Literary text and Psychoanalytic critics

There are some important questions that the psychoanalysts ask while interpreting a text. Though these questions are not all, they may be helpful in psychoanalytic interpretation. First of all they ask the issues related to the unconscious of the characters and the author. They ask what the unconscious motives are operating in the psychology of the characters. . What core issues they display? What repressed wounds, fears, unresolved conflicts and guilty desires affect them? And the like are very important in the psychological interpretation of the text. The unconscious is the storehouse of many unfulfilled desires, fears and psychological wounds that affect our daily activities. Similarly, they ask themselves whether there are any oedipal relationships between the characters. The relationship with the family is very important to see oedipal complex in them. Sometimes we find some attachment between the children and their opposite sexed parents. Likewise, there are still many other issues that a psychoanalytic critic asks while interpreting literary texts. The critic can find some regression, trauma, fear of death and sexuality in the closer analysis of the character. These psychological troubles also determine the conduct of the character.

Sometimes, the character might be suffering from some recurrent dreams. At that time, a psychoanalytic critic must be more insightful because dreams have always some remarkable meaning. A person does not suffer from recurrent dreams without any cause. The dreams show the character’s mental troubles. It is more important that the psychoanalytic criticism also reveals the psychology of the author. We need to delve into the author’s psychology in relation to the text he produces. According to the theory of psychoanalysis, literary text is one of the major outlets of the author’s traumas. There are mainly three outlets of their psychological troubles. They are dreams, tongue-slips and\literature. Both dreams and literature is the subject of psychoanalyst’s investigation. So, another issue of psychoanalytic criticism is the author’s psychology manifested in the text. Moreover, it will help the readers or the critics understand their own psychology. They compare the psychology of the characters and the author with their own which enables them to know their own psychology. On the other hand, some critics have also said that Lacanian psychoanalysis is equally important. Psychoanalytic criticism believes that the mirror stage, imaginary order and the symbolic stage are crucial for the formation of the subjectivity. It determines how subjectivity of a person is formed. The subjectivity is an inner core of a person’s identity. It is the combined sense of mental and psychological identity. These are some important issues that we should deal with as a psychoanalytic critic. We can also deal with only one of these issues .or all of them when using psychoanalytic criticism. We might come up with even new ideas related to psychoanalysis. The above issues summarize general psychoanalytic approach to literary texts.