Dinu Maria Sinziana

English Major, 2nd year, Gr. 1

Seminar instructor: Bogdan tefnescu
Main Concepts in Contemporary Critical Theory

Psychoanalytical approach on
O. Wildes The Picture of Dorian Gray

Psychoanalytic literary criticism is rooted in the concepts of Sigmund Freud. The

Austrian neurologist offered an understanding of how a literary text can be analyzed, making the
reader explore the psyche of the author in order to perceive the behavior of the characters. The
aim of this essay is to point out the way in which Freuds theories can be applied in Oscar
Wildes novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, in order for us to understand Dorians behavior.

The Oxford Dictionary gives us a complex definition of psychoanalysis:

A system of psychological theory and therapy which aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the
interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and
conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association.

Freud understood the mind as constantly in conflict with itself. Lets take, for example,
the well-known case of his patient, Anna O. She suffered from speech disorders, cough,
hysterical squints and others. After hypnotizing her, Freud and Josef Breuer got to the conclusion
that all these symptoms were associated with memories from her life that left a deep mark upon
her. For example, the cough was associated with the period when her father was dying. She used
to stay by his bedside and nurse him. One day, she heard some house music coming from her
neighbors house. She felt the need to go there. She was immediately struck with guilt and self-
reproach because she left her ill father alone. The feeling of guilt soon transformed into the
nervous cough symptom that she would have every time she heard house music.
This led Freud to the conclusion that the mind is divided into three parts which are in a
constant conflict. The three elements are the Id, the Ego and the Superego.

The Id represents the element which is present in an individual since birth. It is part of the
unconscious mind and works by the pleasure principle The psychic force that motivates the
tendency to seek immediate gratification of any impulse.
According to Freud the id is unconscious by definition:
"It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality, what little we know of it we have learned from our
study of the Dreamwork and of the construction of neurotic symptoms, and most of that is of a negative character
and can be described only as a contrast to the ego. We approach the id with analogies: we call it a chaos, a cauldron
full of seething excitations. ... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization,
produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the
observance of the pleasure principle."

The Ego appears when the individual starts to grow and to have contact with the limits
imposed by the reality. The Ego develops from the Id, but tries to adapt the Ids impulses to the
conditions of the world. It works by the reality principle.

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Dinu Maria Sinziana
English Major, 2nd year, Gr. 1
Seminar instructor: Bogdan tefnescu
Main Concepts in Contemporary Critical Theory

The Superego represents the moral sense of the individual, which tells him if he has a
right or a wrong behavior. With so many competing forces, it is obvious that conflicts might
arise between the three elements of the mind.
According to Freud, the Ego is the strongest. Its job is to satisfy the needs of the id, not
upset the Superego, and still take into consideration the reality of every situation.

If the Id becomes too strong, the persons life turns into the pursuit of pleasure and self-
gratification. Is the Superego gets too strong, the persons life transforms into a life built on strict
rules.
Having these in mind, we can easily create a connection between Oscar Wildes novel,
The Picture of Dorian Gray and Freuds theory.

In the novel we have three main characters that embody Freuds theory. The
representative for the Ego is Dorian Gray himself. He is the linking element between the Id and
the Superego, which represent two mutually exclusive elements of the human mind.

Basil Hallward is the embodiment of the Superego. He is concerned with morality and
tries to educate Dorian to be the same. He considers Dorian pure and innocent. When he finds
out Dorians sins, he cannot believe them, saying: Sin is a thing that writes itself across a mans face. It
cannot be concealedIf a wretched man has vice, it shows itself in the lines of his mouth, the droop of his eyelids,
the moulding of his hands even. (Wilde172). Basil
Hallward is competed by Lord Henry Wotton, a
self-proclaimed hedonist who tries to entice Dorian to adopt his way of life, guiding himself by
the pleasure principle. Wotton is the personification of the Id.

