CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

I. Psychoanalytic

Psychoanalytic Criticism appeared in the early 20th century. It is an extrinsic

approach which consists in the application of some psychological values to the study of

literature. Psychoanalytic criticism focuses on the writer's psyche and the study of mental

processes of creation, psychological types and principles within works of literature, or the

effects of literature upon its readers (Wikipedia, 2010). The psychoanalytic view holds

that there are inner forces outside of your awareness that are directing your behavior.

That a literary work cannot be analysed disregarding its historic background, as

well, that it cannot be analysed without taking into account its author. “The practice of

art constitutes a psychological activity” {C.G. Jung 1922,}.

On the other word Psychoanalytic theory attempt to focus on : human mind and

human behavior left a lasting mark on psychology and culture.

II. Psychoanalytic Theory

In the field of postcolonialism, there are some experts who influence this subject.

In general their theory seems similar which describe and discuss about the literary texts,

like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a

literary work is a manifestation of the author's own neuroses. One may psychoanalyze a

particular character within a literary work, but it is usually assumed that all such

characters are projections of the author's psyche.

A. Sigmund Freud

Freud explains that each person’s personality is formed of three parts: the

Ego, the Superego and the Id. Psychoanalysis is the process of using to know

about these three parts of someone’s personality to analyze the ways that

person behaves.

Freud identified that literary critics sometimes analyze the actions of

literary characters using the three personality structures that. The ego,

superego, and id of characters in a work, focus on the ways that these parts of

the characters’ personalities influence the work as a whole. This process is

called psychoanalytic criticism.

• ID

The id is the only component of personality that is present from

birth. This aspect of personality is entirely unconscious and

includes of the instinctive and primitive behaviors. According to

Freud, the id is the source of all psychic energy, making it the

primary component of personality. The id is the part of the

personality that contains our primitive impulses such as thirst,

anger, hunger and the desire for instant gratification or release.

According to Freud, we are born with our id. The id is an

important part of our personality because as newborns, it allows us

to get our basic needs met. Freud believed that the id is based on

our pleasure principle. The id wants whatever feels good at the

time, with no consideration for the other circumstances of the

situation. The id is sometimes represented by a devil sitting on

someone’s shoulder. As this devil sits there, he tells the ego to base

behavior on how the action will influence the self, specifically how

it will bring the self pleasure.

• EGO

The ego is the component of personality that is responsible for

dealing with reality. According to Freud, the ego develops from the
 id and ensures that the impulses of the id can be expressed in a

manner acceptable in the real world. The ego functions in both the

conscious, preconscious, and unconscious mind.

The ego operates based on the reality principle, which strives to

satisfy the id's desires in realistic and socially appropriate ways.

The reality principle weighs the costs and benefits of an action

before deciding to act upon or abandon impulses. In many cases,

the id's impulses can be satisfied through a process of delayed

gratification the ego will eventually allow the behavior, but only in

the appropriate time and place.

The ego also discharges tension created by unmet impulses

through the secondary process, in which the ego tries to find an

object in the real world that matches the mental image created by

the id's primary process.

• SUPER EGO

The last component of personality to develop is the superego. The

superego is the aspect of personality that holds all of our

internalized moral standards and ideals that we acquire from both

parents and society--our sense of right and wrong. The superego

provides guidelines for making judgments. According to Freud, the

superego begins to emerge at around age five.

B. JACQUES LACAN

Peter Barry (2002,114 ) in his book Beginning Theory said that, Jacques

Lacan's psychoanalytic theory, the mirror stage begins when the infant looks

in the mirror and sees staring back at him a complete image that contradicts

his fragmented experience of the world. But unlike the chimpanzee, who

eventually finds the image to be empty and therefore abandons it, the human

child recognizes the image as himself and begins to mimic its assumed

movements.

For Lacan, the mirror stage establishes the ego as fundamentally

dependent upon external objects, on an other. As the so-called "individual"

matures and enters into social relations through language, this "other" will be

elaborated within social and linguistic frameworks that will give each

subject's personality (and his or her neuroses and other psychic disturbances)

its particular characteristics.

 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

This theory reflects the effect that modern psychology has had upon both literature and

literary criticism. Fundamental figures in psychological criticism include Sigmund Freud, whose

"psychoanalytic theories changed our notions of human behavior by exploring new or

controversial areas like wish-fulfillment, sexuality, the unconscious, and repression" as well as

expanding our understanding of how "language and symbols operate by demonstrating their

ability to reflect unconscious fears or desires"; and theories about the unconscious are also a key

foundation of mythological criticism.

 Psychological criticism has a number of approaches, but in general, it usually employs

one of the approaches: The psychological study of a particular artist, usually noting how an

author's biographical circumstances affect or influence their motivations and/or behavior. The

analysis of fictional characters using the language and methods of psychology.

Bibliography

Barry, Peter. 2002. Beginning Theory. New York: Manchester University Press.

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,

1983

Freud, Sigmund. The Interpretation of Dreams. Ed. and trans. James Strachey. New York: Basic

Books, 1965

G, C Jung 1922. The Practice Of Art Constitute A Psychological Activity. England: Person

Education Limited
Guerin, Wilfred L. et. al. 2005. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Walles, Jimmy. 2010. Jacques Lacan. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 31 December 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Lacan

Walles, Jimmy. 2009. Psychoanalytic Theory. Wikipedia. Retrieved on 29 December 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_theory

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND

Psychoanalytic theory, coming as it did at the turn of the century, provided a

radically new approach to the analysis and treatment of "abnormal" adult behavior.

Earlier views tended to ignore behavior and look for a physiological explanation of
"abnormality". The approach was in recognizing that neurotic behavior is not random or

meaningless but goal-directed. Thus, by looking for the purpose behind so-called

"abnormal" behavioral patterns, the analyst was given a method for understanding

behavior as meaningful and informative, without denying its physiological aspects.

Psychoanalytical criticism aims to show that a literary or cultural work is always

structured by complex and often contradictory human desires. Whereas New Historicism

and Marx-inspired Cultural Materialism analyze public power structures from,

respectively, the top and bottom in terms of the culture as a whole, psychoanalysis

analyzes microstructures of power within the individual and within small-scale domestic

environments. That is, it analyzes the interiority of the self and of the self's kinship

systems. By analyzing the formation of the individual, however, psychoanalysis also

helps to understand the formation of ideology at large and can therefore be extended to

the analysis of various cultural and societal phenomena.

Theory of Literature
Psychoanalytic Theory
 TEGAR RISADI CHALID

86770/2007

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, AND ART

PADANG STATE UNIVERSITY

2010