Sigmund Freud s Freudian Theory - 1016 Words

Freudian Development Sigmund freud, a physician at the time, created the theory based on an author’s perception in life toward his or her literary work. The freudian, or psychoanalytic theory is one of many, but is one of the most common when criticizing a literary work. Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory applies the contributions of the unconscious memories, the Oedipus and Elektra complexes, and the three levels of consciousness toward an author’s work. One of Freud’s key elements toward his way of criticism was the the effect of past experiences on the conscious and unconscious mind. It’s best explained in Thornton’s article when he asserts, â€Å"†¦when a hysterical patient was encouraged to talk freely about the earliest occurrences of†¦show more content†¦The first stage, or the oral stage, involves the security and feeding provided to the infant by it’s mother. This stage determines one’s â€Å"capacity to form emotional bond,† and these unattended needs during this stage result in a â€Å"severely impaired† oral stage during one’s adult life (Mitchell). This is then followed by the anal stage, when defection and urination of the growing infant require attention. This stage is summarized by Mitchell when he writes, â€Å"†¦when the child begins to realize that it is a pleasurable experience to manipulate particular areas of the body, such as the mouth, the anus and the genitals.† As a teenager humans then develop and enter the phallic stage, which involves the discovery of self pleasure. Gaining a deeper understanding of our sexuality, we then reach the Latency stage, where we find sexual attractions toward certain objects. It is then left to the final stage, or the genital stage, where humans develop a general familiarity with his or her genitals, along with the feelings that become associated. This can often be found within authors that lack thes e body stages when he or she is developing, because the events or relationships between characters in that particular author’s literary piece. The role in human development extends even further with the Oedipus and Elektra complexes. Oedipus refers to young males, and how the sexual attraction toward his mother