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A Psychological Reading of "A Rose for Emily"

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Submitted By mayraneria
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Freud and Faulkner
A psychoanalytic Reading of “A Rose for Emily”

Abstract Undoubtedly Sigmund Freud is the father of psychoanalysis. He was an influential thinker of the early twentieth century who elaborated the theory that the mind is a complex energy-system and the structural investigation of which is the proper province of psychology. Freud articulated and refined the concepts of the unconscious, infantile sexuality and repression and he proposed tripartite account of the mind ‘s structure, all as part of a radically new conceptual and therapeutic frame of reference for the understanding of human psychological development and the treatment of abnormal mental conditions. Freudian approach can be analyzed well in The short story “A Rose for Emily” which is one of the great stories by an American novelist William Faulkner. In this essay I ‘m going to analyze this short story and the characteristics of its protagonist ( Emily Grierson) from Freudian and psychoanalytic criticism.

Introduction Miss Emily Grierson, the main character in William Faulkner’s short story “A Rose for Emily,” is certainly strange by any average reader’s standards and a character analysis of Emily could go in any number of directions. It is nearly impossible not to examine her in a psychoanalytical and Freudian criticism specially about: Phallic stage, Oedipus Complex and the role of Id, Ego and Superego.

The Phallic Stage According to Freud, a child even a girl or a boy during her or his life passes five psychosexual development which is very important. If a child fails to develop one of these levels, he or she faces with psychosexual and psychological problems in the future. The levels are: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latent and the Genital. In the Freudian psychology the Phallic stage is the third stage of psychosexual

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