English 12 / Unit 7: Literary Criticism and Analysis
7.4 Psychological Criticism
Notes
Psychological criticism uses ideas about the mind to analyze characters, authors or readers.
- Freud's model: the id (instinctive desires), the superego (conscience and rules), and the ego (mediator that balances them).
- Unconscious desires and fears may appear in dreams, symbols and slips.
- Jung's archetypes are universal patterns such as the hero, the shadow and the mentor.
- Example: A character who feels torn between a wish for revenge and guilt is struggling between the id and the superego. Macbeth's hallucinated dagger and Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking can be read as signs of guilt.
Practice
In Freud's model, which part of the mind represents conscience and moral rules?
The superego is the internalized voice of conscience.
A character wants to steal food but fears punishment and feels it is wrong, then decides to ask for help. Which part is balancing the conflict?
The ego mediates between desire and conscience.
A critic reads Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking as revealing buried guilt. This is an example of:
The critic interprets behavior as the unconscious at work.
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