Psychological Criticism

Begin this unit by viewing our presentation on Psychological Criticism - this presentation and accompanying slide show is concerned primarily with Freud's foundational theories.

Slides and Notes for the presentation on Psychological Criticism

View the videos below for background on the relationship between Psychological Criticism/ Psychoanalysis to Literary Criticism/Theories

Below, I've included links to three websites that illustrate other psychological development theories worth knowing about. There are many other theories worth mentioning, but for our purposes, here's a taste of several other theories that critics use in psychological and educational assessment and which literary critics might apply to the behaviors of characters or artistic representation. These materials are purely optional in the context of this course and here for your own enlightenment.

Stages of Psychosocial Development - Erik Erikson

Erikson's Stages of DevelopmentErikson's theory outlines 8 stages of psychosocial development from infancy to late adulthood. At each stage, individuals face a conflict between two opposing states that shapes personality. Successfully resolving the conflicts leads to virtues like hope, will, purpose, and integrity. Failure leads to outcomes like mistrust, guilt, role confusion, and despair.

Maslow's Hierarchy of NeedsMaslow's hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulifil the next one, and so on. Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs.

Levels of Developing Morality in Kohlberg's TheoriesKohlberg's theory of moral development offered a framework for how children form moral reasoning through a series of six key stages.

Foundational Questions of Psychological Criticism

What motivates the speaker or protagonist? Does the speaker or protagonist appear to be consciously or unconsciously motivated?
How do desires and wishes manifest in the text? Do they remain largely fulfilled or unfilled? How does their fulfillment, or lack thereof, affect the character’s development?
Does the text chart the emotional development of a character? How?
How do the characters in the text evoke archetypal figures such as the Great or Nurturing Mother, the Wounded Child, the Whore, the Crone, the Lover, or the Destroying Angel)?

"On Children" by Kahlil Gibran

Gibran Khalil Gibran (January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931), usually referred to in English as Kahlil Gibran, was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist; he was also considered a philosopher, although he rejected the title. He is best known as the author of The Prophet, first published in the United States in 1923, which has since become one of the best-selling books of all time, having been translated into more than 100 languages.

"On Children" by Kahlil Gibran is a thought-provoking poem about how parents should think while raising their children, not thinking of them as their property but as a part of the universal soul. The poem belongs to the popular fable-like poetry collection “The Prophet”.

poets.org/poem/children-1

Jhumpa Lahiri's "Interpreter of Maladies"

Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri (born July 11, 1967) is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays in English and, more recently, in Italian.

Her debut collection of short stories Interpreter of Maladies (1999) won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Hemingway Award, and her first novel, The Namesake (2003), was adapted into the popular film of the same name.

In 2014, Lahiri was awarded the National Humanities Medal. She was a professor of creative writing at Princeton University from 2015 to 2022. In 2022, she became the Millicent C. McIntosh Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at her alma mater, Barnard College of Columbia University.

lahiri-interpreter-of-maladies-full-text.pdf

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse