Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism Essay -- Psychoanalysis Si

Heart of Darkness Psychoanalytic CriticismPsychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the proficiency of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. through and through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited have (Guerin 127). One of Freuds most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires, feelings, memories, wishes and instinctual drives many of which have to do with sexuality and violence. These unconscious wishes, according to Freud, can find expression in dreams because dreams distort the unconscious material and make it appear dif ferent from itself and more pleasurable to consciousness. They may also appear in other disguised forms, like in language (sometimes called the Freudian slips), in creative art and in neurotic behavior. One of the unconscious desires Freud believed that all human beings supposedly suppress is the childhood desire to dis enthrone the parent of the same sex and to take his or her place in the affections of the parent of the opposite sex. This so-called Oedipus Complex, which all children experience as a rite of passage to adult gender identity, lies at the core of Freuds sexual theory (Murfin 114-5).A principal element in Freuds theory is his assignment of the mental processes to three psychic zones the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the passional, irrational, and unconscious region of the psyche. It is the site of the energy of the mind, energy that Freud characterized as a combination of sexual libido and other instincts, such as aggression, that propel the human organis m through life, pathetic it to grow, develop and eventually to die. That primary process of life is completely irrational, and it cannot distinguish reasonable objects and unreasonable or socially unacceptable ones. Here comes the secondary processes of the mind, lodged in the ego and the superego. The ego, or I, was Freuds term for the predominantly rational, logical, orderly and conscious part of the psych... ...ut Librairie Du Liban Publishers SAL, 1994. Guerin, Wilfred L., et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4th ed. New York Oxford University Press, 1999.Hewitt, Douglas. Conrad A Reassessment. foundation Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit Gale, 1992. 789-92. Hughs, Richard E. The Lively Image Four Myths in Literature. Cambridge, MA Winthrop Publishers, 1975.Karl, Frederick R. A Readers Guide To Joseph Conrad. World Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit Gale, 1992. 785-9. Leavis, F. R. From The Great Tradit ion. A unimaginative Reader in contemporary Literary Theory. London Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996. 246-7 Mudrick, Marvin. The Originality of Conrad. World Literature Criticism. Ed. PollyVedder. Vol. 4. Detroit Gale, 1992. 782-5. Murfin, Ross C. Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. New York St. Martins Press, 1989. Sad, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York Knopf, 1979. Wright, Elizabeth. Psychoanalytic Criticism. Encyclopedia Of Literature And Criticism. 1991 ed. 765-7.