Freud being a fable in depth psychology has provided the universe of literature a powerful tool in footings of his theories which chiefly trade with the head in deepness. This interesting tool known as depth psychology gives chance of reading and construing texts in a really complex degree. However it is this complexness which prevents us from making a skim reading of the text concerned. In fact the theories provided by Freud make us see those things which possibly had non captured our attending before or had been put aside due to our conventional beliefs. Application of Freud ‘s plants in of import Shakespearean dramas like “ King Lear ” , certainly offers a new vision, ironically demoing how at that clip which was supposed to be rather Orthodox and yet these sorts of ideas did predominate. “ King Lear ” happens to be a calamity where a male monarch who abdicates from his land and ends up being huffy clearly shows how the drama is about dialogue of repression. In order to demo this footings like repression should be decently explained and this brings us to our first statement sing the factors which are the cause behind it.
Repression can be defined as the defence mechanism, in other words it is the act of driving one ‘s ain uncomfortable ideas or desires. Throughout this analysis it is traveling to be shown how Freud ‘s celebrated[ 1 ]Eros, Thanatos ( decease thrust ) , ”[ 2 ]Lear composite ” and other factors lead to repression and how it is compromised by the characters. First in depth psychology, we already have a term which is wholly based on Lear himself, viz. Lear ‘s complex. In fact “ in psychoanalytic theory it means a male parent ‘s lascivious arrested development on a girl ” , in which he eliminates his married woman and marries his girl. This is seen in the gap of the drama where Lear asks his three girls verbal cogent evidence of their love. Initially this scene appears like a normal one where a male parent is considered going senile due to old age and therefore acting like a kid. However if a “ microscopic depth psychology trial ” is carried out on this scene so one can see clear outgrowth of Oedipus complex and Lear composite. Lear is experiencing something more than fatherly love for Cordelia ; she has become a beginning of egotistic feeling for Lear in the sense that Lear used to look at her as a ego object by which
To be more precise, Cordelia is a contemplation of motherly love and holding her for himself entirely, Lear gets the ego reassurance each clip he sees her. Lear certainly knows he can non hold her wholly since she has to acquire married. This is where repression is seen taking birth, nevertheless Lear ‘s clever dialogue in repression is seen in the manner he asks his girls to verbally state how much they love him. In other words he creates the ambiance where Cordelia is expected to state that she loves him more than even her hubby. Therefore Lear really knowingly uses the ambiance of male parent inquiring daughter how much she loves him into the same ambiance where in the church the priest asks the bride before the nuptials. His purpose is to do Cordelia edge by this curse of his before she marries person else so that she will ever hold to give her male parent ‘s curse precedence. Lear has furthermore already planned to give Cordelia portion of his land where he knows she ‘ll hold to remain back with her hubby and govern.
However this does non go on as Lear wished and this is why he becomes angry. All this is to clearly picture how Lear shows mark of repression for the maternal love he is seeking in Cordelia. Since Cordelia has ever been tender to him and besides his front-runner, he might be seeing the image of his late married woman and female parent in her. Thus to negociate with these feelings, he develops schemes to do her become in manner in which she will still be the mirror of Lears ‘ ego confidence. All this is go oning in Lear ‘s unconscious which repress the traumatic events. Even this case seems traumatic as it is as if the snatching of Cordelia from Lear which might resemble the decease of his married woman or female parent which apparently affected himself a batch. Lear ‘s fury and the manner he banishes Cordelia might be interpreted as the consequences of old age and his haughtiness and if interpreted otherwise through depth psychology, all this is merely a head covering to the Oedipus complex arising in Lear. Lear ‘s unconscious is something he can non see clearly and subconscious is something what he can about see clearly and his witting is eventually what he can see clearly. Thus what can be said is that it is his unconscious which gives rise to Lear ‘s peculiar actions and words. He is at the point where Cordelia is being snatched from him and he gets defensive and in other words we see the re passage of Lear ‘s mind ‘s unmastered injury, things which he has repressed in his unconscious. When he Lear sees the separation of himself and Cordelia coming, anxiousness of the event is aroused without even eliciting the memory i.e. Lear does non retrieve the blowholes in the yesteryear which are doing him act like this. It is through the repeat of these peculiar injury but in different context that Lear will return to the “ metaphoric uterus of the female parent ” where he will return back to an organic province.
This brings us to Thanatos besides known as the decease thrust and besides the egotistic cicatrix. Besides known as an incomprehensible force in human nature, the decease thrust maps against the pleasance rule, it is besides the driving force of the Id. This is to be contrasted with Eros which gives us chance to unify with others and therefore go on populating our life. Both Eros and Thanatos are applicable specifically in a sadomasochistic relationship for e.g. that of Cordelia and Lear when we see the Oedipus composite. Lear ‘s and Edmund ‘s insistent negative behaviour can be linked to the repression they had since childhood. While for king Lear it might hold been for maternal love, for Edmund besides it might hold been the sorrow of non being the legitimate kid. As both of them grew up, they may hold realized that desires can non ever be fulfilled. In other words they are subjected to world rule. This realisation is rather disconcerting for them which leave behind the egotistic cicatrix. This brings them to ever subject themselves to lower status. Even as grownups, they will hold a inclination to put themselves in state of affairss where they will be more likely to follow harmful behaviours. The experiences of the kid will move as a subconscious templet which will come to organize all future experiences. This is why possibly Edmund seduces both Goneril and Regan since he knows how loyal his male parent, Gloucester has been to Lear. He used Lear ‘s girls to somehow take retaliation from Gloucester for holding made him illegitimate.
This egotistic cicatrix bit by bit pushes the individual in inquiry towards the decease thrust through the reverberation of his actions. Gloucester, Lear, Edmund or even Cordelia East themselves towards the decease thrust without truly cognizing it. Lear ‘s infantile behaviour largely consequences of his Id and Ego is bound to go abandoned eventually. The powerful force ( decease thrust ) makes Gloucester Cordelia, Edmund and Lear react in this manner so that eventually their repression ends up like this. Cordelia ironically when traveling towards the decease thrust returns back to the void she brought frontward in the beginning of the drama. All of them through their actions return back to void, it is through this void that everything was animated and it is in this void that everything dissolves. Sing the phase at the terminal of the drama nil is left demoing us how repression has led to egotistic cicatrix and which in bend has resulted to the decease thrust.
The application of Freud ‘s complex theories to King Lear has expeditiously shown how texts can be re read and re interpreted under the visible radiation of different broad political orientations. Freud depth psychology makes us immerse inside the heads of the characters every bit good as makes us oppugn about their yesteryear. In this manner readers are left to do the nexus between past memories and existent behaviour as we have seen in Edmund ‘s instance. Freud ‘s construct of Oedipus and Electra composite has enabled critics to project aside their conventional positions and to truly perforate each character ‘s mind. This becomes more interesting since it deals with the head, repression and its effects and how it is negotiated with. Finally through depth psychology, we have been presented with a Lear whom we have known in deepness in footings of character. Analysis of repression in this text has successfully shown how things like witting, subconscious, unconscious, Id, Ego Superego amongst others play a important function in the development of a individual. Furthermore it besides depicts the fact that it is non amazing seeing repression in the unconscious rhenium come uping back after many old ages with insistent actions but in different context.
