Psychoanalytic Theory of Art and Literature – Explained!

Read this article to learn about the psychoanalytic theory of art and literature:

In the words of Sandar Lorand “Once there was a man, who set out to seek a lost she ass, and found instead a kingdom. Once a neurologist set out to cure his neurotic patients, but enriched the society with his findings, psychological, social as well as biological.”

Freud, a revolutionary, the great doctor of human mind, the preacher of psychoanalysis, did not only study the minds of neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and psychotics, but philosophers, writers, poets. Strangely enough, he did not leave any stone untouched.

Being a great intuitive teacher of mankind, by his ingenious and deep insight he realised that wherever man goes and wherever he stays, certain kinds of human conflicts are inevitable to prevail. Thus, Freud also realised that man’s feelings and emotions, thoughts and wishes, joys and sorrows, frustrations and disappointments are likely to cloud every bit of his expression whether creative or destructive.

This pregnant idea of Freud motivated him to give a glance at the creative work of writers, poets and artists and analyse their unconscious motives. Freud already applied psychoanalysis to economics, politics and religion. But when he turned forward to apply psychoanalysis to art and literature, it created a great stir and tension among the artists and literates who were not ready to recognise their unconscious motivation and tabooed feelings. However, some held it to be quite illuminating.

In-spite of the criticisms from several quarters, Freud boldly marched forward with his work and he had never second thoughts to look back. His contributions to art and literature thoroughly began with the publication of ‘Leornado Vensi’.

Freud’s analysis of art and literature depicts that such activities, creative or re-creative, provide considerable relief from tension by a discharge of energy through socially acceptable channels. Such artistic and literacy activities offer opportunities for sublimation of impulses of various kinds.

Psychoanalytic observation does not explain why one is gifted with art and not the other; but its business is to explain, why an individual turns to art and literature. Childhood experiences, fantasies and day dreams instead of being expressed in an un-channelized manner are expressed through art and literature. This is known as sublimation.

The child sometimes, instead of expressing his desire in action may express it in a story or poetry. By this he gains control over his traumatic experience and moreover, it brings enjoyment satisfying the need for self expression. A day dream or wishful thinking might be depicted in a novel which involves all the fantasies, wishes and unfulfilled desires. Whenever life experiences induce frustration, they pen such feelings and disappointments in their creative work.

Literature, beyond doubt is the mirror of life. The unconscious motives, feelings and emotions, joys and sorrows, frustrations and stresses and strains of life are depicted in the literary or creative work. Poets and writers unconsciously project their motives, wishes and fantasies thus giving a free expression to their repressed and suppressed urges and wishes.

It was, of course, not Freud who introduced unconscious motives to art and literature. Shakespeare, for instance, did not know a bit of psychology. But in his plays like Hamlet, Othello we find the classical oedipus tragedy, castration anxiety, repression, homosexuality and what not.

These are depicted very subtly through his poetic genius. In Hamlet repression has made a considerable progress. Hamlet cannot love Ophelia because he has mother fixation. According to Freud’s in-genius interpretation Hamlet cannot revenge his father, cannot fulfill the Ghost’s command to kill his step father; because murder of his father was a deed which Hamlet long harboured in his unconsciousness. He hesitates and hesitates until it is too late and Hamlet lies dead on the stage.

In many art and literature latent homosexuality is also revealed. Novelists and playwrights, sometimes present characters where many men value their best friend more than their wife. Psychoanalysis also reveals the narcissistic hidden core in elements of literature. Women of destructive beauty like Helen of Troy, Delilah, Cleopatra etc. represent the dangerous women, the antisocial, amoral, sterile and of eternal youth. Emile Zola’s Nana or Shakespeare Cressida all are narcissistic women. Passive and exhibitionistic tendencies are also found in Nana. It is therefore obvious that sex was there long ago, but it required only a Freud to bring it to limelight.

Moreover, many French novelists like Marshall, Maupassant etc. have dealt with ambivalence, and castration anxiety. In D.H. Lawrence’s “Sons and Lovers”, we find a beautiful depiction of Oedipus complex and many other emotional complexes.

Psychoanalysis, more than any other form of psychology perceives that art is deeply rooted in the unconscious depth of the artist. What a man has experienced earlier, becomes not only the content of his dreams, but of his creative work as well. Shelley’s secret relationship with men is well evident in his writings.

