Applying Psychological Theory to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Term Paper

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Freud and Frankenstein

Although psychoanalysis is not a popular method of therapy anymore (although there are still some practitioners), Freud's ideas are still very influential in Western society. He stands as one of the intellectual giants who helped to shape the modern world. A major contribution that he made was his belief that conscious awareness is not all there is, that there exists another deeper layer of consciousness, which he named the unconscious mind. The unconscious mind, he said, was a repository of repressed impulses and desires. Although the waking mind is unaware of what lies in the unconscious, the unconscious mind is actually quite powerful because human behavior is often determined by the unconscious mind. A lot of what resides in the unconscious is there as a result of early childhood experiences. Freud pictured consciousness as like an iceberg in the ocean with only the tip (or upper 10%) visible. This visible part would be the waking, conscious mind. The rest (unconscious) is "under water" and hidden but always active (Freudian Psychology website, 2005).

The only way human beings can access what is in their unconscious and motivates their behavior is through their dreams. Dreams, Freud said, were like a gateway to the content of the unconscious. Dreams come from the unconscious which "thinks" primarily in visual images. Dreams contain symbols and metaphors that map the inner, unconscious life and desires of the individual in a sort of metaphoric sense-making which can be decoded and interpreted (Ogden, 2001).

Freud's development of psychoanalysis and his theory of the Unconscious brought about a revolution in art during the early years of the 20th century. It is fairly well accepted now that the world of the individual goes beyond the obvious, the visible and the tangible.

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The world of dreams is an alternate form of reality, not rational in the waking sense, but with a logic of its own and one which may be tapped artistically (Reisner, 2003). Furthermore, it has been pointed out those stories, myths, and movies produced for the entertainment of human beings are the collective "dreams" of society. The artist somehow taps into the collective unconscious and produces these "dreams," which mirror society's conflicts, desires, contradictions, and aims. Therefore, it is appropriate to use Freudian psychoanalysis for interpretation of society's dreams.

We will attempt to interpret Mary Shelly's Frankenstein as we would any dream. We will consider all the characters as expressions of one character's consciousness, that is, Dr. Frankenstein's. His offspring (the "monster," "the fiend," and "the wretch") represents all of his unacceptable and base impulses and desires which he has relegated to the unconscious and repressed. This being a Victorian novel, an era in which most sexual impulses had to be repressed in order to be considered a good and moral person, we can understand the monster as an image of Dr. Frankenstein's repressed sexuality and aggression. The monster is Dr. Frankenstein's "shadow-self" brought to light and materialized. The first time Dr. Frankenstein sees his shadow-self, he is horrified. The monster is repulsive and disgusting -- as many of us view people who do unacceptable things today (such as child molesting, or eating the flesh of murdered victims). Think how horrified you would be if you saw it in yourself. Frankenstein refuses to accept the monster as having anything to do….....

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