The Neurosis of Nathaniel Hawthorne The influence of Freud's theory of the dynamics of human personality extends far beyond the discipline of behavioral science, reaching into areas such as humanities, philosophy, and literature. Freud believed that a work of literature is the external expression of the author's unconscious mind. Therefore, we must treat the work of literature as a dream, then reveal hidden motivations and repressed desires by applying psychoanalytic techniques. In the story "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I will explore the use of symbols and repressed images by the author that are conveyed throughout the story. To understand better the approach of psychoanalytic criticism, we must first define a general concept of the theory behind it. Psychoanalytic theory finds its roots in psychoanalysis, the medical technique developed by Sigmund Freud in 1900. Freud published a book entitled The Interpretation of Dreams that outlined a complete theory of dreams and focused on unconscious mechanisms and their relation to consciousness. Psychoanalysis was born. Although not originally intended to be a school of literary criticism, Freud later began to develop a connection between literature and psychoanalysis. This created a new understanding of the artwork (the literary piece itself), the artist (writers including their writing process), and the audience (readers and their responses). Psychoanalysis is said to have several different meanings. For literary purposes the best definition as described by Robert Mollinger would be "a theory of the mind that can serve as an explanatory model for literature"(31). Central to Psychoanalysis is the tripartite model. The tripartite model is best desc... ... middle of paper ... ...re and Existential Psychoanalysis: "My Kinsman, Major Molineaux", and "Young Goodman Brown." Canadian Review of American Studies 4.1 (1973) : 65-73. Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1999. Campbell, Harry M. "Freudianism, American Romanticism, and Young Goodman Brown." CEA Critic 33.3 (1971) : 3-6. Mollinger, Robert. Psychoanalysis and Literature. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981. Morrison, Claudia. Freud and the Critic: The Early Use of Depth Psychology in Literary Criticism. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1968. Tritt, Michael. "Young Goodman Brown, and the Psychology of Projection." Studies In Short Fiction 23.1 (1986): 113-117. "Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne Encyclopedia. 4th ed. 1991.
In the article, “‘Young Goodman Brown’ and the Psychology of Projection”, Michael Tritt critically analyzes Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” to construct the process of how Hawthorne regards Goodman Brown’s behavior. Tritt examines the phenomenon of projection in psychology and believes that “Brown’s compulsive condemnation of others, along with his consistent denial of his own culpability, illustrates a classically defined case of projection” (116). He defines projection as an unconscious process when a person projects their own traits or desires onto other people, thus representing a false perception on whom the projection is made.
In reading Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown, many issues come up that arouse interest in topics of knowledge, evil, reality, amongst other things. During my experience reading this text, how Goodman Brown's outlook changed based on information revealed to him that may not even be the "reality" of the people he knows was fascinating. That knowledge gained outside traditional and physical realms can affect the mind and the perception of the world is a fascinating subject. I also found this interesting in conjunction with some of the concepts of literary critics we reviewed this week, as the question of what literature is and what it should do becomes important in the discussion of what happens to Goodman Brown, but subsequently what happens to the reader of his story.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1997. 298-308.
Hawthorne’s Romantic writing ability allures his readers into deep thought of the transforming characters creating himself as a phenomenon. His ability to transform Puritan society in a dark world “attracts readers not only for their storytelling qualities, but also for the moral and theological ambiguities Hawthorne presents so well” (Korb 303). In “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Romantic characteristics such as artificiality of the city, escape from reality, and the value of imagination.
Many authors write works and essays on certain topics which we enjoy but may never realize that within that text there may be a different underlying concept. The concept of psychoanalysis is used by two authors in real text, Chuck Klosterman in his essay Being Zack Morris and Karen Sternheimer in her essay Do Video Games Kill?. The authors have two differents topics, Klosterman discusses why many different and diverse people can relate to one thing and Sternheimer writes about why people falsely believe that videogames cause violence, but the concept of their essays are the same. The authors use psychoanalysis to explain the motivation behind the way that people think and how they it can be influenced by many factors.
The psychoanalytic theory was founded by Sigmund Freud. This theory is used in psychotherapy as a process of investigating and treating personality disorders. The idea behind this theory is that our childhood experiences are directly related to the way we function in our later years as adults. Freud believed that our mind is made up of both the conscious mind and the unconscious
Edgar Allen Poe wrote that he could see that imagination is a part of many of Hawthorne’s works (Poe). It is as if imagination is built in to Hawthorne’s work as almost an ingredient to a cake. When describing Hawthorne’s work in the Encyclopedia of World Biography, they state that Hawthorne’s work is “broadly allegorical but infused with imaginative passion.” Hawthorne’s imagination was infused in his work. Such things as the experimentation in “The Birthmark”, the journey and hidden themes in “Young Goodman Brown” or the fictional youth in “Dr.Heidegger’s Experiment.” Poe wrote that Hawthorne’s stories “are the product of a truly imaginative intellect ” and that “ “Dr. Heidegger’s experiment” is exceedingly
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
...ther serves to excite and stimulate our senses as we travel into the deranged mind of a killer ? offering us a unique perspective through the first person point of view. Similarly, the ending of ?Young Goodman Brown? offers a moral, but leaves the main character in a state of discord and callousness towards his wife, and his religion. The story is didactic, because the main character is punished for his transgressions. Symbolism, evident especially in Hawthorne?s allegory, and the repetition of Poe?s suspenseful tale serve to further the goals of each writer. Ultimately, Hawthorne?s Goodman Brown becomes isolated from humanity, an issue of the head and the heart, and Poe?s narrator withdraws inside himself, an issue purely of the mind. Recognizing this discord from the self and humanity is essential to understanding the behavior of these troublesome characters.
Essay 2 Psychoanalysis is the method of psychological therapy originated by Sigmund Freud in which free association, dream interpretation, and analysis of resistance and transference are used to explore repressed or unconscious impulses, anxieties, and internal conflicts (“Psychoanalysis”). This transfers to analyzing writing in order to obtain a meaning behind the text. There are two types of people who read stories and articles. The first type attempts to understand the plot or topic while the second type reads to understand the meaning behind the text. Baldick is the second type who analyzes everything.
During the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, a psychologist named Sigmund Freud welcomed the new age with his socially unacceptable yet undoubtedly intriguing ideologies; one of many was his Psychoanalytic Theory of Dreams. Freud believed that dreams are the gateway into a person’s unconscious mind and repressed desires. He was also determined to prove his theory and the structure, mechanism, and symbolism behind it through a study of his patients’ as well as his own dreams. He contended that all dreams had meaning and were the representation of a person’s repressed wish. While the weaknesses of his theory allowed many people to deem it as merely wishful thinking, he was a brilliant man, and his theory on dreams also had many strengths. Freud’s theories of the unconscious mind enabled him to go down in history as the prominent creator of Psychoanalysis.
The dialogue, action and motivation revolve about the characters in the story (Abrams 32-33). It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through showing or telling.
Barry, Peter. "Psychoanalytic criticism." Beginning Theory: an Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 3rd ed. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2009. 92-115. Print.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne 's short story "Young Goodman Brown”, the abundant use of symbolism, mystery and suspense captures the reader’s attention almost immediately. From the beginning and throughout the entirety of the story, Hawthorne leads the reader into asking themselves the questions, "What is all of the symbolism, mysticism, characters, and scenery actually representing?" Hawthorne masterfully uses this symbolism to show Goodman Brown’s unconscious struggle with his personal religious faith and his faith in humankind.
By considering such arguments, psychoanalysis can be said to have no ultra fundamental meaning when assessing an author’s work. For former advocate of this analysis, Frederic...