I hate psychoanalysis but that and Jekyll and Hyde

Basic Introduction to the Theory

• Theoretical understanding is crucial to the course itself
• By knowing and applying Lit theory, you readings can improve significantly, including lenses
• There is no need to know all the theories in Literature, but relevant ones are necessary
• Some include
  • Psychoanalytical
  • Feminist
  • Marxist (or class)
  • Postcolonial
  • New historicism (America) and/pr cultural materialism (Britain)
  • New criticism (or close reading)
  • Queer theory

Psychoanalysis

• Not all of us are psychiatrists or psychologists, so it can be difficult
• In simple terms - “Psychoanalytical criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature” (Peter Barry)
• Psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders “by investigating the interaction of conscious an unconscious elements in the mind”
• The classic method of doing this is to get a patient talking freely, so that repressed fear and conflicts (that are causing problems) are brought into the conscious mind and ‘faced’, rather than keeping them ‘buried’ in the unconscious

Sigmund Daddy Freud - ‘Father of Psychoanalysis’

• The practice of psychoanalysis is based on specific theories about how the mind, instincts and sexuality actually work
• The theories were famously developed by Sigmund Freud (Austria, 1856-1939)
• The growing consensus is that therapeutic value of Freud’s method is limited, and his work is seriously flawed (including methodological irregularities)
• However, he was, and still is a massively influential and remains a strong cultural force, so much so that we use Freudian terms (such as ergo, subconscious, anal, oedipal complex, etc.)

Literary Criticism and Freudian Interpretation

• Freudian interpretation has always been of interest in terms of literary criticism, as the subconscious minds of characters in texts cannot/(or does not) speak to the readers (usually)
• However, it can be implied through images, symbol, emblems and metaphors
• Psychoanalytical interpretations of literature are often controversial because of the lack of direct expression of statements or ideas in texts, which means judgements about the text in a psychoanalytical lens relies on one’s own judgement

The Four Major Assumptions of Psychoanalytical Theory

1. Power of the unconscious
   1. The idea that there existed an infinitely larger space than the current conscious mind
   2. Much like an iceberg, the conscious is the tip above the water, then the rest that is unseen is the unconscious
2. The human mind is comprised of three provinces
   1. The Id - the province containing the desires, impulses and pleasures (Edward Hyde)
   2. The Superego - The sense of actuality and realism, the desire to follow the rules and expectations set in society (Henry Jekyll)
   3. The Ego - a mediation between the Id and Ego, which is actually expressed to the outer world (the potion)
      1. There also existed the idea that superego existed as a natural and conserved between people, that it was a fulcrum and balance that couldn’t be changed
      2. Stevenson, however, directly challenges such an idea by suggesting a character (Jekyll) in his story that is temporarily able to control his superego, making readers question such ideas, how they apply to them and society in general
         1. Jekyll appeared to despise his own self and yearned for a way to turn his life around, in which his work finally bore fruit, one that both was his comfort and his bane
         2. In a sense, this represents the idea that Jekyll had taken a bit from the ‘fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil’, the concept in Christianity which Eve, in the bible, was convinced by the Snake to commit the sin of eating it, and ultimately led to the fall of mankind at the hand of God, since she convinces Adam as well
            1. The reason why such a link can be made as it can be told that Lanyon is Christian and also is a scientists (which obviously implies that one had an influence on the other, Christianity being said influence due to certain references he makes) - he directly opposes and is furious at the mention of Jekyll’s work, but later on, he is bewildered beyond imagination, to the point that he dies
            2. Such a reaction can probably be imagined when two directly opposing ideas come across each other - Jekyll’s science had clearly shocked Lanyon’s science that had a significantly high chance of being influenced by Christianity (which also believed in the existence in natural concepts, more on that in point 4), where it can be told that Jekyll has come across forbidden knowledge of sorts - a similar fashion to Eve eating the fruit
            3. Lanyon is not God, only a man of God, so he is shocked to death - but he does believe in Jekyll’s science (since he saw Hyde transform), so one of two things may have happened
               1. Lanyon was also ‘killed’ by nature to balance the scales and ensure that none knew of the secrets Jekyll came across (this can be implied as even though Lanyon instructs Utterson to read his narrative, no one does, so by some force of nature, either it has been destroyed, forgotten or anyone else that comes across it will be ‘balanced’ out of existence)
               2. Lanyon could not live with himself and had died of natural causes - he may have been a Christian man even as an inside personality, and this abnormal event occurring to a normal person causes abnormal things to happen to the person (the spread of the abnormal, more in point 4)
      3. However, Jekyll realises that he is unable to control it through multiple occurrences where he inadvertently transformed into Hyde - his indulgence in such work that opposed natural concepts eventually caused his death
      4. This begets another idea - the idea in which nature had returned to balance once Jekyll had died and was no longer a threat (the idea that natural concepts and the entirety of nature exists within a balance, and once it encounters something that threatens to tip the balance, in turn, another event or occurrence happens to restore the balance)
         1. This also attests to humanity’s willpower - Jekyll’s incessant work (which can be inferred to have taken a copious amount of time as it is known Lanyon had cut his ties in relation to Jekyll’s science long ago) had threatened the natural order itself, but either was ‘killed’ in attempt restore balance or had indulged too much in trying to change his personality which broke through and caused him to stay as Hyde, ultimately passing away from suicide
         2. This second point also can imply that we cannot escape from natural order and the regulations we are beholden to - the consequences of our actions will be swift and exact to counteract what we do, almost as precise as a ‘karmic transgression’; rather than a system acting outside an imposing on us, the system exists within ourself, we are beholden to our own deeds
         3. Another idea is that the abnormal can be spread - usually an abnormal event is as a result of a normal concept encountering an abnormal concept, rather than an entirely abnormal concept appearing right in front of society
3. Personality is shaped by early childhood experiences
   1. It was thought that one’s childhood was not impactful to one’s life (we know now that childhood experiences can almost shape anything), so the establishment of such a principle began to change the thoughts of society, paving the pathway for the developments in terms of psychology for the Victorians
4. There exist two defence mechanisms for people (essentially an immune system but for our thoughts, motives and intentions; whatever seems wrong to us or is threatening is kept out of consciousness)
   1. Repression - the idea that impulses (particularly sexual and aggressive ones are repressed) are kept out of consciousness
   2. Reaction formation - on the other hand, an impulse that seems threatening is countered and transformed into its complete opposite

The Uncanny

• Particularly defined as the strange and mysterious, especially in unsettling ways
• Usually, one experiences something that is oddly familiar, but it is simply a mystery or has too many noticeable discrepancies to be real
  • Incidents where an unfamiliar event is encountered in an unsettling, eerie or taboo context
• Sigmund had explored the concept of the uncanny, his work shown in a 1919 essay of his, which explores the eeriness of dolls and waxworks
  • He argues that the uncanny manages to locate the strange in the ordinary
  • The term he uses for ‘uncanny’ (unheimliche) can also be translated as unhomely - the uncanny is something that can be seen as homely but people can be convinced otherwise
• Another idea proposed by Jacques Lacan was that the uncanny placed people “in the field where they do not know how to distinguish bad and good, pleasure from displeasure”
• This results in an irreversible feeling of anxiety that gestures to the Real (another concept Lacan theorises)
• This is the idea that can bring us back to Jekyll and Hyde, because as we know from prior deduction, Jekyll had found what he had been longing for - something that could help him control his own self
  • However, he found himself in something that seemed like what he had yearned for the entire time, but something was very wrong - he kept acting erratic, not to his true will, and ended up murdering Sir Carew
  • Not only that, he ended up permanently turning into Hyde

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