Freudian Analysis of Woman on the Edge of Time Essay

"Women on the Edge of Time" by Marge Piercy, is a novel that illustrates some problems of today’s society and compares them to a possible future time. The other world that is presented in the book is called Mattapoisett. Mattapoisett is described as an utopian science fiction place because is much different from the place that Connie lived. Even thought Mattapoisett might be the world that Connie’s culture needed it is not a perfect world. Some of the problems that Marge Piercy presents in the book are poverty, women’s role, and problems of government, the environment, and prejudices that our society is facing today. However, how is the society different from the two cultures presented in the book? Connie, the

Differently to what is thought nowadays, the Oedipus complex described by Freud goes beyond just the son 's desire to have sex with his mother. The Oedipus complex includes the teenager 's psychosexual idea of feeling jealousy, anger, and above all, competing with his father. Besides, Freud’s theory emphasizes that boys select their mother as their principal object of desire, and subconsciously wish to usurp or even murder their fathers in order to gain exclusive possession of her and become their mothers ' lover.

Oedipus Rex, an ancient Greek tragedy authored by the playwright Sophocles, includes many types of psychological phenomena. Most prominently, the myth is the source of the well-known term Oedipal complex, coined by psychologist Sigmund Freud in the late 1800s. In psychology, “complex” refers to a developmental stage. In this case the stage involves the desire of males, usually ages three to five, to sexually or romantically posses their mother, and the consequential resentment of their fathers. In the play, a prince named Oedipus tries to escape a prophecy that says he will kill his father and marry his mother, and coincidentally saves the Thebes from a monster known as the Sphinx. Having unknowingly killed his true father Laius during his

While Psychoanalysis has provided many psychological breakthroughs in the field of mental health, it has also created great issue in relation to gender equality. Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory has contributed to the solidification of female oppression, and to the inferior status of women in the twentieth century. Psychoanalysis had become so intwined into the constructs of a male dominated society that it creates further barriers in attempts for gender equality. While many people have established their point of view through scholarly journals or scientific writings, Angela Carter uses an artistic approach by contesting Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in her

In order to completely understand Oedipus and his actions, we must first understand the basics of Freud’s theories. One of the most well known aspects of Freudian theory is the Oedipus Complex. We can already see a relationship between the Oedipus

The unconscious contains the instincts, those driving force for all human behavior. In Freud’s later writing he revised the conscious- unconscious distinction and came up with the id, ego and superego. The id is the unconscious, the least accessible part of the personality. The id includes the sex and aggressive instincts. Freud wrote, “We call it…a cauldron full of seething excitations. [The id] knows no judgments of value, no good and evil, no morality” (Freud, 1933, p 74). The id seeks immediate satisfaction without regard for the circumstances of reality. The id operates under the pleasure-seeking principal. For example, a newborn’s mind consists only of the id, which is responsible for the satisfaction of physical desires. The id, represents a human being’s most primitive desires, and a person ruled only by the id would do everything strictly for his or her own pleasure, breaking societal norms in the process and risking punishment. (SparkNotes, 2007)

The Oedipus complex refers to the thoughts some men have regarding their mother or maternal figures. Many scenes from the play can prove Hamlet did have these thoughts about his mother, such as acts one and three. If the reader knows what he or she is looking for, then these signs can be easily spotted. The story of Oedipus Rex is an

Reading a narrative from a psychoanalytic perspective can prove to be a sometimes frustrating experience. Psychoanalysis often disregards the actual texts and verbal context of a piece of literature in favor of the Freudian and Lacanian ideas, which seek to find encrypted motifs in the depths of every creation in order to reveal the author’s unconscious mind. Nevertheless, the critiques of psychoanalytic interpretation of literature claim that such interpretations focus on the content of the text at the expense of the literary form and temporal dimension, which can reduce the literary plots to lifeless machinations. Furthermore, psychoanalytic interpretation of a text may tell us less about the author’s unconscious mind and more about the

