Psychoanalytic Theory

Why study psychology in English Class?Hint: it’s not because in her subconscious, your teacher wants you to suffer.

• Jung offers literary critics a lot to think about as they read the psychological experiences of characters in literature.

• We’ll get to his concept of archetypes, which has literary roots as well as implications for our reading

• Perhaps most importantly for our study of Fifth Business, Robertson Davies held a lifelong interest for Jung’s work. There are many parallels between Davies’ fictional characters and Jung’s concepts of the self.

Jungian Psychology

Carl Jung was a psychologist trained by Sigmund Freud, but veered off from aspects of Freud’s teachings to form his own school of psychology.

What do you know about Freud? Make a list...

Differences with Freud Freud believed that we have a conscious and an

unconscious, and that like an iceberg, there’s way more beneath the surface than above it.

Freud believed that we need to understand and know our UNCONSCIOUS – the drives that guide our thoughts and actions that we do not perceive on the surface, but that guide us and reveal themselves in unconscious ways like dreams

Specifically, Jung differed with Freud’s insistence on infantile sexuality (he thought Freud placed too much emphasis on sex)

They differed as well on the method of therapy and their concept of the soul

Jung believes that the soul is mysterious... This idea is important in Fifth Business, so we’ll discuss it later...

Oedipus – the myth:

In Greek mythology, Oedipus is the man who was fated to kill his father and marry his mother. He was a good guy, but because did not know his identity, he took the wrong path in life. Once on that path, heroic characteristics couldn’t help him to escape his fate...

Effect of not knowing your identity and therefore being on the wrong path in your life:

Freud: the Oedipus complex

Freud believed that all children go through an Oedipal phase in which children love their opposite-sex parent while they loathe and wish for the death of their same-sex parent.

Jung’s concept of Oedipus myth

Hmmm.... Freud and Jung seemed to

have had issues with their mothers.

My children won’t have these. They’re very well-adjusted. Their mother isn’t nuts... A little controlling, perhaps, but things really work out better that way.

The feminist in me can’t help but point out that these psychiatrists spend a lot of time blaming mothers for a lot of crap...

Individuation: the path to the centre

Individuation: finding the centre

INDIVIDUATION• Jung believed that the goal of psychic development

was the path to the centre, to individuation. • Individuation means understanding the self, the

totality of the individual, conscious and unconscious, which carries an individual’s sense of meaning and purpose as he or she moves towards it.

• As seen in our study of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” not understanding one’s self doesn’t help a person to escape. Jung and Davies, O’Neill and Bistolas all believe that we need to examine our lives and ourselves to become what Jung called “individuated” and what Oprah calls “our authentic self.”

The four functions of the PSYCHE

ThinkingTells you what a thing IS

IntuitionSensation

Tells you where it’s come Tells you something exists

from and where it’s goingFeeling

Tells you whether it’s good or not

Four functions of the PSYCHE

A person’s conscious orientation will be towards one of these four: thinking/feeling; intuition/sensation. Its opposite will then be unconscious.

To become individuated, a person needs to balance their unconscious. For example, a feeling boy may be pressured by his thinking father, creating unhappiness and crisis; therefore mental and physical health depend on :

a) The development of the neglected function; andb) An awareness of the four types at work in one’s

self, to achieve a rounded personality

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...While you lean towards one of the four functions of

the psyche (thinking/feeling; sensation/intuition), you’re also either an:

a) Introvert (motivated from within; directed by external and subjective factors and relationships)

b) Extrovert (motivated from the outside; directed by external and objective factors and relationships)

So there are 8 possibilities in total.Knowing where you stand helps you to see

how you’ll respond to archetypal figures.

The Self and our Collective UnconsciousJung believed that we each have a personal unconscious and a

collective unconscious.The collective part of our unconscious is inherited and universal – it

goes beyond the personal and the individual. Our collective unconscious is shared by all of us – it is a series of images and ideas that we hold from birth.

• Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious was formed by his study of literature and mythology.

• In myths across the globe, there are figures that appear that hold the same meaning: figures like mother, father, light, dark, the hero, the maiden, the wise old man, the trickster – Jung calls these common figures archetypes.

• Because these archetypes appear in all cultures’ myths and stories, Jung believed that these archetypes are part of our collective unconscious. He believes that there is knowledge common to us all, hardwired in our brains, that helps us to understand the world around us and our relationship to other people.

Collective unconscious continued

Collective unconscious is, as we saw in the previous slide, made up of instincts and archetypes.

How we apprehend a situation (archetype) determines our impulse to act (instinct).

And, inversely, our impulse to act (instinct) determines how we understand a situation (archetype).

Why is understanding the collective unconscious important??

• At this point, you may be thinking it isn’t. Worse, you may not be thinking about this lecture at all. Worse still, you may be texting a friend about your plight in boring English class then giving me the “what?” or “wasn’t me” looks you seem to have mastered. (clearly not written for you AP keeners!!)

• But the truth is, you relate to archetypal images every day. Advertisers use them. Television and film writers use them. And they impact the way you relate to one another.

Archetypes in advertising

archetypes

Archetypes are original models after which similar things are patterned.

They are universal; everybody inherits basic archetypal images.

These images are not like fully developed photographs. They are more like negatives that are developed by experience.

