Blog #5: Psychoanalytical Criticism

Psychoanalytical criticism revolves around one’s mind. The roots of the criticism stem from psychologist Sigmund Freud, concentrating on the conscious and unconscious processes within a person. These processes can affect how one interacts with others, how they think, their attitude, moral judgement, and their behavior itself. According to Freud’s structural hypothesis about mental functioning, the mind can be broken down into three entities: id, ego, and superego. The id is really all about meeting one’s needs or wants instantly, commonly in reference to sexual desires. The ego deals more with reality and serves as the mediator between the superego and id. In other words, it tries to meet the desires of both the id and superego in a more realistic way, mainly aiming for self-preservation. It tries to find a balance between our desires and consequences of those desires. The superego on the other hand is based on the conscious which solely reflects on moral judgement: right or wrong.

Another major part of psychoanalytical criticism is defense mechanisms. These are techniques used by the ego to regulate one’s drives while discouraging worries. Among these defense mechanisms are: ambivalence, avoidance, denial, fixation, identification, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, regression, repression, and suppression. For the most part the word themselves describe what type of defense mechanism is at hand.

The psychoanalytical criticism is very complex because it has so much to it, but when applied to actual media you gain a better understanding of it. In closing, as the textbook says, “Psychoanalysis is, remember an interpretative art. It seeks to find meaning in the behavior of people and in the art they create.”