Junior is very observant and he describes his mother in a detailed way. He deposits emphasis on his mother’s hands. “One thing about Mami, her palms never sweated.” (27) Junior’s mother is a very lovely person, pretty and knows how to take good care of his sons. In contrast, the Puerto Rican woman is described oppositely of his mother. “She had papery hands, and when she rubbed the towel on my chest, she did it hard, like I was a bumper she was waxing.”(35) According to Junior, the Puerto Rican woman is careless and is not lovely as his mother. This increases his disgust towards his father for being with such a woman that will never be like his mother. This fact supports the idea that his son-father relationship is related to the Freud’s Oedipal Conflict.

The psychoanalytical lens helps us as the readers to better understand the characters and their actions throughout the book, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but first we have to understand what exactly the psychoanalytical lens is. The psychoanalytical lens has to do with the ID, Ego, and Super Ego. The ID has to do with people’s natural instincts. Most of the time people don’t even realize they’re using their natural instincts and there’s nothing they can do to change them. In a way, it’s like a new born baby. Next there is Ego. The Ego has to do with figuring out what’s best for each person and not worrying about anyone else besides one’s self. People ask their self, what’s going to make them feel the happiest? It’s almost like they’re being

Throughout William Shakespeare's Hamlet, Shakespeare portrays Hamlet with the same types of behaviors and frustrations in humans that Sigmund Freud saw at a much later date. When the relationship between Hamlet and his mother is analyzed Freud's oedipal complex theory comes to mind. The oedipal complex is a theory created by Freud that states that "The child takes both of its parents, and more particularly one of them, as the object of its erotic wishes."(51) Because of this desire to be with the parent of the opposite sex, a rivalry is formed with the parent of the same sex. In the play, Hamlet shows great hostility toward his uncle Claudius because his mother's remarriage to him. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting

Freudian Analysis: Of Mice and Men Introduction In John Steinbeck's book of Mouse and Men a story that was based on the relationships between people, Steinbeck tackles issues of race relations the dynamics and stereotypes of men and women, but unlike other authors of his time included a character facing a form of mental illness. Throughout the book we see Lennie Small a seemingly innocent giant reliance on a quick talking dreamer who goes by the name of George Smith. American society was never truly ready to face mental illness, and Steinbeck wanted to open the dialogue. With this rejection of the mentally ill as normal beings in society psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud had his own views on the capacity and formation of mental illnesses.

but his theories on dreams seemed to be the most popular, even to this day.Freud thinks that the agent that

Psychoanalysis was started and influenced by Sigmund Freud. The object of psychological literary theory is to analyze the phycology of the author or the characters in the book. Applying psychological analysis to the Metamorphosis will require a critique to identify vital Freudian concepts such as; consciousness, unconsciousness, Oedipus complex and phallic symbol.

I’m as deluded as my father. And it’s true. Her beauty and remoteness and resolve are one” (McEwen 15). The fetus recognizes the place of his father, and puts his father down, as he praises his mother out of love (I know this sounds awk I’ll change). It is through this praise which ultimately shows the fetus’s desire for his mother, and Freud can be applied. Jones writes of Freud’s theory “Of the infantile jealousies the one with which we are here occupied is that experienced by a boy towards his father… The only point that at present concerns us is the resentment felt by a boy towards his father when the later disturbs his enjoyment of his mother’s affection” (Jones 95). Ultimately, the fetus’s longing for Trudy triggers the competition he feels toward Claude. From the beginning of the novel, though the fetus is aware of his father’s death, he seems to accept it willingly (cite). While planning the murder of his own father, the fetus condemns Claude of any implications he has on his mother; however, the fetus continually reassures himself of the love he feels toward Trudy. It is through Freud’s theory which reveals that the fetus’s anger is solely directed at Claude for killing his father, not Trudy. The theory of the Oedipal complex, in turn, emphasizes the importance of the fetus as being male, as it is the male he wants to fight, and his mother whom he wants to earn the affection of.