressed, Dream Symbols, Phallic Symbol, Female Imagery,
Thanatos (Death Drive), Crisis, Trauma, Id/Ego/Superego.

8 Carl Jung: An Overview
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and friend of Sigmund Freuds, is most well known for his contribution to
the field of psychology concerning his identification of archetypes, or particular symbols or figures of
human behavior. Jung lived from 1875 1961, and worked with Freud in the early decades of the 20
th

century before going on to develop his own system of psychoanalytic approaches to human behavior.
Jung brought to psychoanalysis the idea of the collective unconscious, the contrasting human roles of
the introvert and the extrovert, and the diagnostic term complex for repressed psychological aspects
of human behavior. These are all terms and ideas that are still part of our cultural understanding of
psychology today. An archetype is a form of original model of human behavior, or a place of symbolic
resonance, born from the Greek words arche, or original, and typos, a form or model. Examples of
archetypes would be the figure of Mother Earth/Earth Goddess or the Hero or the Villain, or in terms of
places the Forest (dense, symbolic of fertility and life) or the Cave or Tunnel (symbolic of looking within,
examining self, or of female sexuality). Actions can also be viewed as archetypalfor instance, think of
the journey archetype, where a traveler must overcome many obstacles in order to reach a final goal of
some great importance.
For more basic information on Jung, visit
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/jung.htm.
9 Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan is most well-known for his connection to linguistics and psychoanalysis, and for his
identification of the mirror stage, which sets up the fundamental difference and distinction in our
ability to identify ourselves as I and those who are not I as Others. For Lacan, humans identify the
difference between themselves and others through objects that reflect, like a mirror, the difference
between their own body (and mind) and the bodies and minds of others. The mirror itself as symbol
works well to remember this conceptwhen a baby sees a reflection of itself in a mirror, it must learn
to eventually differentiate itself I from the image in the mirror, a reflection of self, but Other than
part of self. Like Carl Jung, Lacan draws from the psychoanalytic concepts developed by Sigmund Freud
and establishes his own system of applying psychoanalysis. While Lacanian analysis is a bit beyond our
reach for an undergraduate course, it might be fun for you to do some background reading on Lacan,
the mirror stage, and his connection to others in the fields of psychoanalysis and literary theory.
For more background on Lacan, visit http://www.english.hawaii.edu/criticalink/lacan/index.html and
check out the Supplemental Links to the Web and Other Media in the Classroom of our course.
10 The Unconscious and Id/Ego/Superego
For Freud, one of the first major aspects of his system of psychoanalysis was the concept of the
unconscious, which functions through forces and means without our conscious knowledge and
influences our every action and behavior. Freud suggested that there are three main areas of psychic
activity: the Id, which is in the unconscious and is focused on desires and gratification of those desires;
the Ego, which is the part of the Id that is influenced by contact with the social world; and the Superego,
which functions as a sort of conscience, an internal censor bringing social pressures to bear on the id
(Handbook to Literature, p. 241). Consciousness is the realm of the Ego, as the ego must always
mediate among the demands of social pressure or reality, the demands for satisfaction arising from the
id, and the claims of the conscience of the Superego (Handbook to Literature, p. 241). According to
Freud, a healthy Ego resists demands from the id to satisfy sexual or instinctual urges to avoid painful
consequences or to make gratification possible later (Handbook to Literature, p. 241).
Heres a simple example of the power of the id, ego, and superego. Lets say youre starving for
chocolate cake and you really, really, really want to eat a whole cake right now. Thats your unconscious
desire based on pleasure and gratification of a need, the realm of the Id. Your Superego, tapped into
what social constraints deem appropriate, says hold on, now, weve got to stay in shape and look good.
Were watching our figure. The ego steps in and makes a choice based on both the needs of the Id and
the needs of the Superego. You can have your cake, but you can only have a little.
Some ideas on this slide are borrowed from:
Harmon, William and Hugh Holman (2009). Freudian Criticism. A Handbook to Literature. New
Jersey: Pearson. p. 241-242

