Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region III – Central Luzon
Tarlac City Schools Division
MALIWALO NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
Tarlac City, Tarlac

PSYCHOANALYSIS CRITICISM
(A Written Report)
In partial fulfilment of the course requirements in English for Academic and Professional
Purposes

By:

TIMOG, RICA MAE BEREN

Accountancy and Business Management

Prepared for:

BENJAMIN S. GASPAR
EAPP Educator

___________________________
Date signed
I. Proponent
Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical
method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. He
was born on May 6, 1856 and passed away on September 23, 1939 due to jaw cancer, aged 83. In
creating psychoanalysis, Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association
and discovered transference, establishing its central role in the analytic process. Sigmund Freud
was the father of psychoanalysis and one of the 20th century's most influential thinkers. In
developing his outlook on psychoanalysis, he also made significant use of his own dreams,
depression and feelings from childhood. To Freud, his relationship with his mother was of
particular importance – as a child Freud felt he was competing for his mother’s affections between
his siblings.
II. Content
Put simply, psychoanalysis is a theory that focuses on the dynamic relationship between
the body, mind and social order. This theory was first developed in the work of Sigmund Freud, a
psychologist who ran a medical practice in Vienna from 1886 up until his death in 1939.
Psychoanalytic criticism is the interpretative perspective of literature by applying some techniques
of psychoanalysis. According to Barry 96, psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims
to cure mental disorder by ‘investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in
the mind. But Sigmund Freud merely makes emphasis on unconscious aspects of the human mind.
Another emphasis is particularly given to infantile sexuality. During the verbal interchange
between the patient and therapist, the latter encourages the former to freely express forgotten,
suppressed or repressed memories which ultimately presents an insight into the patient’s neurosis
or mental conflict. This cure has aptly been described as the “talking cure” by one of Freud’s
patients, Surprenant 199. It may be noted that the patient’s willingness and trust to reveal all to the
therapist is detrimental towards this cure.
Psychoanalytic literary theory is influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by
Sigmund Freud. According to this model there are parts of the mind - thoughts, desires and
memories – that we cannot access but which nonetheless shape our identity and behaviour. To
explain the development of the unconscious Freud went back to the beginning. From the moment
of our birth and then throughout infancy. Freud maintained that our desires and our unconscious
conflicts give rise to three areas of the mind that wrestle for dominance as we grow from infancy,
to childhood, to adulthood. Systems of these mental events came to be conceived of almost as
subsidiary personalities and were given proper names: the id, ego, and the superego.
 Id - is part of our personality that includes our primitive instincts—such as hunger,
anger, thirst— and the inclination for instant satisfaction or release. The id is the
“core of our being”, the oldest and original function of the personality and the basis
of the ego and superego. According to Sigmund Freud, we are all born with our id.
He believed that the id is based on our pleasure principle. The id is very important
part of our character because as newborns, it allows us to get our basic needs met.
The id wants whatever feels good at the time, with no consideration for the other
circumstances of the situation.
Example: Anna was hungry. Rather than waiting for her food to be served, she ate
Mr. Alonzo’s food, much to his surprise.
 Ego - the ego is the part of the personality that maintains a balance between our
impulses (our id) and our conscience (our superego). It is the ego’s job to meet the
needs of the id, while taking into consideration the reality of the situation. The ego
works, in other words, to balance the id and superego. As the id’s demands increase,
the ego becomes overwhelmed with excessive stimulation that it cannot control and
becomes flooded with anxiety.
Example: Danny was stuck in traffic. However, he knew that the traffic light would
be green soon, so he waited until then to move his car, even though he really wanted
to pull his car and speed forward.
  Superego – is now the one that represents our conscience, the moral part of us. It
dictates our beliefs of what is right and what is wrong. The superego’s job is telling
the ego to base behavior on how the action will influence society. Even though the
superego and the ego may have the same decision about something, the superego’s
reason for that decision is more based on moral values, while the ego’s decision is
based more on what others will think or what the consequences of an action could
be.
Example: Sarah saw the answer key from their teacher’s office and wanted to steal
it and copy the answers, but she knew that cheating was wrong, so she decided to
not steal anything even though she would never be probably get caught.

