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Merits and demerits of psychoanalytic criticism
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Psychoanalytic criticism sample essay
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Three distinct characters found in “The Kugelmass Episode” represent the Id, Ego, and the Superego of the author Woody Allen’s persona. Whereas, the character Emma reflects upon Allen’s desires. Much like the character Kugelmass, Allen experiences several unsuccessful relationships. His most notorious relationship was with Mia Farrell, who he cheated on with their adoptive daughter. The way he treated their relationship establishes his need to trade in the old for something new and improved because he cannot find satisfaction. The Id describes our wants, desires, and sex itself and this can be represented by the character The Great Persky. He is the magician who has the ability to send Kugelmass into any book he chooses. The cheap Chinese cabinet, or the time machine, is also symbolic of the Id because of the instant satisfaction in fulfilling Kugelmass’ desires. As Kugelmass questions, “You sure this is safe,” and Persky replies, “Safe. Is anything safe in this crazy world,” Persky’s response once again identifies Id, while Kugelmass’ character is concentrating slightly more on the Ego. Persky doesn’t seem to worry about anything; He doesn’t question any risk involved. Kugelmass’ comment to Persky as he waits in the box for his final trip, “Sex and romance….What we go through for a pretty face,” reinstates that the Id does not care about consequences, just the reward. Kugelmass wants what he wants, whether it comes to back to bite him or not. The Ego is representative of the character Kugelmass. He wants to have an affair, but deep down realizes he needs to keep it from his wife to avoid hurting her. When the opportunity arises to have an affair with a fictional character, he no longer sees the harm in having an a... ... middle of paper ... ... nothing more than a typical Jewish New Yorker. His desire to be someone more exotic is prevalent when compared to Kugelmass’ desires. He may feel as if he doesn’t possess enough passion and class to be considered one of the great authors. He often plays off the comedic aspects of life to conceal his shortcomings. The reason for failed attempts in relationships is because he will always be missing something. Through his repeated attempts to fill that void with someone new until something better came along continued until he received backlash from people concerned about his relationship with his adopted daughter. She is his tener which caused him to lose the respect of many including his other children. Although he is not trapped in their current relationship---the stigma will always be there and the consequences will forever be present in how others view him.
...tionship and further shapes his character into a state of self-isolation as he will even push his closest family out of his life.
According to Freud’s theory, the personality is divided into three parts: id, ego and superego. The id encourages us to seek physical satisfaction, such as sex and food. In the novel, everyone tries to receive pleasure in a constant state of happiness. Everyone
In Rachael Kushner’s The Flametrowers the unorthodox relationship between Sandro Valera and Reno is deeply described. From those details it is evident that the novel seeks to explore the the psychology of relationships. The theoretical concepts of Psychoanalytic criticism will be used in order to analyse aspects of Sandro and Reno’s relationship. According to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University, Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology. Based on the concepts of Psychoanalytic criticism it is clear that Sandro’s behavior as an adult directly links to events in his childhood. By that connection Sandro’s mistreatment of the people around him is caused by his relationship with his father.
The id is the part of the mind that has the most physical effect on a human. Throughout the novel it leads up to a part where Jack puts on a mask. In the novel it states, “He looked at himself in astonishment, no longer at himself but an awesome stranger. He spilt the water and lept to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a
The first of Freud’s divisions of one’s personality is the Id. The Id is exists from birth it directs one to avoid pain and to seek pleasure in life. The id controls two main instincts, one is a reproductive instinct for life, whereas the other is an aggressive death instinct almost like a fight response in one’s brain (Wade Tavris 40). The Id is always in a constant want of immediate satisfaction. The Id is our primal instinct from birth to always seek out pleasure, or our wants when humanly possible, and to avoid pain at all costs (Basirizadeh Harati 2). Due to these two conflicting instincts that reside in our personalities, there is always tension in the Id. This tension can be eased in many different forms, from a physical reaction to the tension to an impact on one’s mental state with uncensored images and immoral thoughts. The id lives in our subconscious while it motivates us toward pleasure and avoiding pain (Wade Tavris 40).
In this essay the main task is going to be to develop all the characteristics about this strange narrator.
