Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein can easily be interpreted through the lens of Freud’s theories of Psychoanalysis, albeit the obvious psychological implications evident in Shelley’s novel. Shelley’s work can be viewed as a commentary on the internal struggle of the psyche (between the Id, Ego, and superego)—but also the greater struggle and tension between the psyche and the greater Society (Civilization). Both Frankenstein and his monster highlight Freud’s theories of the “Pleasure Principle”, Taboo/Incest, Society vs. the Ego (Self), Phallic symbolism, Childhood and the Oedipus Complex, and repression. In the beginning of Frankenstein’s narration, he tells the story of his father who becomes like a “Protecting spirit to the poor child, who committed herself to his care”. This can be viewed as a incestuous relationship, because Frankenstein first takes in young Caroline into his care as a father figure but soon “after the interment of his friend he conducted her to Geneva, and placed her under the protection of a relation.
The downfall of Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel is directly correlated with the humanization of the creature he creates. Through the development of both these characters, Shelley communicates ideas of companionship and the abuse of knowledge as well as raising the question as to what makes people human. Shelley responds to her Gothic, post-Enlightenment and Romantic context, drawing on important Gothic techniques such as the use of sublimes, Gothic polarities and isolated setting. The Age of Reason is also reflected in the novel’s scientific content. Shelley uses a set of letters written by a man called Walton to his sister Margaret as a framing device for her novel.
Psychoanalytical analysis of The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka) Introduction PSYCHOANALYTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE METAMORPHOSIS, BY FRANZ KAFKA Introduction We are using Freudian psychoanalytic criticism as our conceptual framework to analyze Franz Kafka’s classic long short story—The Metamorphosis. Taken from Beginning Theory: An Introduction To Literary And Cultural Theory by Peter Barry, Freudian psychoanalytic critics first analyze and interpret literary text in the distinction between the conscious and the unconscious mind. Second, they emphasize the unconscious motives and feelings, whether these are those of the author or those of the characters depicted in the work. Third, classic psychoanalytic symptoms, conditions or phases are presence in the literary work. Forth, they make large-scale applications of psychoanalytic concepts to literary history in general.
Filled with theatrical themes, dramatic irony and symbolism, Dracula acts as much more than a vampire novel. Bram Stoker writes of an assembly of people who have to contract a way to save themselves and others by putting their lives in danger against a resilient vampire. Although society of the time period frowned upon certain behaviors, Stoker managed to get away with writing shocking the social values of a Victorian reader. Through symbolism, Stoker explores female sexual corruption and Christian salvation by contrasting the power of good over evil. Dracula opens with Jonathan Harker, a man who is newly engaged to Mina Murray, traveling to Transylvania on a business trip while telling of his journey through a web of journal entries that last from May to June.
Fowles is constantly trying to highlight the differences between art and reality in order to give his characters independence. Up to Chapter 13’s digression, Fowles’s readers have been allowed to consider that they have been reading a conventional Victorian novel to a certain extent. However, Fowles’s repetition of ‘perhaps’ encourages his readers to view the text in a more fictional way. When Fowles teases the audience by saying; ‘perhaps I live now in one of the houses I have brought into the fiction’ – he humorously says that his fictional characters are ‘perhaps’ an ‘illusion’ therefore stating that the whole novel is an illusion. From the outset we already know that their author controls Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as Shakespeare already writes out their destiny for them.
“One of the values of Speculative fiction is that this genre bears witness to what it is to be human; that humans have strengths and limitations” Evaluate this statement The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (1886) and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891) are both late Victorian speculative fiction novellas, which bear witness to what it is to be human during the modern era. Both authors have speculated upon their own society and have created a mirrored society within their work. These texts display the speculations from the authors of the Victorian society influencing and impacting humanity. As a reader, we are questioned what it means to be human; does our society determine and shape who we are? These questions are brought to the surface throughout these speculative fiction novellas.
Khaled Abdulwahed - 0106791 Deborah Stiles English - The Novel March 8, 2012 The narrative structure of Dracula The diary narrative was chosen by Bram Stoker the author Dracula. It is composed of a sequence of newspaper articles, journal entries, memos and letters. Stoker wanted to reader to experience the story from the characters own point of view instead of his own. By doing so the author is separated from the reader. The reader is able to observe and develop a sense of connection with the characters on an emotional level.
One lens to view Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the psychoanalytic lens. This perspective, influenced greatly from the works and thinking of Sigmund Freud, stems from the idea that much of our desires, fears, and motives come from our unconscious. He postulated that most of these desires are repressed by the consciousness to reduce anxiety and dissonance, and emerge only in the disguised forms of dreams, language, and art. One of the most commonly repressed feelings, which Freud called the Oedipal complex, is the boy’s psychosexual desires towards his mother and his jealousy towards his father. According to Freud, the boy must identify with his father in order to resolve the “oedipal crisis” and develop into an adult with a healthy identity.
In the most important aspects of Frankenstein; Frankenstein is compelling in and of itself. This book has stories that surround other stories, setting them up in one way or another. Frankenstein is a gothic novel that focuses on mysterious or supernatural features. It takes place in dark, often exotic settings. Readers feel uneasy and in terror after reading the novel.
Frankenstein: An Analysis What truly makes Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein an entertaining novel, in my opinion, is the mental development of each of the characters throughout the story. The best way to display such psychological progress is to compare events and thoughts from the book to Sigmund Freud’s theories on the conscience. Freud’s “id” is shown through primitive actions of certain characters; those that involve little judgment and rely on instincts rather than informed decisions. The “ego” can be observed through basic thoughts and decisions that are made without the influence of conscience. The “super-ego” is, in fact, conscious thought itself, often characterized by the guilt or other feelings that come as a result of the “id” and “ego”.