2.5 Psychoanalytical Theory
This theory applies the ideas of Freudian psychology to literature.
Freud sees the component parts of the psyche as three groups of functions such as the
id, directly related to the instinctual drives; the ego, an agency which regulates and
opposes the drives; and the superego, another part of the ego with a critical judging
function.
It encourages the reader/critic to be creative in speculating about the character or author’s
motivations, drives, fears, or desires.
The belief here is that creative writing is like dreaming – it disguises what cannot be
confronted directly – the critic must decode what is disguised.
Psychoanalysis provided a new key to the understanding of character by claiming that
behavior is caused by hidden and unconscious motives. This approach is best applied
and treat literature somewhat like information about patients in therapy.
2.6 Mythological/Archetypal Approach Mythological/Archetypal Approach.
This approach is based on Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious.
Repeated or dominant images or patterns of human experience are identified in the text:
the changing of seasons, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the heroic quest, or
immortality.
Similar motifs or themes may be found among many different mythologies, and certain
images that recur in the myths of people separated in time and place tend to have a
common meaning, elicit comparable psychological responses, and serve similar cultural
functions. Such motifs and images are called archetypes.
This approach also uses Northrop Frye’s assertion that literature consists of variations on
a great mythic theme that contains the following:
the creation and life in paradise: garden
displacement or banishment from paradise: alienation
a time of trial and tribulation, usually a wandering: journey
a self-discovery as a result of struggle: epiphany
a return to paradise: rebirth/resurrection
This theory applies the ideas of Freudian psychology to literature.
Freud sees the component parts of the psyche as three groups of functions such as the
id, directly related to the instinctual drives; the ego, an agency which regulates and
opposes the drives; and the superego, another part of the ego with a critical judging
function.
It encourages the reader/critic to be creative in speculating about the character or author’s
motivations, drives, fears, or desires.
The belief here is that creative writing is like dreaming – it disguises what cannot be
confronted directly – the critic must decode what is disguised.
Psychoanalysis provided a new key to the understanding of character by claiming that
behavior is caused by hidden and unconscious motives. This approach is best applied
and treat literature somewhat like information about patients in therapy.
2.6 Mythological/Archetypal Approach Mythological/Archetypal Approach.
This approach is based on Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious.
Repeated or dominant images or patterns of human experience are identified in the text:
the changing of seasons, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the heroic quest, or
immortality.
Similar motifs or themes may be found among many different mythologies, and certain
images that recur in the myths of people separated in time and place tend to have a
common meaning, elicit comparable psychological responses, and serve similar cultural
functions. Such motifs and images are called archetypes.
This approach also uses Northrop Frye’s assertion that literature consists of variations on
a great mythic theme that contains the following:
the creation and life in paradise: garden
displacement or banishment from paradise: alienation
a time of trial and tribulation, usually a wandering: journey
a self-discovery as a result of struggle: epiphany
a return to paradise: rebirth/resurrection