Freud’s theory is that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivation influences personality. Freud believes we human do things for sex and aggression. Psychoanalysis is Freud’s theory of personality that attributes our thoughts and actions to unconscious motion and conflicts. We learned about id which contains a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy it is to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives. For example when a little kid is at the toy section of the store and really wants a new toy they will be demanding and tell his parents he really wants the toy and will start throwing a tantrum. Superego is the part of personality that represents internalized ideals, provides standards for judgement like the conscience. Thirdly, ego is largely conscious. The ego is the one that decides between the demands of the id, superego, and reality. The example we were given in class to understand the difference between id and superego is like the “angel” and the “devil” on top of your shoulders fighting for you to take their decisions. Freud’s Psychosexual stages include oral from 0-18 months, anal from 16-36 months, phallic from 3-6 years, latency from 6 years old to puberty, and genital from puberty and so on. Oral is the pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, biting, and chewing. Anal is the pleasure focused on bowel and bladder elimination, coping with demands for control. Phallic is the pleasure zone, genitals coping with incestuous sexual feelings. Latency is when you dormant sexual feelings. Finally, genital is the maturation of sexual interests. We learned in class that if a child doesn’t process the oral stage of Freud's Psychosexual stages they might grow up and start to smoke or eat too much because they didn't get enough of the oral stage. This relates to the world because it gives me new perspectives on how I view it. I wonder how many people in the world smoke because they
The movie Girl, Interrupted, written by Susanna Kaysen, is a good text to use for a Psychoanalytic Criticism lens. A memoir turned into a movie about a young girl being admitted to a psych ward after trying to end her life and living with a mental illness and finding treatment is a great example to show what Psychoanalytic Criticism really is. “The forgetting or ignoring of unresolved conflicts, unadmitted desires, or traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of the conscious into the realm of the unconscious” (Barry, 97). In applying psychoanalytic criticism the definition of psychoanalysis itself must be understood. It is a form of therapy that is used to help cure mental disorders “By investigating the interaction of the conscious
Although, once he receives therapy he will learn how to love again. His emotional recovery will be very similar to his spiritual recovery instead of finding love, he will be searching for God. Krebs is currently very distant from God, when he is in the kitchen with his mom during breakfast, his mom asked him to pray with her: “‘Now, you pray, Harold,’ she said. ‘I can’t,’ Krebs said. ‘Try, Harold.’ ‘I can’t’ ‘Do want me to pray for you?’ ‘Yes’’’ (Hemingway 6). It will take Krebs time to find faith, but with the correct guidance and support from his mom and others he will get there. He is already on the right path he is accepting prayers and watching what people do around him. He is surrounded by his family who will help him get through these times. They will also help him heal mentally. Krebs is in a state mind in which he doesn’t work and he doesn’t want to work to get a girl. When he was in town one night he sees some girls and the narrator explains, “Vaguely he wanted a girl but he didn’t want to have to work to get her. He would have liked to have a girl but he didn’t want to spend a long time getting her” (Hemingway
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (19621960). The Ego and the Super-ego. The ego and the id (pp. 19-20). New York: Norton.
Ego identity is said to be one of the many things Erickson has focused on. He believed that through social interaction we gain mindful sense of ourselves, which can be commonly referred to as Ego identity. Although, Freud referred to the ego as the match over the necessities of the identity and superego, Erickson saw the ego as our way of our self-esteem. The way Erickson describes ego is the way we commonly use it in conversation. The main i...
Porus, V. N. "Identity of the Ego: Conflicting Interpretations." Cultural-Historical Psychology 3 (2011): 27-35. Print.
The ego is referred to as a “reality principle”, because the child starts to interact with the world during this stage, and becomes more aware or his or her surroundings. This is where a child will realize that other people have desires and needs as well, and he or she understands that impulsive or selfish behavior can lead to harm. The ego meets the needs of the id, while also understanding the reality of the situation. The ego seems to become Chief Bromden’s strongest trait, after McMurphy’s influence on him. Gradually, Bromden begins to follow McMurphy’s ways and fight for what he wants, while still being careful because he understands consequences. One example would be when he first speaks out to McMurphy. It had been years since he had ever said a word, yet he decided to start speaking. It was all because of the influence McMurphy had on him, and he was finally confident enough to feel like he could be heard, however he does not let the ward know he can speak, realizing all the trouble that could get him into. The next step is when McMurphy decides to go on the fishing trip with everyone. He had always dreamed about going outside the ward, and it finally is able to happen. This is the biggest development the Chief has through the story, also being a positive one. Freud believed if a person’s ego was strongest, they were extremely healthy,
The Id “knows no judgments of value: no good and evil, no morality (Freud, The Dissection of the Psychical Personality, 2004, p. 84).” This means that the Id is the part of the personality that is unorganized in the processes and only contains the instincts for biological needs for the person to live. Since the Id has no sense of morals, does not know good or evil, its main goal is to get the person whatever it needs by any means possible to thrive. The way to remember that the Id has no judgments of value is to think of it as a child. A child wines and cries until they receives food, drink or human touch. The child is so unruly that it needs somebody to control it and this would be the Ego. The Ego’s functions on the reality principle that means it keeps the Id under control by organization of the processes in the personality. The Ego is the mediator between the Id and superego which will be discussed later. Since the ego is considered a mediator it could be remembered as the brains of the operation. It keeps the Id under control by educating it and showing that if a need must be met there is a specific way to obtain it. Next is the Superego, Freud considered “the origin on conscience,” meaning that the Superego specific function is to act as the person’s conscience between good and evil (Freud, The Dissection of the Psychical Personality, 2004, p. 74). The Super ego balances out the Id
Personality is an individual’s characteristic pattern of feeling, thinking and acting. Psychodynamic theories of personality view human behavior as a dynamic interaction between the conscious mind and unconscious mind, including associated motives and conflicts (Myers & Dewall, pg# 572, 2015). These theories focus on the unconscious and the importance of childhood experiences. Psychodynamic theories are descended from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis, which is his ideology of personality and the associated treatment techniques. Psychoanalysis attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts. This theory also includes the techniques used in treating psychological disorders by seeking to expose and interpret unconscious tensions. He proposed that childhood sexuality and unconscious motivations influence personality. Freud’s historically significant psychoanalytic theory became part of the human cultural legacy.