Historical Development:

 Writers Contribution to The Development of psychoanalytic Approach:

I. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) is known for his significant contributions to psychoanalytic
criticism. Through his work with patients diagnosed as hysterics, Freud proposed that
their issues stemmed from psychological rather than physical causes. He believed that
these patients had repressed incestuous desires that they were unconsciously
avoiding. In 1887, Freud experienced his own neurotic crisis, which prompted him to
undergo self-analysis. Combining the results of his self-analysis with his research and
patient analyses, Freud concluded that fantasies and wishful thinking, in addition to
actual experiences, played a significant role in the development of neuroses. (Bressler,
2011)

Models of the Human Psyche:

A. Dynamic Model
Freud developed multiple models of the human psyche throughout his lifetime. The
dynamic model proposed by Freud suggests that the mind consists of the conscious
and the unconscious. The conscious mind is responsible for perceiving and recording
external reality. The unconscious mind remains hidden from our awareness and
governs a significant portion of our actions. Freud described the unconscious as the
irrational aspect of our psyche. The unconscious serves as a source for hidden desires,
fears, ambitions, passions, and irrational thoughts. Freud redefined the unconscious as
a dynamic system that stores unresolved conflicts and suppressed emotions. Within
the unconscious, Freud identified two fundamental instincts: eros (later referred to as
libido) and the destructive or aggressive instinct. These instincts can sometimes work
in harmony but often clash and oppose each other. According to Freud, the
unconscious mind contains hidden truths and desires that seek to be revealed through
the conscious mind. (Bressler, 2011)
B. Economic model:
Freud's second model of the human psyche builds upon and retains the core ideas of
the dynamic model. Both models involve a constant struggle between the conscious
and unconscious mind for control over a person's actions. In the economic model,
Freud introduces two new concepts: the pleasure principle and the reality principle.
The pleasure principle seeks immediate satisfaction of instinctual drives, disregarding
societal boundaries. The reality principle acts as a counterforce to the pleasure
principle, recognizing the need for societal standards and regulations. (DOBIE, 2012)
C. Typographical Models:
Freud developed a typographical model of the human psyche during his career. In this
model, the human psyche is divided into three parts: the conscious, the preconscious,
and the unconscious. The conscious part of the mind is the direct connection to
external reality and helps the mind organize its surroundings. The preconscious stores
memories that can be brought to consciousness without being disguised. The
unconscious holds repressed desires, thoughts, and images that cannot be directly
accessed by the conscious mind. These repressed impulses manifest in disguised forms
in dreams, art, and other aspects of our lives.
The psyche is divided into three parts: the id, the ego, and the superego. The id
represents the irrational, instinctual, unknown, and unconscious part of the psyche,
containing secret desires, darkest wishes, and intense fears. The id operates on the
pleasure principle and seeks immediate satisfaction for its instinctual desires. It also
houses the libido, the source of psychosexual desires and psychic energy. The ego, the
rational and logical part of the mind, regulates the instinctual desires of the id and
allows them to be released in nondestructive ways. Although many of its activities
remain unconscious, the ego operates in harmony with the reality principle. The
superego acts as an internal censor, making moral judgments based on social
pressures. It operates according to the morality principle and protects society and
individuals from the id. The superego suppresses forbidden desires and instincts,
causing guilt and fear if allowed to operate freely. The ego mediates between the id's
instinctual desires and the superego's social pressures, suppressing unacceptable
thoughts and depositing them in the unconscious. (Bressler, 2011)
 Stages of human development for having healthy psyche:
A. Pre-oedipal Development phase:
In early childhood, individuals go through three overlapping phases: oral, anal, and
phallic stages. The oral phase involves the activation of sexuality through sucking on
the mother's breast, leading to the development of the mouth as an erotogenic zone.
The anal stage focuses on pleasure derived from defecation, as children realize their
independence from their mothers and learn to control others by withholding feces.
The phallic stage directs a child's sexual desire towards their genitals, and developing a
sense of sexuality is essential for normal adult development, which can be achieved
through successful handling of the Oedipus or Electra complex.
B. Oedipus complex:
Freud's formulation of the Oedipus complex is a significant contribution to
psychoanalytic and literary criticism. The Oedipus complex is based on the play
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles, where the protagonist is prophesied to kill his father and
marry his mother. According to Freud, the Oedipus complex represents a stage in
psychosexual development where the child transfers their love object from the breast
to the mother. he boy successfully transitions to manhood by navigating the Oedipus
complex, while the girl must navigate the Electra complex to transition to
 womanhood. Both the boy and the girl are erotically attracted to their respective
parents of the opposite sex and recognize a rival for their parent's affection. The girl,
after realizing her castration, redirects her desires towards her father and eventually
identifies with her mother, completing her transition into womanhood. (Bressler,
2011)
C. The significance of dreams:
According to Freud, the unconscious mind stores repressed sexual desires, anger,
guilt, and other painful memories. The unconscious continues to influence the
conscious mind through inferiority feelings, guilt, irrational thoughts, and dreams.
Freud believes that dreams serve as a way for the unconscious to express suppressed
wishes and desires in a disguised form.