11 Examples of Id/Ego/Superego at Work
Lets think about some examples to solidify the importance of these structures, the Id, Ego, and
Superego. Liebert and Spiegler, in their text Personality, share some possible conflicts between the Id,
Ego, and Superego that will help us understand the psychic tug of war that exists between these parts of
consciousness. Found online at http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/conflicts.html.
When the id, or unconscious desire, is pitted against the ego, or the area that is aware of social
influence, there may be a struggle over gratification. An example here would be choosing between a
small immediate reward and a larger reward given later, like a childs choice between a piece of candy at
the store from mom now, or a larger toy to play with once home from the store without a tantrum.
Have you ever felt the social pressure to tell a little white lie in public or among friends? Think of that
age-old question that you may have been asked before by a friend or family memberdoes this outfit
look good? Youre stuck in a tough spot. If the outfit does not look good and you tell your friend or
family member, you risk upsetting them and disrupting the social equilibrium in your friendship. Would
you choose the little white lie, or would you stick to always telling the truth? This is an Ego versus
Superego conundrum.
Take a moment to read through these sticky personality situations pertaining to the Id, Ego, and
Superego. Youll find further reading on these aspects of personality in our Supplemental Links to the
Web and Other Media section of the course.
Some ideas on this slide are borrowed from:
Liebert, R. and M. Spiegler (1990). Personality. Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole Publishing. p. 95.
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/conflicts.html

12 Family Roles: Oedipus and Electra Complexes and Sibling Rivalry
How we experience our lives and our roles within our family structure greatly influences the way we
develop personality and psychological blockages. We are each a product of the role we are given in the
family complex, and that role determines how we interact with others throughout the rest of our lives
(Tyson 16).
Freud described one form of family dysfunction based on the desire for love from the opposite-sex
parent as the Oedipal conflict. For male children , this competition with the parent of the same gender
for the attention and affection of the parent of the opposite gender is called the Oedipus complex,
based on the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, where Oedipus ultimately kills his father in order to sleep with
his mother. For female children, Freud deemed the same type of competition the Electra complex,
based on another Greek tragedy with similar themes. The competition involved in the Oedipus and
Electra complexes is present in all heterosexual family units where both parents are present in the home
(and can even play out when parents are separated and living in different places).
One interesting way that the Oedipal conflict plays out is when sibling rivalry repression is triggered in
the parent, and an unconscious competition begins for the favor of the mate between the parent and
the child.
Lois Tyson explains this well in the following example:
If I feel jealous of my mates affection for our child, what may be going on is a re-enactment of my
unresolved childhood rivalry with a sibling I believed was more loved by my parents than I . That is,
seeing my mates affection for our child reawakens some or all fo the hurt I felt when I saw my parents
affection for the sibling I believed they preferred. And so I now find myself competing with my child for
the attention of my mate (16).
Most often, though, the sibling rivalry and Oedipal conflict stages are referred to as developmental
stages, childhood stages that we pass through on our way to adolescence and adulthood. Competition
with siblings for the love and affection of our parents, and competition with one parent for the love and
affection of another parent, are both parts of negotiating the roles of the family unit.
Some ideas presented on this slide from Tyson, Lois. (1999). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly
Guide. New York: Garland.



13 Fear of Intimacy
Fear of intimacy keeps us from becoming involved in close personal relationships with others. Because
we fear some fundamental repressed and traumatic event and behavior, we do not allow ourselves to
connect emotionally, physically, or sexually with another. Keeping ourselves distant from significant
others protects us from reliving our repressed, painful past. If we keep ourselves distant, we do not
have to remember feeling abandoned, neglected, and other painful aspects of childhood trauma. Tyson
notes that having more than one romantic or sexual partner at one time, breaking off romances when
they start to evolve past the infatuation stage, and keeping oneself too busy to spend much time with
family and friends are just a few of the many ways we can maintain an emotional distance from loved
ones without admitting to ourselves what we are doing (18).
Some ideas presented on this slide from Tyson, Lois. (1999). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly
Guide. New York: Garland.

