Psychoanalytic criticism
A critical approach that analyses literature through psychological frameworks (particularly Freudian and Lacanian theory), examining unconscious desires, repressions, dream logic, and psychological patterns. Psychoanalytic criticism reads texts as expressions of psychological processes.
Real World
Freudian critics reading *Hamlet* — most famously Ernest Jones — argue that Hamlet cannot kill Claudius because his uncle has acted out Hamlet's own repressed Oedipal desire to possess his mother and eliminate his father.
Exam Focus
Ground psychoanalytic readings in textual detail — identify specific imagery, symbols, or behaviour before applying the theoretical framework.
How well did you know this?