ll. Carl G. Jung

Jung's most significant contribution to psychology and literary criticism was his own
model of the human psyche. He accepted Freud's assumption of the existence of the
unconscious but disagreed with Freud's belief in its major role in analyzing the
contents of the unconscious. According to Jung, the human psyche consists of three
parts: the personal conscious, the personal unconscious, and the collective
unconscious. The personal conscious represents the image or thought that an
individual is aware of at any given moment, while the personal unconscious stores and
remembers the vanished slides of the personal conscious. The collective unconscious
is a deeper part of the psyche that contains the cumulative knowledge, experiences,
and images of the entire human species. It explains why people from different cultures
respond similarly to certain myths or stories. The collective unconscious, according to
Jung, is a universal and impersonal psychic system that is present in all individuals. It
contains deep human themes and commonalities in the form of archetypes, which are
patterns or images of repeated human experiences. Archetypes are not ready-made
ideas, but predispositions that cause us to respond to stimuli in certain ways, and they
are genetically inherited, forming a collective unconsciousness for all humankind.
(DOBIE, 2012)
lll. Northrop Frye's work "Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays" in 1957 established him as
the leading advocate of archetypal criticism. Frye's approach to interpretation, known
as archetypal or mythic criticism, divorces a text from its social history and focuses on
an overall structure or mythic development. According to Frye, all literature can be
categorized on a sliding scale from the most explicitly allegorical to the most anti
allegorical, and archetypal symbols within literature help to emphasize and portray
the deeper allegorical story. called monomyth. (Abrams, 2013)
Iv. Jacques Lacan
 Lacan believes that the unconscious has a significant impact on our conscious behavior,
similar to Freud. Unlike Freud, Lacan views the unconscious as structured, resembling
the structure of language. Lacan's model of the human psyche is based on the idea that
language shapes and structures both our unconscious and conscious minds, as well as
our self-identity. Lacan's theory of the human psyche consists of three orders: the
imaginary order, the symbolic order, and the real order. In the imaginary order, which
is dominant from birth until around six months, we rely on images to perceive and
interpret the world. The mirror stage, occurring between six and eighteen months,
allows us to become aware of ourselves as separate beings and recognize certain
objects as separate from ourselves. The desire for our mother is a consuming passion
that dominates our existence in the imaginary order. We believe that our mother can
fulfill all our wishes, just as we can fulfill all of hers. However, we must learn that we
are separate entities from our mothers and that total unity with them is an illusion.
Lacan's theory revolves around the concepts of lack and fragmentation in the human
psyche. Our longing for love, physical pleasure, and various objects cannot fulfill our
desire to return to the imaginary order and be united with our mother. Lacan examines
literary texts to explore the fragmented nature of the self and the possibility of
momentarily capturing the desire to return to the imaginary order. He also looks for
elements of the real order, which represents the physical world and everything that a
person is not. Language plays a significant role in causing our fragmentation, and
literature has the ability to evoke moments of joy or desire from our unconscious
psyche. (Bressler, 2011)
 "Ladies And Gentlemen”, By Joyce Carol Oates
Biography:
Joyce Carol Oates is an acclaimed American author known for her exploration of
violence and evil in contemporary society. She was born on June 16, 1938, in New York,
and grew up with a father who worked as a tool-and-die designer and a homemaker
mother. Oates received a scholarship to Syracuse University and later earned a
master's degree from the University of Wisconsin. She has since taught English at
various universities and currently holds a position as a creative writing professor at
Princeton University.
Summary Of The Story:
Joyce Carol Oates's short story, "Ladies and Gentlemen," takes place on the S.S. Ariel, a
cruise ship, and is narrated by the ship's captain as he addresses a group of elderly
passengers. Initially, the captain's speech appears to be a typical welcome address, but
it quickly takes a darker turn. He reveals that the ship is in a state of disrepair, with
malfunctioning facilities, inadequate services, and overall poor conditions. While he
apologizes for the inconveniences, he attributes them to the ship's age and impending
retirement. As the captain continues speaking, he unveils a shocking truth: the cruise
was actually the idea of the passengers' children, who are eager to secure their
inheritances. This revelation exposes the manipulative intentions behind the cruise and
sheds light on the vulnerability and exploitation of the passengers by their own
offspring. The story delves into themes of aging, family dynamics, betrayal, and
society's disregard for the elderly. It raises thought-provoking questions about familial
obligations, the complexities of intergenerational relationships, and the sometimes-
heartless treatment of the elderly in society. Throughout the narrative, Oates skillfully
exposes the emotional and psychological vulnerability of the elderly passengers,
highlighting their hopes, disappointments, and the manipulation they face from their
own families. "Ladies and Gentlemen" is a poignant exploration of human relationships
and the darker aspects of familial ties, showcasing Oates's ability to delve into the
complexities of human nature within a relatively brief yet impactful story. (Burke, 2012)
Elements Of Psychoanalysis Theory In The Story:
The revelation made by the captain brings to light the hidden desires of the children
who orchestrated the cruise, providing insight into their unconscious motivations.
These individuals are driven by impatience to acquire their inheritances, which reveals
deeper, repressed desires that have been simmering beneath the surface for a
significant period of time. Their yearning for control over their parents' estates serves
as a manifestation of their subconscious anxieties and the need for financial security.
The narrative delves into the intricate dynamics between parents and their adult
children, shedding light on the underlying tension surrounding the inheritance. This
tension can be understood through the lens of Freudian concepts such as the Oedipal
complex, where children engage in a subconscious competition for parental resources
and power. The desire to secure their parents' estates reflects a complex interplay of
emotions and motivations rooted in the intricate web of familial relationships.
The elderly passengers' reactions to the captain's revelations reveal profound
emotional distress and shock, highlighting the deep-seated repression of their
children's true intentions. This repression may stem from a desire to uphold idealized
images of their offspring. Furthermore, the children's impatience for their inheritances
suggests a subconscious guilt over their financial dependencies or a sense of
entitlement. Their attempts to exert control over their parents' estates may serve as a
means to alleviate their own insecurities and anxieties related to financial stability.
The impatience of children for their inheritances can be seen from a different
perspective, considering the underlying feelings of resentment or unmet expectations
they may have towards their parents. The anticipation of receiving a significant
inheritance could be linked to unresolved emotions of indebtedness towards their
parents for the sacrifices made during their upbringing. The initial disbelief and shock
 exhibited by the elderly passengers upon the captain's revelation can be understood as
a form of denial, which serves as a defense mechanism to shield themselves from the
painful truth. This denial may serve as a means to preserve their idealized perception of
their children and maintain a positive image of their family relationships.