Archetypes (continued)

Among the archetypes we have are images of birth, rebirth, death, power, magic, the hero, the child, the trickster, God, the demon, the wise old man, the earth mother, the giant, the sun, the moon, wind, river, fire, animals.

They can form combinations – for example, a hero archetype and a demon archetype can result in a “ruthless leader.”

The innocent Search for

paradise, happiness;

renewel/reenter promised land

Seek sense of wholeness, purity

Peace comes from inner values.

Shadow: denial and repression

The Explorer Seeks fulfilment and

authenticity Seeks to avoid

restlessness/boredom Hitting the open

road / exploring new territory

Seeks individuality & fulfilment

Shadow: being so alienated one can’t find a way to fit in

The sage Seeks the Truth Intelligence

used to understand the world and ourselves

Shadow: dogmatism, ivory tower, disconnection from reality

The hero Prove self worth

through courageous and difficult action;

Mastery of skill and self improves the world;

One should strive to be as strong and courageous as one is capable of being;

E.g. Soldier, knight, young entrepeneur

The maiden Will need a hero Virtuous (virginal), beautiful &

innocent Loyal and trustworthy but needs help

The mother Nurturing; allows our

survival tender, loving, caring

or... Domineering – like

Dunny’s mother

The outlaw Seeks

revenge/revolution Goal is to destroy

what’s not working Disrupts the status

quo when change is needed

Shadow is criminal or evil behaviour

The ruler Goal is

leadership, to create a successful family/business/government/country

Exerts control over others and leads them

Shadow is tyranny or manipulation

All archetypes are part of our collective unconscious Archetypes are an unlearned

tendency to experience things in a certain way

An archetype has no form of its own, but acts as an organizing principle on the things we see or do

the existence of universal contentless forms that channel experiences and emotions, resulting in recognizable and typical patterns of behavior with certain probable outcomes

persona

The mask or facade that one exhibits publicly, with the intention of presenting a favourable impression so society will accept him.

The persona archetype is also known as the conformity archetype

the self

The central archetype in the collective unconscious. It is the archetype of order, organization, and unification. It unites the personality, giving it a sense of ‘oneness.’ the self is not doing its job properly if a person feels “out of sorts” or discontented or worse, as if he or she is “going to pieces.”

A well-functioning self allows one to feel harmony with the world. The ultimate goal of every personality is “selfhood” or self-realization. Achieving self-realization is rare; the ego must cooperate. Everything must become conscious in order for a person to become individuated.

The anima and the animusThe “inward” face of one’s personality; for men it’s the

anima and for women it’s the animus. The animus archetype is the masculine side of the female psyche; the anima archetype is the feminine side of the male psyche. We develop our understanding of our anima/animus through continuous exposure to the opposite sex over the generations. A well-adjusted person is able to understand and express his or her anima or animus – we need to know our opposite. If a man exhibits only masculine traits, his feminine traits remain unconscious and thus undeveloped and primitive. Likewise, iff a women exhibits only feminine traits, her masculine side remains unconscious, undeveloped & primitive

The shadow

This archetype represents one’s own gender and influences a person’s relationships with his own sex. The shadow is the “animal” nature within us. It is powerful, instinctive, spontaneous, creative, emotional, insightful. It is often associated with the evil within us. The shadow needs to be “tamed” for ordinary functioning in society; however, a person who totally suppresses the shadow will live a shallow and spiritless life.

It’s like Star Warsas found in http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html

The hero is a main archetype. He is the main personality and the defeater of evil dragons. Basically, he represents the ego – we do tend to identify with the hero of the story – and is often engaged in fighting the shadow, in the form of dragons and monsters. The hero is often unschooled and unknowing in the ways of the unconscious. He can sometimes seem really dumb. He is often out on a quest – to seek some truth or object, to rescue a maiden, to pursue the acquisition of party supplies and refreshments on a Saturday night – and faces many obstacles along the way.

Like Luke Skywalker, for example. He’s out to rescue the maiden at first – Princess Leah. By the time Luke & Leah figure out they’re related, she has become the archetypal figure of the anima, discovering the powers of the force – the collective unconscious – and becoming an equal partner with Luke.

The hero is guided by the wise old man, a form of the animus, and reveals to the hero the nature of the collective unconscious. That’s Obi Wan Kenobi. And, of course, Yoda. As Luke matures, they die and become a part of him.

Darth Vadar, the “dark father” is the shadow and master of the Dark Side. When Luke accepts the dark side and comes to know his shadow, he is able more fully to master the force – he becomes individuated.

The same story has been told and retold over and over again – in films like Star Wars, in stories and myths and religious texts that go across all cultures and countries and continents.

Ego and Shadow

The ego (light, fragile and precious) must be preserved. It gives you your sense of purpose and identity.

The shadow (dark, animal and primitive) is not “bad.” It can vitalize our lives if we honestly face up to it.

Whatever is wrong with the world is wrong in yourself, so you have to face what’s in your shadow.

Ego and Shadow illuminated

The classic example is Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. You can’t ignore the dark being within you. As Dunny points out, there are more than two sides to every being.

DunnyWhat are the main components of

Dunny’s PSYCHE?? Is he thinking or feeling? Does he follow his intuition or his sensation? Is he an extrovert or an introvert? What are the components of his shadow?

What about Percy Boyd Staunton? Thinking? Feeling? Intuition? Sensation? What does he keep hidden from others in his shadow??