Literary Appreciation 2

What are the schools of literary appreciation?

1- Schools of historical background
2- Schools of textual background
Sigmund Freud is the founder of psychological analysis
Psychological analysis is one branch of psychology, specialized in treating
the human self-psychological illnesses like schizophrenia and paranoia.

Some of his characters are from Greek drama

All Greek/ classic drama was written in poetry
Ex: Oedipus the king

The whole story is about a king called Oedipus who have seek a prophecy
that he will marry his mother. He was afraid of that to happen. He tried to
avoid his father and mother. At the end we discover that the 2 who he lived
with a father and mother were not his real parents and the woman he
married is his mother.

Freud used this story to make an analysis of a psychological complex

called Oedipus complex

Oedipus complex: an unconscious attraction of the boy towards his mother

Oedipus complex: a theory of Sigmund Freud and occurs during the Phallic
stage of psychosexual development.
It involves a boy, aged between 3 and 6, becoming unconsciously sexually
attached to his mother, and hostile towards his father (who he views as a
rival).
Ex: Hamlet

The opposite of Oedipus complex is The Electra Complex

Electra Complex: the female version of the Oedipus complex. It involves a
girl, aged between 3 and 6, becoming unconsciously sexually attached to
her father and increasingly hostile toward her mother.

Freud divided the human self into:

1- It
2- Ego
3- Super ego

It: The animalistic instinct, related to infancy (not common)

Ego: My own picture that I want people to see me as
Super Ego: My perfectionist view myself.

The most important concepts we will be studying and using are conscious
and unconscious.
These terms were used by Freud
Freud was the first one to say that the self is divided into conscious and
unconscious
Conscious: things that we do with intention
Unconscious: things that we do with intention

Unconscious actions have motives

Motives: things that moves us
Freud considers the split of tongue as a mirror of the self

Freud used Greek drama to name psychological complexes that exist in the
unconscious of many people.

Complex: abnormal emotions built in the unconscious mind of some

people.

Shakespearean drama is on the most heavily depended upon drama that

psychoanalysts use, why?
• Shakespearean drama has deep (round) characters. It is easy to
apply psychoanalysis theories.
• Shakespearean drama is aesthetic (words, style, actions…) because it
is written in poetry
• Shakespearean drama is related to society.
Marxism is related to modern society

King Lear
Type of drama: Tragedy
The protagonist: king Lear
The antagonist: two of daughters and of their husbands
What is tragic comedy?
A literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms.

Which Plays Are Shakespeare's Tragicomedies?

• The Merchant of Venice (1596–97)
• The Winter's Tale (1610–11)
• The Tempest (1611–12)

What are the elements of drama?

• Characters
• Theme
• Plot
• Conflict

Conflict is very important in tragedy

The climax of the tragic drama must have a complex
The combination of conflict and complex is called tragic flaw

What is a tragic flaw?

A personality trait of the main character that leads to his or her downfall.
It makes changes in the actions

What is common between tragedy and comedy?

The clown
The clown is important in Shakespearean drama.
He is a minor character that doesn’t affect the actions, but he is important
in commenting on the actions.

The monologue is an important element in the Shakespearean drama

What is a monologue?
A speech given by a single character in a story. In drama, it is the
vocalization of a character’s thoughts, in literature, the verbalization.

Monologue makes tragic irony because we as an audience understand and

hear the monologues and other characters in the literary work don’t