Main Authors contribution:

Children's impatience for their inheritances can be connected to Freud's concept of the
Oedipal complex, where they unconsciously desire control and rivalry with their parents.
The desire to gain control over their parents' estates may represent a subconscious need
for power and independence. The elderly passengers' initial denial and shock upon the
captain's revelation align with Freud's theory of defense mechanisms. Denial serves as a
defense mechanism to protect oneself from painful or unacceptable truths. The
exploration of familial relationships and the passengers' reactions to the island in the
story resonate with Jung's concept of archetypes and the collective unconscious. The
island could represent archetypal fears shared by humanity regarding aging, mortality,
and the unknown. Frye's theory of mythical and archetypal criticism focuses on literary
archetypes and myths. In this story, the island can be seen as a literary archetype
representing a liminal space or a threshold where characters undergo psychological
transformations. The passengers' reactions and behaviors symbolize their journey
through this literary space. Lacan's mirror stage, involving the formation of identity
through identification with an image, can be applied to the passengers' reactions upon
learning the truth.
Bibliography
Abrams, M. H., 2013. A Glossary of Litteray Terms. s.l.:Cengage Learning.
Bressler, C. E., 2011. Literary Critisim. s.l.:Pearson Education.
Burke, R., 2012. American short Stories. s.l.:Perfection learning corporation.
DOBIE, A. B., 2012. Theory into Practice. 3rd ed. s.l.:Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Guerin, W. L., 2005. A Handbook of Critical Approach to Litrature. s.l.:Oxford university Press