Jekyll & Hyde - Psychoanalytic View

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The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – a psychoanalytic interpretation There are several ways of interpreting Robert Louis Stevenson's novel 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde', but to my mind, the most suitable and interesting one is the psychoanalytic approach. Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis is based on his idea of the human psyche consisting of three areas: first, the super-ego, which represents social and cultural norms and almost corresponds to the human conscience. Second, the id, which accommodates the drives and the instincts hidden in the depths of the human unconscious, as for instance the satisfaction of the human needs or the reproduction. The third area describes the rational ego, which is the human consciousness that tries to mediate between the conscience and the unconscious. By this, the superego and the id are balanced and form the character's identity, an integrated self. Another very important and appropriate part for a psychoanalytic interpretation of 'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' is the return of the repressed that Freud describes in his theory of psychoanalysis. Society, its norms and taboos suppress the antisocial individual desires which nevertheless exist in the subconscious. Stevenson's novel 'is one of the most famous literary expressions of the uncanny' (Meyer 138). That means something that should have stayed unknown but still appears is revealed by the return of the repressed. The action takes place in London in 1886 during the Victorian era when the only important and honourable persons were men, as to be seen in the fact that all main characters in Stevenson's novel are male. He only mentions a 'maidservant' as a female person (Stevenson 29). The repressive influence on the individual by society can be found in the super-ego, which is recognizable in the person of Dr. Henry
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