Psychoanalytical- Ego- Theseus: gives Hermia choices, is willing to compromise Quotes: "Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice" act 1 scene 1 line 71 The play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare holds many aspects of the psychoanalytical lense. However, none of the main characters are a perfect example of any one of the three subtopics, the Id, the Ego, or the Superego. The character Oberon, the fairy king, represents both the Id and the Superego with his efforts to benefit his own needs as well as a young lover's needs. Theseus, the Athenian king, portrays the ego with his attempts to give another young lover a choice. The Id, the Ego, and the Superego are all seen throughout the play. The Id is seen through many instances throughout the play. A character that portrays this very well is the fairy king, Oberon. He poisons his wife so he can get his way. While arguing with his wife, he says "Do you amend it then. It lies in you./ Why should Titania cross her Oberon?/ I do but beg a little changeling boy/ To be my henchman" (2.1.119-123). This shows that Oberon will not give in to his wife's will and is only interested what he wants. Once he realizes that he will not get his way, he decides to get his way by force. He uses a potion to poison his wife. While thinking to himself, he says “I'll watch Titania when she is asleep/ And drop the liquor of it in her eyes” (2.1.181-182). This shows that he does not care if he loses his wife, he only wants to “win” the argument. This is something an Id would do because Id’s do not consider the consequences of their actions. Oberon might lose his wife because of his actions, but he is blinded by his desire to get his way. Oberon does not only represent an Id, ... ... middle of paper ... ... “Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice” (1.1.71) she will be unhappy. This shows an Ego because an ego will compromise between the Id and the Super Ego. Theseus wants follow his Super Ego that tells him to help the lady, but he also wants to follow his Id that tells him to force the lady to marry unhappily. He compromises by siding with the father, but giving the lady options. The Ego will always compromise, just like Theseus. Throughout the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, examples of an Id, Ego, and Super Ego are seen. The Id is seen when the fairy king Oberon refuses to give in to his wife's will. The Super Ego is seen when Oberon fails to see the consequences of helping a young athenian lady. The Ego is seen when the Duke of Athens gives a young maiden an oppurtunity to change her fate. Shakespear shows those examples of the psycoanalytical lense.
In Shakespeare’s play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love appears to be the common theme of several storylines being played out simultaneously. Although these stories intersect on occasion, their storylines are relatively independent of one another; however, they all revolve around the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. If love is a common theme among these stories, then it is apparent that love makes people act irrationally.
Oberon is one of the most important characters in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare and is the answer to the question of why there are so many problems in the play. Not only is Oberon the King of the Fairies but he is the husband of Titania and the master of Puck. Oberon’s character is multifaceted although it is evident that he will do anything for a good laugh. At times, Oberon is extraordinarily nice, generous, and compassionate. He felt sorry for Helena and tried to get Demetrius to fall in love with her. However, On the other hand, Oberon is cruel, jealous, and tyrannical. Resembling his mischievous servant Puck, Oberon finds no problem with playing with other people’s love. He swindled his own wife and laughed at the misfortunes of the four Athenians Helena, Hermia, Lysander, and Demetrius. Despite one’s view of Oberon, it is clear that he is the root of all the problems in the play because he starts a sequence of problems by making the love juice, orders the love juice to be used on Demetrius which in turn causes disarray for all four of the young lovers, and causes disgrace for Titania and creates obstacles for Bottom and the Rude Mechanicals when he uses the love juice on Titania in order to fulfill his own selfish desires.
Throughout A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, there are multiple analyses that one can follow in order to reach a conclusion about the overall meaning of the play. These conclusions are reached through analyzing the play’s setting, characterization, and tone. However, when one watches the production A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Michael Hoffman, a completely different approach is taken on these aspects, leading to a vastly different analysis of the work. Though there are many similarities between the original written play A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare and the on-screen production of the aforementioned play which was directed by Michael Hoffman, there are differences in setting and
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.
The first example of conflict with authority in the play is the premiere example and sets up the conflict for the rest of the play. This example that occurs during the play is in the opening scene of act 1. Here we see Theseus warning Hermia not to disobey her father and advising her that Egeus created her and can "discreate" her if he chooses. Hermia is reminded that Athenian law provides that a father shall have total control of his daughter’s life until the daughter is married. Even though Hermia does not want to marry Demetrius, the law says she has no choice and must conform to her father’s wishes. If Egeus’s authority hadn’t been the supreme authority, than Hermia and Lysander wouldn’t have had to flee Athens for their love.
Freud, S., & Strachey, J. (19621960). The Ego and the Super-ego. The ego and the id (pp. 19-20). New York: Norton.