In our pursuit of understanding Dorians change of behavior, we can also apply Freuds
theory from The Interpretation of Dreams. We can compare Dorians life to a dream from the
moment when he arrived at Basil Hallwards home. Seeing his portrait painted by the latter,
Dorian Gray becomes aware that his beauty is transit, but the picture will never be older than this
particular day of June (p. 34). This is the moment when the protagonist says:

If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that
was to grow old! For that I would give everything! [...] I would give my soul for that!
(p. 34).

This moment corresponds to Dorians first understanding of beauty and hedonism. In my

opinion, Dorian now starts to let himself be influenced by Henry, the Ego letting the Id influence
it; a moment leading to Dorians leap into the dream world, the moment when his soul is
transferred into the portrait. The dream state starts when life is exchanged with art, when the soul
starts to exist in art through the painting.

The transfer of Dorians soul into the sphere of art can be compared with the transfer
from the conscious world (wakefulness), to the unconscious world (the state of sleep).
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Dinu Maria Sinziana
English Major, 2nd year, Gr. 1
Seminar instructor: Bogdan tefnescu
Main Concepts in Contemporary Critical Theory

Dorian seems to live in an unconscious world, almost being possessed by a greater power
than his own mind.

As Lord Henry Wotton is the representative of the Id and Dorian is the Ego, we can
assume that this embodiment of Dorians soul into another dimension is the result of Lord
Henrys influence upon the young man. Not only the wish to be eternally beautiful and young
made Dorian step into an unconscious way of life, but also Henrys teachings.

Due to how they relate to each other, we can say that an Oedipian triangle formed
between Dorian, Basil and Henry, with Lord Henry as the father figure. Dorian looks up to him,
respects him and lives after his theories. Basil is the mother figure. He is kind hearted, moral and
tries to keep Dorian on the right path in life.
At the end of the novel, Dorian kills Basil with a knife. This can also mean the triumph of
the Ego over the Superego.

As a conclusion, I think that Oscar Wildes novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is the
best example to illustrate Freuds theory of personality. I find the idea of a novel combining the
three elements of the human personality in three different characters very interesting.

The final quote is a beautiful explanation of Dorians attraction to Lord Henrys teaching,
and also a quote to make us understand our sometimes opposing attitudes regarding a situation:

The ego is not master in its own house. (Notable Quotes)

Bibliography:

(Freud 95) Radu Surdulescu, Bogdan Stefanescu Contemporary Critical Theories. A Reader
Pilot edition 1998. Department of English- University of Bucharest. 3.1.1.4 From The
Dissection of the Psychical Personality (1993)

Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Penguin Books Ltd. 1994
Schacter, Daniel (2009). Psychology Second Edition. United States of America: Worth
Publishers. p. 481
Sigmund Freud, New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis [1933] (Penguin Freud Library 2)
pp. 1056
Freud, Sigmund, The Ego and the ID, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY, 1961
http://web.colby.edu/wg217/files/2010/07/freud-ch.3.pdf

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Dinu Maria Sinziana
English Major, 2nd year, Gr. 1
Seminar instructor: Bogdan tefnescu
Main Concepts in Contemporary Critical Theory

Gulcin Yaman- Freuds Personality Theory in Literature. Ege University. English Language and
Literature
Schacter, Daniel (2009). Psychology Second Edition. United States of America: Worth
Publishers. p. 481
http://www.academia.edu/1004785/Freuds_Personality_Theory_in_Literature_The_Strange_Case_of_D
r.Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde_-_The_Portrait_of_Dorian_Gray_

(Oxford Dictionary) http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/psychoanalysis

(Notable Quotes) http://www.notable-quotes.com/f/freud_sigmund.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoanalytic_literary_criticism

http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/psycho.crit.html

http://psihogen.ro/inconstient-sigmund-freud-psihanaliza.html

http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/personalityelem.htm

http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Unconscious

http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/division.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id,_ego_and_super-ego#cite_note-9

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