14 Anxiety and Return of the Repressed
Repression functions as a wiping out of the consciousness of specific , unhappy, psychological events.
But just because we push the negative influences out of our conscious mind, that does not mean they
are not lingering in our unconscious and influencing our every thought, action, or behavior towards
ourselves and towards others. As Lois Tyson notes, repression doesnt eliminate our painful
experiences and emotions. Rather, it gives them force by making them the organizers of our current
experience: we unconsciously behave in ways that will allow us to play out, without admitting to
ourselves, our conflicted feelings about the painful experiences and emotions we repress (15). Lets
think of an example of this at work. Imagine a child who has an abusive parent, one who responds with
physical violence when threatened. The child wants love from that parent, but does not receive it.
When the child grows into an adult, he or she may unconsciously re-enact the hope for love and the
letdown of the lack of love in every relationship he or she develops with a significant othersetting up
for disaster by choosing an abusive, physically violent person to be romantically involved with and thus
reliving the repressed relationship with the parent in the childs now adult relationship with a partner.
Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness we have when situations that connect with our core issues (fears like
fear of abandonment, fear of intimacy, lack of self-esteem, etc.) rise to the surface. Tyson argues that
anxiety always involves the return of the repressedwe are anxious because something we repressed is
being brought back into our consciousness and we do not want to confront it. We want to keep it
repressed, buried in our unconscious, where it cannot harm us (Critical Theory Today p. 19).
Some ideas presented on this slide from Tyson, Lois. (1999). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly
Guide. New York: Garland.


15 Defenses and Defense Mechanisms
Defenses and defense mechanisms work to try to keep those traumatic experiences weve repressed
locked deep in our unconscious. They are the processes by which we keep the repressed repressed in
order to avoid knowing what we feel we cant handle knowing (Tyson 18). Here are several defenses
identified by Freud: Selective perception, selective memory, denial, avoidance, displacement,
projection, and regression.
Selective perception operates when we allow ourselves to see, feel, and hear only what we want to
based on what our mind will let us handle. If the situation is too painful, too dangerous to our
unconscious and conscious understanding of self, we will only allow part (or even none) of the situation
into our psyche. We can see selective perception at work as an example when we think of a grieving
family member. The loss of a loved one has traumatized the family member, and he or she is acting
almost numb to the many painful stimuli that are bombarding them. Selective memory is similar: we
can unconsciously wipe out terrible aspects of the reality of a situation and remember the instance in a
very different way than it occurred. We may even forget horribly painful events entirely (a form of
repression). Denial allows us to flat out stop ourselves from admitting a painful event even happened.
We dont have to face it if we dont admit it ever happened. Another way we can see denial at work is
when we see a friend or family member refuse to admit that a problem even exists. Have you ever tried
to avoid a tough situation in order to keep yourself from having to confront painful feelings or thoughts
that make you anxious? Then you are using the defense mechanism of avoidance. Think of a person
who has a horrible fear of heights. They may want to travel overseas, and the fastest way to go is by
plane. But, they will avoid that possibility at all costs because of their fear of heights, and so will choose
a much longer or less pleasurable path (perhaps by boat) to reach their goal because they are avoiding a
particular fear that makes them anxious. Displacement functions as taking it out on someone or
something less threatening than the person who caused our fear, hurt, frustration, or anger (Tyson 18).
Think of a teenager stuck in an abusive home. Dad comes home and physically abuses the teen. The
teen takes out his feelings of anger and pain on a pet in the home because the animal is less threatening
than confronting the father and the teen unconsciously believes there is no other outlet for him to
release the pressure of his feelings. When we accuse someone else of our own personal desires,
behaviors, or problematic issues instead of facing them ourselves, we are projecting our issues onto
someone else. Think of a person who is in denial about being vicious to others because of a fear of true
intimacy. That person would likely lash out at others whom they are close with, claiming the other
person is vicious or cruel to them or to others, rather than admitting their own fault or complicity in
being vicious because of a fear of abandonment. In order to avoid recognizing their own personal
issues, the person projected their issues on to someone else they felt threatened by. In literature, we
might investigate the motives and defenses of particular characters to get a sense of what core issues
might be at play for them psychologically.
Some ideas presented on this slide from Tyson, Lois. (1999). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly
Guide. New York: Garland.