In addition to the novels and dramas, analysis of the famous ancient mythologies indicates that the unconscious motivation, wishes and desires are expressed symbolically in their creative work. Freud thus found that art and literature are not free from the scope of psychoanalysis because art and literature sufficiently deal with the deeper aspects of human life.

Freud recognised a very significant factor in art and literature which is called dream work. A piece of art is not only the symbol of one’s unconscious motives, but also the expression of many socially undesirable wishes and fantasies just like dream.

Thus Sandar Lorand comments “Freud recognises the primary processes in art and literature like dream and delusion, that process in which many thoughts are condensed into one sign, in which emotions become mobile, metaphorical expressions retain literal meaning and dangerous and immoral is disguised in symbols.”

While in dreams, the manifest content aims at concealing the latent thought of the dream, in artistic creation the ego function has the additional goal of moulding thoughts into a form which will be understood. In art and literature, in other words, we find a corroborator of dream work. Like the repressed unsatisfied and unconscious desires are expressed in dreams, similarly, the unsatisfied wishes and rejected feelings are pened in art and literature through various symbols, puns, humours and the like. Just as dream is sad to be the gateway to unconscious, similarly art and literature can be called to be the royal road to the unconscious mind of the artist or poet.

Freud’s interpretation of art and literature psychologically sounds quite reasonable. He shows a comparison between art and literature and dream work which are in many respects quite identical. Freud has pointed out that all the products of creativity are symbols of underlying conflicts. It is the ego of the artist which has the capacity to give expression to unsatisfied desires. Underlying all these the inner conflict of the artist is hidden. Though literature differs from person to person, everyone has an underlying motive behind his creation.

Through identification with the character of the novel or drama the creator tries to express his own wishes and conflicts in symbolic forms. So it has been said that most of the artists and writers are neurotics. Even if the creator soars high in his imagination, builds castles in the air, yet like a neurotic, he has to keep touch with the reality where imagination and day dreams have but little value.

Thus, unlike a psychotic, he is a man of the real world, doing his business alright, still floating high in imagination deep down the level of consciousness. Almost all people meet frustration. From them a few become neurotic expressing their unsatisfied desire and emotional conflicts in an undesirable, socially unacceptable manner.

They become the curse of the society, they are antisocial or mentally ill persons. But there are also some who have the inherent capacity to express their feelings, dejected, suppressed and coloured with stresses, and strains of life in art and literature.

The main purpose of psychoanalysis here is therefore to study the underlying unconscious motive of the artist and find out what it is that compels the artist to express himself in this manner. Analysis of the contemporary feature of art and literature from a psychoanalytic point of view indicates the angry rejection of the world. The poets, writers and artists by and large, are in revolt with the things that exist in the world to-day. Thus Elliot has remarked, ‘This is the way, the world goes, this is the way, the world goes, not with a bang but a whimper”.

Such dissatisfaction with the modern life is also found in symbolism and in impressionism. Though the modem writer has rejected the world, he sometimes tries to capture the reality just like the Schizophrenic patient who tries to capture and get back to the rejected world.

There is a sharp contrast between art and literature of renaissance and modern age. Current age is a period of great anxiety and frustration. All around there is aggression, sorrow, depression and pathos. Most of the creative works to-day are either pessimistically depicted or aggressively done. Even they are depicted more pathetically, more aggressively than what is real, what is really found.

But why there is such angry rejection of the world? This is most probably because of the disorganisation of the ego of the members of the society and particularly of those who write or paint. It may be due to some traumatic experiences; some sense of insecurity and rude shock. Man has gone to the extent of showing that he is not as gentle and kind as he appears from the surface. In fact, man is quite savage and aggressive. The strength of the superego has reduced because of the rejection of old values and beliefs, and hence the id tendencies have got a free flow in literature.

The reason why some works of art and literature have received universal appeal is that they deal with common human conflicts expressed in a symbolic manner. The psychoanalytic theory of art and literature of Freud, hence has a widespread significance. Since art and literature have been created by man, here the basic human conflicts get full-fledged expression.

Though some critics feel that Freud has gone beyond limit by turning his attention to art and literature, the real significance of art and literature would not have come to the surface if Freud would not have made people conscious about the symbolic representations of the creators which reflect their basic conflicts and emotions.

Analysis of art and literature also helps in treating mental illness, particularly neuroses. Freud, really deserves tremendous credit for his deep insight into the field of art and literature and clear cut analysis of the unconscious motives.