Literary works are interpreted using various theories. Wherein every theory strives to give a new meaning and level of understanding to a piece of literature. There are four major critical theories in the literature. Namely, New criticism, poststructuralism, psychoanalytic criticism, and Marxist theory. In this article, instead of spending light on all four of these theories, we are going to direct our focus toward psychoanalytic criticism theory and discuss it extensively.
But do you have a good idea of Literary Criticism? So, before marching towards Psychoanalytic Criticism Theory, it’s vital we first understand what is Literary Criticism to grasp the concept effectively.
What is Literary Criticism?
The word criticism is a close relative of the word disapproval. When given a close read to an author’s work one gets to have a detailed look at its pros, cons, merits, and demerits.
Literary criticism is backed by robust research and cogent evidence which takes into account the setting, theme, style, political, philosophical, biographical, cultural, or historical context of a literary piece.
In a nutshell, Literary Criticism is the study, analysis, comparison, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works using different contexts. It can be a play, poetry, essay, story, or a piece of fiction.
The term ‘Literary Criticism’ gives rise to another question. Is Literary Criticism important?
Yes! Literary Criticism is actually more important than one might think.
The various angles of analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating a literary work of art help broaden a reader’s understanding by opening his mind to various contexts of a literary work.
Now that we have developed an understanding of Literary Criticism, it’s high time we dive into the world of Psychoanalytic Criticism Theory.
What is Psychoanalytic Criticism Theory?
Psychoanalytic theory is a method of diagnosing and treating personality disorders that finds value in psychotherapy. The theory is the idea that what happens to people during childhood can have an impact on the way they work in the coming years of their life.
Sigmund Freud was the man behind the idea of Psychoanalytic Criticism. He believed that the mind is made up of two parts — the conscious mind and the unconscious mind – and that the mind is often made up of people who make certain decisions or do not know where they are.
Psychoanalytic Criticism Theory receives the strategies for “perusing” utilized by Freud and later scholars to decipher messages. It contends that abstract writings express the mysterious oblivious cravings, that artistic work is an indication or result of the writer’s anxieties. One may psychoanalyze a specific character inside a scholarly work. However, it is typically expected that all such characters are projections of the creator’s mind.
Various Aspects of Psychoanalytic Criticism Theory
- One intriguing aspect of this methodology is that it approves of the significance of literary writing. As it is based on an abstract key for the disentangling. The fantasy contemplations which we previously seem to continue with our test are frequently struck by the strange structure. Which they are communicated with; but they are not dressed in the trite language normally utilized by our musings. However, these are actually addressed emblematically by methods for analogies and allegories, in pictures looking like those of lovely discourse”.
- Another important aspect is that the basic undertaking looks out for proof of uncertain feelings, faults, and vacillations inside of what could be a disunified scholarly work. The creator’s youth injuries, day-to-day life, sexual clashes, obsessions, and the conduct of the characters in the artistic work. Be that as it may, mental material will be communicated by implications, masked, or encoded through standards, for example, “imagery” “buildup.
Key Concepts used in Psychoanalytic Theory
The concepts that can be used in Psychoanalytic Criticism are not limited to a particular set. The concepts such as
- Repression
- Super-ego
- Sublimation
- Dreamwork
- Displacement
can be used to bring out meaningful Psychoanalytic Criticism in a literary work.
Examples of Psychoanalytic Theory
Theories when backed up with suitable examples, make grasping the concept easy and fun. This stands true for Psychoanalytic theory as well. So, we’ve jotted down some refined examples to clear out any kernel of doubt that may have. Let’s begin!
- Every time the bike she is riding gets stopped suddenly with which she is panicked/. She thinks this is because she is correlating her past car accident with such situations. When she was a child, the fear of another car crash came to her mind.
- Holden’s mother left when he was very young. As a result, he has stopped trusting people even with simple things. Since he is afraid he might get lonely and neglected again if he trusts anyone.
- The violent behavior of criminals is often traced to the violent and abusive ways they were treated during their formative years.
- Luke lost his car keys and was late for work. A psychoanalytic theorist might say that he lost his keys because, somewhere in his subconscious, he was anything but interested in going to work that day and wanted to quit his job.
- Steph often tells white lies and is known for giving evasive answers to every question. Her husband thinks Steph does this because deep down she is afraid of facing the truth about difficult circumstances. So she plays it safe and avoids the truth in both major and minor situations.
- Derek’s grandparents always encouraged him to play rugby and think he is an excellent player; but, would rather play cricket. His parents made him try out for the school’s rugby team anyway. He normally is a good player, but on the day of tryouts, he did not perform very well. He probably was not able to play at his best, deep down, he did not want to make the team anyway.
- Jill is adamant that she does not want to get married. Her parents parted ways when she was seven. Somewhere deep down, she does not think that any marriage is successful.
- Christian has asked Gianna several times to go together to the sports center. Gianna keeps saying she wants to but is never available when Christian asks. Christian finally concludes that Gianna probably really doesn’t want to go with him, or else somehow she would make it work.
- When Lexi was nine, her younger sister died. Now that she is about to enter wedlock, her deepest fear comes alive: she is terrified to have children. Especially a daughter because she is afraid that the child will die at a young age just like her sister.
- When Jessie graduated from Harvard, she almost couldn’t believe she had finally done it. She never thought to come this far. The words of her first-grade teacher calling her a failure had always followed her like a shadow all these years.
- When Adam proposed to Olive, she didn’t accept, because she couldn’t wrap her head around the idea. The whole idea of entering wedlock flummoxed her. Adam wanted to be with her for a lifetime. 3 years earlier her fiancé had called off their wedding after the rehearsal dinner for no apparent reason and Olive had never recovered.
This brings us to the end of our discussion about Psychoanalytic Criticism in literature. Keep exploring EnglishBix to learn about different types of critical theories in English. Have a great day!