William Shakespeare’s writings are famous for containing timeless, universal themes. A particular theme that is explored frequently in his writings is the relationship between men and women. A Midsummer Night’s Dream contains a multitude of couplings, which are often attributed to the fairies in the play. Each of these pairings has positive and negative aspects, however, some relationships are more ideal than others. From A Midsummer Night’s Dream the optimal pairings are Lysander and Hermia, Demetrius and Helena, and Oberon and Titania; while the less desirable pairings are Theseus and Hippolyta, Hermia and Demetrius, Lysander and Helena, and Titania and Bottom. Throughout A Midsummer
In Tennessee Williams’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire he creates a very complex psychoanalytic plot. Freud's most enduring and important idea was that the human psyche (personality) has more than one aspect. Freud saw the psyche structured into three parts the id, ego and superego, all developing at different stages in our lives. These are systems, not parts of the brain, or in any way physical. The three main characters in the play can each be compared with one of the three parts of the human mind. Stanley’s character corresponds with the id, Stella’s character can be compared to the ego, and Blanche’s character would represent the superego. Looking at the play through this lens one can see Williams’s reflection of himself throughout his work with an alcoholic, abusive father of his own, a strict demanding mother, and a schizophrenic sister. Knowing this A Streetcar Named Desire brings on new bigger
An id is a pleasure that needs to be satisfied. In this case, Cholly’s id are to achieve manhood by having an intercourse. Since Cholly has no parents, no one teaches him what is good or bad. He has no idea about the moral of society or what is appropriate in the society. Therefore, he creates an idea of having an intercourse to achieve manhood. Ego has a job to satisfy both id and superego needs in a way that is socially acceptable. However, Cholly does not know what is appropriate since no one teaches him. This causes Cholly to become violent to everyone especially his family. This answers the questions: Why does he burn down the house and put the family outdoor, why does he fight and abuse his family, and why does he rape his own daughter. It is because id, ego, and superego are not balanced well. It causes Cholly to do what he wants without thinking about the social norms or
Both Gilgamesh and the Narrator have very strong ids and fairly weak superegos. They need something to store their ids in so they create psychosomatic manifestations (mentally stable people don’t need that extra “storage unit” for parts of their psyches). Enkidu and Tyler Durden are physical presences in each respective story, though. Both the Narrator and Gilgamesh become too dependent on their ids. When they lose their subconscious creations that they store their ids in, they fall apart. They lose that entire part of their mind. An id is just as necessary as an ego or a superego. Gilgamesh becomes unrecognizable and the Narrator gets sent to a mental hospital. They both lose their sanity since their psyches can’t function without their ids, but as Tyler Durden said, “It’s only when you have lost everything that you are free to do anything” (Palhaniuk 70).
I decided to analyze Act II, Scene II in MacBeth using Psychoanalysis. I have previously examined the passage using Marxism and Queer Theory, so I thought it might be beneficial to scrutinize the scene from yet another angle. However, I will also discuss another scenes, as well, in order to fully, yet briefly, demonstrate MacBeth’s two opposing psychological constructions.
Fairies, mortals, magic, love, and hate all intertwine to make A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare a very enchanting tale, that takes the reader on a truly dream-like adventure. The action takes place in Athens, Greece in ancient times, but has the atmosphere of a land of fantasy and illusion which could be anywhere. The mischievousness and the emotions exhibited by characters in the play, along with their attempts to double-cross destiny, not only make the tale entertaining, but also help solidify one of the play’s major themes; that true love and it’s cleverly disguised counterparts can drive beings to do seemingly irrational things.
One of the central theme’s throughout Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the question of madness versus sanity. From the first few scenes of the play, one cannot help but question the way that various character’s throughout the play think and behave. In line with Sigmund Freud’s ideas concerning the Id, Ego, and Superego, we see that various characters’ behaviors are clearly defined by these distinct personality structures although not always in the way they are traditionally expected to. Gertrude and Hamlet both find themselves eventually losing control of their lives as they all give way to the Id portion of their personality. It is this downfall that will continually come across as the madness so central and destructive throughout the course of the play.
In William Shakespeare’s book, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, magic is a powerful and useful tool for the characters that have the capability to use it. Some of the characters abuse the power of magic, while others are more responsible in how they use it. Oberon is one the characters that abuses the power of magic. Oberon’s magic has an immense impact on the plot of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. More specifically, Oberon’s magic affects his own life, the lives of other characters, and all the characters in the story experience his magic differently. We will see that even the person who has power to use the magic can become surprised by it. Magic, the ultimate supernatural power, is often unpredictable and inexplicable.
Sigmund Freud was the first to talk about psychoanalysis, a technique that allows an individual to recount dreams but what psychologists call free association. Free association is the individual saying whatever comes to mind when something is said. Psychoanalysts encourage the unconscious mind to recall scenes, thoughts, and to reconstruct past experiences that have shaped the patients present behavior.