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Psychoanalytic Lens

Decent Essays

“Was It a Dream?” by Guy de Maupassant: A Psychoanalytic Lens “Was It a Dream?” by Guy de Maupassant, unfolds in a dreamlike state, blurring the lines between reality and the subconscious. When observed through a psychoanalytic lens, the story serves as a descent into the protagonist’s psyche, revealing the interplay and transitions between the id, ego, and superego. This essay focuses on how each aspect of his psyche manifests throughout the narrative. The ego, which represents rationality and consciousness, is depicted in the story’s initial stages until the protagonist’s encounter with the mirror. This transitions into the superego, the moralizing force within the psyche, as he casts judgement on his dead partner’s vanity – “looking glass in which she had so often been reflected.it must have retained her reflection.” His fixation on the mirror, while he gazes at his own reflection, is indicative of the protagonist projecting his own feelings onto the deceased woman. …show more content…

The Freudian imagery is ripe as he ventures into the oldest part of the cemetery, symbolizing the essence of the protagonist’s psyche shaped by his oldest childhood experiences. Here, he is “perfectly alone”, devoid of social norms, embodying the uninhibited nature of the Id. This is further enhanced since “there was no moon”, therefore our protagonist, in the “impenetrable night” was cloaked in darkness – both literally and metaphorically. “All the graves were open.all the dead had emerged.” The Id emerges fully. The opening of the graves and emergence of the dead symbolize the liberation of repressed desires and subconscious thoughts. Societal repression has given way to the unfiltered expression of one’s true

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