Lieutenant Gustl Essay

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Arthur Schnitzler was a contemporary of Freud. He was six years younger than Freud and many people believed that Schnitzler's work was a reflection of Freud’s theories. Though Schnitzler wrote many texts and most of them contained Freud’s ideas; this essay will analyze Lieutenant Gustl from Five Great German Short Stories through Freud’s perspective.
Schnitzler wrote Lieutenant Gustl as an inner monologue. The purpose of this method is that the text is able to portray the psychic life of Gustl and readers come into direct contact with Gustl’s intimate thoughts which are perhaps closer to the unconsciousness. As the text primarily talks about Gustl’s inner desires, thoughts and how his mind works; Freud can no longer be avoided because his main interest was also how the unconscious mind functions and how it shapes the person’s behaviour.
This text includes many images and symbols, as a Freudian the most significant symbol would be …show more content…

At this point, Gustl realizes that his masculinity is lost by someone who had “stronger fists” (pg.127) than him. Throughout the story, Gustl refers to the baker as a strong man. Although, through hierarchy Gustl was superior to the baker, Mr. Habetswallner was physically stronger than him and this enabled him to get rid off Gustl’s saber and he was able to place him in a state of castration. With his masculinity lost, Gustl could no longer fight the duel with the Doctor. The duel had to be fought with a saber and now Gustl’s saber was threatened, he no longer felt the urge to participate. “ The Doctor could kill me with his saber.” (pg.127) Gustl feels intimidated by the Doctor because he lost his manliness. He believed that the Doctor is stronger than him and he felt incapacitated compared to the Doctor. As the Doctor’s saber was unharmed Gustl said that the Doctor is stronger and masculine than him, therefore, he could easily defeat

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