Preview

Freud And A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
698 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Freud And A Midsummer Night's Dream Essay
Shakespeare’s complicated characters reviled often a new side of human nature and influenced psychology as we know it today. His works influenced Sigmund Freud and laid the path for psychoanalysis theory. Shakespeare’s characters such as Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo, and Prince Hal develop and grow. Their internal thoughts, dilemmas touched psychological questions that Freud will establish later. Shakespeare’s characters demonstrates that in the aspect of an undefined world, self-awareness — that much -praised leadership value — is only commendable of the name when it is revelatory. He also analyses the psychology of love, death, power, betrayal, vanity and many more. All human feelings, worries, problems and values in social aspect are representing …show more content…
Sigmund Freud’s The Psychoanalytic Theory is known to be one of the first personality theories, based on this theory many other developed such as Neo-Freudian and post-Freudian theory. These theories all have common concepts, such as the significance of childhood experiences, the role of concerns in determining behaviors and personality, also the role of sexuality as a key to understand and analyze the characters (Jenson, Web.2017). As we know Freud deeply studied the concept how thru analyze of the dreams we can understand behavior. We clearly can see the connection between Freud’s theory and Shakespeare’s play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. In this play the subjects and themes are very close to those establish in some psychoanalytic theories: social interaction, dreams, defense mechanism and anxious behavior. For an example in character of Lady Macbeth, Shakespeare touches multiple mental disorders such as: Major Depressive Disorder, post-traumatic stress, Parasomnia and OCD. In Hamlet’s character we can see sights of depression and even multiple personality disorder. Othello’s character has indicative features of pathological jealousy (Shakespearean Work and Common Mental Disorders, Web. 2017). Shakespeare also touches social problems that are active in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    A Midsummer Night Dream is a play written by the late William Shakespeare. This play is about a love triangle how one loves the other when the other does not like them until finally it all ends in a resolution, as they have a secret fairy world looking over at them, this play is almost like a mix between the fantasy world and the real! Bottom is one of the characters in this play, and in this play Bottom is a humorous and confident character, although being intelligent in other fields Bottom is not a very clever or educated man. Bottom and his fellow workmates are named the “rude mechanicals”, unsophisticated men but rather great tradesmen, working not with the mind but with the hands, though Bottom may be labeled a “rude mechanical” in many…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I am Kaitlyn Luepann and I am portraying the fairy attendants Peaseblossom, Bottom, Cobweb, and the “jester fairy” Puck From William Shakespeare’s play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” I will be portraying all these characters as one character with characteristics of all four. The ways I am going to adapt the characters that I am portraying are for me to have a witty sense of humour, yet have common courtesy and manners, and have respectful body language and a humourous tone of voice because the three fairy attendants are very respectful, but Puck is humourous. How I adapt all of the fairies body language and tone of voice from the play to the modern day is to be a respectful Starbucks worker, who cracks jokes in a funny manner while customers…

    • 282 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As long as humans have been on this earth, they have been curious. People were curious about land, so they explored the world by ship. People were curious about the sea, so they dove below the surface. People were curious about the universe around them, so they sent man to space. In 1873, a European-American psychoanalyst named Sigmund Freud was curious about the mind, the subconscious, and how it affects human action, so he began studies of concepts and patients that would last over sixty years. 1923 brought a publication titled The Ego and the Id, that introduced new ideas of a developed and divided unconscious (“Timeline”). In his time, his works were used by psychologists around the globe, but now they have paved the way for a literary school of thought (Shmoop, “Psychoanalysis”). In William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Freud’s theory of the id, ego, and superego can be applied to analyze how the characters’ reactions are shaped by their subconscious and how their decisions affect the play as a whole.…

    • 1267 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In many of the plays by William Shakespeare, the central character goes through internal and external changes that ultimately shake their foundations to the core. Numerous theories have been put forth to explain the sequence of tragedies Shakespeare wrote during this period by linking it to some experience of melancholy, anger, despair, and the antagonist 's ultimate fall from grace in their lust for power. But such theories overlook the fact that it is in this very same period and in the same tragic works that portray the heights to which human nature can rise and fall in its purest and noblest, if not happiest terms. Surely the creation of so much light alongside the darkness and the perfection of the artistic medium through which Shakespeare gives them expression argues against the idea that the greedy side of human nature is his chief concern. His efforts to portray human life in its rarest form and not only the dark depths, but also the treasure rooms of our being. He tries to pierce beneath the superficial motives and forces of surface behavior, social, and cultural expressions and to the deeper levels of individual character and human nature. Shakespeare then places these aspects of human existence in their true relation to the wider field of universal life. In relation to the tragic hero, there are many similarities between the tragic heroes in Macbeth and King Lear. However, the differences between the two outline the re-occurring themes in both plays. In Shakespeare 's plays the central characters ' own weaknesses and lust for power lead to corruption. The unchecked power in Shakespeare 's Macbeth and King Lear ultimately leads to corruption, tragedy, and the hero 's fall from grace.…

    • 1448 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare redeemed his well-known reputation by his iconic writing. He incorporated loads of imagery, character traits and literary devices that construct his amazing pieces. Hamlet, being one of his most famous playwrights besides the glamorous Romeo and Juliet, serves sarcasm and insanity right to the audience on a silver platter. The man himself, Hamlet, faces more conflict with his inner self than any other person in the novel. Shakespeare’s use of insanity and sarcasm highlights the plays humor and inner emotions leaving the reader with the ability to relate.…