Crucial to the operation of the unconscious is "repression." According to Freud, people

often experience thoughts and feelings that are so painful that people cannot bear them. Such as
thoughts and feelings - and associated memories - could not be excluded from the mind but could
be banished from consciousness. Freud's theories are either directly or indirectly concerned with
the nature of the unconscious mind. Freud didn't invent the notion of the unconscious; others before
him had suggested that even the supposedly "sane" human mind was conscious and rational only
at times, and even then, at possibly only one level. But Freud went further, suggesting that the
powers motivating men and women are mainly and normally unconscious.
III. Issues
Since Freud’s theories were first launched, there has been an increasing lack of support for
some of his beliefs about the human personality. Psychoanalysis and its criticism is a widely
debated and controversial topic for many reasons. The root cause for its dishonor is that even the
science of psychoanalysis developed by Freud himself is considered to be flawed and narrow. With
consideration to psychoanalysis theory, it is unquestionable to recognize that no single critical
approach to literature is complete in its interpretative powers. It is questionable if Sigmund Freud
thought of his theory of psychoanalysis as science. Despite the growing popularity of
psychoanalysis during his lifetime and beyond, he admitted that he had only little personal interest
about the potential value of his system. Freud’s main concern is to explain the dynamics of human
behavior. One other criticism of his theory was directed on his idea of the unconscious mind.
Critics stated that the unconscious mind did not consist of hidden or repressed, passionate
emotions. Instead, it was underlying information such as memory, perception, as well as emotion,
but generally not the repressed kind. So, in the final analysis, there's no evidence that people
repress memories of childhood sexual abuse and other trauma. And because there's no evidence
that people repress such memories, there's no reason to think that repressed memories of trauma
account for people's "neurotic" symptoms. And because there's no reason to think that repression
lies behind (or beneath) the patient's symptoms, there's no reason to think that recovering repressed
memories of trauma would be of any use in the treatment of "neuroses".
IV. Implication(s)
 In ABM Strand
We know that ABM is a strand for analyzing the processes of a business to identify
strengths and weaknesses. And also, for students who are dreaming of becoming future
accountants, managers and entrepreneurs. Psychoanalysis criticism, in which Freud’s works
are criticized by tons of people. In this strand, we need to learn how to accept critiques. Taking
criticism can be a difficult thing. It can be hard to deal with; after all, nobody likes to be told
they're wrong. But it's not all bad news because sometimes you can use criticism to give you a
competitive edge. However, failure and disappointment are part of the human experience and
in order to achieve the goals in life we set ourselves, a healthy dose of failure is sure to be part
of the process.
  In studying English
In studying English, you need to possess a lot of knowledge about the language before
starting. So that you can easily cope up while studying. In Freud’s theories, most of his works
are unfinished due to the lack of empirical data and the demographically restricted sample of
individuals on which he based the majority of his ideas. And so, psychoanalysis criticism
implies that to avoid misunderstanding, our works and theories should be defined in every
detail and holds a lot of information about its topic.
 For myself
Having plenty critiques about the theories of Freud’s psychoanalysis implies that his theory
is delicate for not having enough evidences and lack of information. And this affects students like
me, to enhance our criticizing skills. A good critique demonstrates your impressions of the article,
while providing sample evidence to back up your impressions. As the critic, we take time to read
carefully and thoughtfully, prepare our arguments and evidences, and write clearly and cogently.
V. Reflection
When I first heard about the word psychoanalysis criticism, my mind already came up with
ideas like psycho, insane, or mentally ill. I thought my report would be easy, but I thought wrong.
As I dive deeper into the topic that has given to me, it hit me hard. It wasn’t easy at all yet I still
managed to understand it. I have learned a lot while making this written report of mine that is
entitled Psychoanalysis Criticism. About all those therapies that are given to mentally ill patients
or people that has hysteria and neurosis. And especially about the three section of our minds which
are the id, ego and superego. Of how they function and affect our actions that we make in our
everyday living. And I have learned that no matter how credible you are, there are still people who
will criticize your works. And you’ll know that your work needs a lot of improvement when there
are critiques arising upon it. Although the psychoanalytic process can seem confusing, I think it
has a lot of interesting and important aspects. I think it is important for us to see that where we
came from has framed us into who we are today. But I also believe that we have the power in us
to become better people. I think that the process of psychoanalytic therapy can bring out many
demons within us or bring out good things that we never knew we had.
VI. Reference(s)
Murfin R, (1991). Psychoanalytic Criticism and Jane Eyre. Retrieved from
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~rlbeebe/what_is_psychoanalytic_criticism.pdf
Read Write Think, (2004). An Introduction to Psychoanalytic Criticism. Retrieved from
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson800/psychoanalysis.p
df
Skinner B. F. (1953). Critique of Psychoanalytic Theory. Retrieved from
http://mcps.umn.edu/assets/pdf/1_3_Skinner.pdf
Jarvis B, (2011). Loughborough University Psychoanalysis. Retrieved from
https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/15935/3/Psychoanalysis.pdf