16 Crisis and Trauma
When the terrible thoughts, feelings, and experiences we have tried to repress continue to bubble to
the surface of our consciousness despite all of our defense mechanisms, we will be faced with
confronting the fears and experiences in our conscious awareness. We would be in a state of crisis, a
state of trauma. In literature, moments of crisis and trauma often occur at key moments in the dramatic
tension of the piece. We can examine the defenses of the characters and recognize moments of crisis
and trauma to explore in terms of psychoanalytic criticism. What mechanisms, thoughts, behaviors, and
actions led to this moment of crisis and how does the character react?


17 The Death Drive (Thanatos)
If we think of death in terms of loss instead of in terms of an abstract idea of the end of life, then we can
broaden the interpretation of deaths influence on our lives and psyches. Death is inevitabletherefore
loss is inevitabletherefore some form of psychic trauma is inevitable in our lives, no matter what. But,
as we now know, we humans are gifted at finding ways to avoid dealing with those aspects of our lives
that we dont want to accept or confront. Freud identified what he called a sort of death drive in
humans, which he called thanatos. This doesnt mean that humans are driven to suicide or to kill, but
rather that with all the self-destructive behaviors we engage in, there must be some connection
between the trauma of loss and our constant need and behavior to mitigate that trauma and loss. He
called this physical and psychological self-destruction death work (Tyson 24). Fear of death, fear of
abandonment, and fear of intimacy can all be related back to fear of death, as can fear of loss in general.
We fear the finality of death, the reality that when we die, we die alone. We fear the abandonment
death can bring when we think of the deaths of those around uswe will inevitably lose those closest to
us, as human beings all die. This can trigger repressed feelings of loss and anxiety about childhood
abandonment and influence our ability to be intimate with others in our personal relationships. Fear of
death can cause us to become numb to life, because our fear keeps us immobilized from doing any true
living. Our fear has us trapped and the only release from that fear is to ultimately be released by that
which we fear mostthe only way out is to die! Tyson says this well when she writes my intense fear
of losing my life makes living so painful and frightening that my only escape is death (25). Tyson goes
on to talk about the more general connection between death and loss in a profound and easy to grasp
way. She states, if we complicate matters by realizing that our fear of tdeath is not merely fear of
biological death but traslates for most of us into fear of loss in generalloss of my health, loss of my
job, loss of my looks, loss of my moneythen we can see how death, emotional death if not biological
death, is so attractive, at least on the unconscious level: if I dont feel anything, then I cant be hurt. And
if we realize that our first experience of death is not biological at all, but the psychological death most
of us suffered the first time we felt abandoned by a parent, then we can see the ways in which our early
experiences of abandonment created our fear of death. This desire not to feel, this desire to insulate
ourselves from life in order to insulate ourselves from pain, is probably the most common form of death
work (25-26).
Some ideas presented on this slide from Tyson, Lois. (1999). Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly
Guide. New York: Garland.
18 Phallic Symbol and Female Imagery
Many of Freuds theories about human development are based on sexuality and sexual representation.
One way that a literary critic may examine a piece of literature for psychoanalytic connections is to look
for and interpret the use of male or female imagery. Freud identified two types of imagery based on
sexuality. Phallic symbols are symbols related to the male sex organ. Phallic symbols are often tall and
erect, like the skyscraper shown on this slide. A sword would also be a phallic symbol. Phallic symbols
can also have the capability of shooting or being shot, like an arrow, gun or cannon, or going off, like a
rocket or even a bomb. Phallic symbols are related to power, masculinity, and control. Literary critics
will often talk about the character who uses phallic symbols as possessing the phallus or possessing
phallic power, regardless of the characters gender. For instance, when a female character stands up to
her abusive lover and shoots him in self defense as he tries to attack her, she has claimed the phallic
power and uses the phallic symbol of the shooting gun to institute that power.
Female imagery is related to the female sex organs and is symbolically linked to protection,
nourishment, and nuturing. Female imagery is often situated around caves or tunnels, or in imagery
related to the compact and protective space of the womb. Caves, rooms, walled-in gardens, cups, or
enclosures and containers of any kind can function as female imagery. Female imagery can also include
milk, fruit, and other kinds of food as well as the containers in which food is deliveredin other words,
anything that can be a stand-in for the breast, which is itself a stand-in for emotional nurturing (Tyson
22).