    • 709 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sometimes the way the world perceives somebody’s character is not always accurate. In Shakespeare’s infamous play Hamlet, Hamlet is thought to be a mentally unstable character. When he isn’t feigning madness, Hamlet is a well educated individual, who is capable of manipulation as well as a capacity for sarcastic wit. Shakespeare effectively portrays Hamlet’s true character through his interactions with other characters as well as his instinctive emotional responses.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Whilst A Midsummer Night’s Dream does provide much comedic entertainment for its audience, a darker exploration of love seems to sit under the guise of bawdy comedy. Shakespeare may have intended light comedy to cover the surface of the play, however as you delve deeper, explorations of the disturbing nature of sexual desires and the unhealthy and intoxicating powers of love become clear.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Macbeth highlights William Shakespeare’s own opinions on correlations between committing unethical deeds and the manipulation of a person’s psychology. While modern psychological research did not appear until the late 1800s it is evident that with the help of his son-in-law John Hall (a man who introduced one of the first psychological concepts of hypochondriac melancholy), Shakespeare was able to use many psychological abnormalities to highlight that partaking in evil changes the mind. But this little knowledge has left plenty of room for ambiguity in Macbeth and has resulted in many modern debates to arise over differing interpretations of the play.…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Analysis in A Midsummer Night's Dream “O, I am out of breath in this fond chase!” (Act 2 vs.81)…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    An earlier play entitled, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare, is a comedy outlining the destinies of two bothered couples. Shakespeare tactically demonstrates the love of two Athens individuals, Lysander and Hermia. The conflict is, Hermia’s father is against the marriage of the two and insists upon marriage with a man named Demetrius. However, the already complicated situation becomes more complex when Hermia discovers that Helena, a deep-rooted friend, is in love with Demetrius. My initial interest of the play arose during the introduction of this conflict.…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Madness in Hamlet

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Hamlet, a play by William Shakespeare, is as much a mystery as a tale about depression, madness and sanity. Shakespeare reveals how the scourge of corruption and decay rapidly spread; and the emotional consequences that follow. Insanity, madness and depression are as intolerable as corruption and deceit; and just as intertwined. The play makes one ponder if it is possible to be sane in an insane world full of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption? By examining the themes of melancholy, madness and sanity in Hamlet, Shakespeare details his character’s descent from depression to madness. Additionally, Hamlet’s psychological state can be analyzed by utilizing modern psychological diagnoses, in order to understand his mental state.…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It is the nature of people to love, then destroy, then love again that which they value the most.” –Unknown. Countless authors have tried to display love as human nature, but no author does this better than the famous playwright, William Shakespeare. In both Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare exhibits how love can control a person. To understand how love controls a person, one must understand that human nature is the sum of qualities and traits shared by all humans. All humans have exhibit love in one way or another, which explains how human nature relates to the controlling aspect of love. In Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conflicts between loyalty to family and friends, lack of trustworthiness towards others, and jealousy towards others prevent characters from showing how they truly feel about their love. However, the character’s inability to show their true love does not prevent them from exhibiting their human nature of love, despite conflict and obstacles.…

    • 1315 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    If one wants to truly understand the psychological implications of William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the primary focus should be on the character Hamlet, and how he develops and modifies throughout the play. Using the fundamentals of the psychoanalytic perspective of critical evaluation, one would be able to truly identify and explore the true nature of Hamlet, and the effects that his character has on the situation surrounding him. In order to gain a true understanding of most of the detail that is implied through Hamlet's way of portraying himself to others, it is vital to look deep into the actions that are carried out, and analyze them psychoanalytically.…

    • 1341 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Psychoanalysis of Hamlet

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Traumatic experiences in a person’s life can have serious mental repercussions, such as disconnection from others, self-blame, or permanent mental instability. Accordingly, Hamlet’s behavior demonstrates textbook symptoms of emotional and psychological damage. With the loss of his father, and the quick remarriage of his mother, the dramatic changes in the familiarity of life become the triggers for Hamlet’s change in behavior. These psychological triggers are very relevant in patient cases today such as the remarrying of a parent, the death of close friend, or development during adolescence. The triggered behaviors become dangerous, as the ability of being able to confide in someone else does not seem a possibility to Hamlet. Losing a loved one is never easy, in Hamlets case the loss leads to a downward spiral of behavior that ultimately affects many different people in his kingdom. This problem of seeking comfort or advice in times of need is crucial for the development during adolescence. Psychologists agree that bottling up emotions can cause explosive and irrational behavior, such as in the case of Hamlet. “Madness in great ones must not unwatched go.”…

    • 1827 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dreams are used throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare to strengthen points and reveal important aspects of both the play and the characters within. Often linking different periods, dreams are a prevalent and important aspect of the play that commonly reveal important plot characteristics. Therefore demanding attention by the reader and analyzer. Shakespeare is trying to show his readers the thin line between dreams and reality by foreshadowing future events through dreams, providing a link to reality, and revealing how reality reflects perspective and circumstance…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays