Psychoanalysis and The Wizard of Oz Essay

Analyzing “The Wizard of Oz” : Freud’s Psychosexual Theory and Theory of the Personality vs. Klein’s Object Relations and Play Technique Theory Psychoanalysis paved the manner for infinite finds of the human head. It has been attributed as the “mental science”—a scientific manner of placement and construing the ( United Nations ) natural behaviour of a individual which greatly affects him or her. The psychoanalytic theory has ever been really controversial since it introduces really unconventional ways of handling the head.

Although there are a batch of psychologists who have influenced the field of depth psychology. none can compare to the parts of Sigmund Freud and his combative theories. Sigmund Freud is most celebrated for his Theory of Personality that talks about the Idaho. self-importance. and superego and the psychosexual readings that goes with it. Another of import individual to observe is Melanie Klein who hypothesized her ain theories that focus more on the outlook and behaviour of a kid and his or her relationship with the things and people around him or her.

Harmonizing to Mitchel and Black ( 1995 ) . Melanie Klein made such a enormous impact in the field of depth psychology that there is no another individual aside from Sigmund Freud himself who can be appreciated for her part with respect to the field of depth psychology. Although Klein was influenced by Freud’s theories and patterned her theories after his. her ain hypotheses are really much different from Freud’s.

While Freud reinforced the thought that personalities of persons are more likely connected to certain psychosexual satisfactions ( or dissatisfaction in many instances harmonizing to him ) . Klein more or less centered on the thought that persons behave harmonizing to the experiences they had as a kid. the sort of drama moving they did. and the things that they played with. In fact. Klein focused more on “reading” a kid by the graphicss and play moving that he or she does.

One thing that could be seen as similar in their plants is the fact that both consider dreams as really of import tools in “reading” a individual and placing his or her mental state of affairs. Freud stipulated that dreams are really of import since they involve ideas that are unconscious to the individual. Furthermore. these dreams can besides be traced to certain experiences that the individual had as a kid ( Mitchel & A ; Black. 1995 ) . Klein herself believed in such theory. but Freud believed more in the psychosexual facet of things refering the human head and the human behaviour.

In the scene of school instruction. most particularly with the country of counsel and guidance. these two personalities and their theories are greatly used in construing children’s manners and their behavior. Counselors would utilize graphicss as a manner to dig profoundly into what a kid is believing and what are the grounds for his or her certain behaviour. Images. colourss. marks. and symbols may look so simplistic when they are looked at their surface readings. but depth psychology provides latent significances to what could hold been depicted as something so simple and mundane.

In literature. there is such an attack called the Psychological Approach in which certain psychoanalytic theories are used to construe a certain organic structure of work. The intricate inside informations are seen as symbols that contain really of import significances. Such position can be used in seeking to analyse the thoughts that Freud and Klein presented through their theories by comparing and contrasting certain elements of the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz is a authoritative children’s literature that was written by L.

Frank Baum in 1900 and has been hailed as a beloved chef-d’oeuvre by many. The original work of Baum is really much different from the film. but it is the film which has been retained and appreciated by the general populace. The characters. scenes. certain elements. and scenes are depicted as fantastic by many—a all right illustration would be the visual aspect of the ruby slippers of Dorothy ( which is in fact colored as Ag in the original work as what was expressed by Tim Dirks in his reappraisal of The Wizard of Oz ) that she can snap together to transport her from one topographic point to another.

The secret plan is really simple yet meaningful. Dorothy. a nine-year old miss from a small farm in Kansas. goes on a long journey with her Canis familiaris Toto. the Tin adult male. the Cowardly Lion. and the Scarecrow to happen the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City and carry through their single wants ( Dorothy wants to travel place to Kansas. the Lion wants to hold bravery. the Tin adult male desires to hold a bosom. and the Scarecrow thinks he needs a encephalon ) . At the terminal of the journey. they all realize that the things they are looking have ever been with them and under their olfactory organs all along.

As with many literary plants. what makes a individual think he or she has achieved the end is non the declaration of the decision but the escapades that the long journey entails. In the terminal. Dorothy wakes up to happen that it was really merely a dream ( more or less like when Alice in the Wonderland wakes up to happen that all her escapades were merely a dream ) . but the values that she has learned in the journey is really much kept close to her bosom. In connexion to the psychoanalytic theory. the dream itself may be interpreted already as a slightly important facet of Dorothy’s consciousness.

There are many other facets and elements that can be interpreted as something else if the theories of Freud and Klein would be taken into history. For case. Dorothy has a really obvious struggle with the Wicked Witch of the West/Miss Almira Gulch over the Ruby Slippers and Toto the Canis familiaris. During the start of the movie. Dorothy was in problem and in quandary over the emphasis of Miss Almira Gulch over Toto. her Canis familiaris. Toto by chance bit Miss Gulch on her leg which enraged the adult female.

She was so angered that she had the sheriff compose a warrant that would let her to take Toto off and lock him up. However. Toto has ever been the lone comrade of Dorothy and is the lone ground that she laughs. Their farm in Kansas has been characterized as grey and dull and Dorothy has been deemed as the lone individual with such life and felicity. That ground for felicity is Toto. and Miss Gulch’s insisting that the Canis familiaris be put away is depriving Dorothy of her felicity.

Harmonizing to Klein. such play things of a kid are of import and normally intend something more. Dorothy’s play thing may be a Canis familiaris. but her obvious fondness and love for the Canis familiaris can be traced to the fact that she is hankering for another life thing that could be with her and supply her attending. Her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry wage more attending to the farm than to their “adopted” niece. which gives Dorothy the thought that she needs company and does non desire to be entirely.

The gravitation of her fond regard to Toto is realized in the scene where Miss Gulch arrives and programs on taking Toto off. Dorothy begs for Miss Gulch to reconsider her determination and even provinces with such self-sacrificial bravery that she would replace Toto and be taken off. Miss Gulch is besides so repetitive that Toto be taken off and she does the undertaking. symbolically depriving Dorothy of her felicity and causes great dissatisfaction on her portion. In Freud’s object pick theory. the child readily associates things or people that he or she is surrounded with.

The people that the kid discoveries are considered as his or her associates ( people that are close to the kid or in some instances. the things that affairs to him or her ) that he or she wants to hold fondness with and replete Tells him or her that there needs to be a established relationship with that individual ( or people or things ) . Dorothy considers her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry as people that she should link with and experience some kind of fondness. but the two characters do non reciprocate the feelings ; alternatively. Dorothy finds herself drawn to Toto. her Canis familiaris.

Since the Canis familiaris is her “maternal” replacement. Dorothy is drawn to pretenses and fabulously reverie which is the whole point of the narrative of The Wizard of Oz—Dorothy’s dream. Dorothy retreated to her universe conveying Toto and play moving. but since the atrocious truth of world dramas such a large portion in her life. the usual “running away” with Toto does non do any longer. and a deeper signifier of “running away” takes topographic point and makes her to the full leave the universe of the farm in Kansas.

Dreams as what Freud and Klein believe are really of import tools ; since Dorothy dreamt that she was in the World of Oz and holding such fantastic escapades. she strayed off from world and got lost in the pretend universe that she has unconsciously created. Another of Freud’s theory comes into topographic point with the reference of the unconscious. The celebrated iceberg imagination or metaphor of his theory of personality and the Idaho. self-importance. and superego drama a portion in Dorothy’s dreaming.

The self-importance is what people perceive as world and manifests in the physical universe ; the Idaho is the unconscious which greatly affects and controls our behaviour and manner of thought in world and is considered as irrational since it involves the concealed impulses and desires we have that we are non to the full cognizant of ; and in conclusion. the superego is the scruples and is considered as the ethical voice that controls our behaviour subconsciously. Dorothy’s dreams may be her manner of running off from world ( as what is supposed with respect to Klein’s theory ) . but it may besides be the manifestation of her Idaho ( as what is supposed with respect to Freud’s theory ) .

The beginning of the movie appears as Dorothy non being welcomed by her Aunt Emily and Uncle Henry ; she so resorts to the fantastical impression of the dream—the dream consists of her escapade with the Tin adult male. Scarecrow. and the Cowardly Lion. Dorothy’s engagement may be that of a selfish ground ( because she wants to travel to Emerald City and happen the Wizard of Oz so she can travel back to Kansas ) . But the first portion of the escapade ( and the beginning of the film ) may be a manifestation of her Idaho. as her wants and demands should be followed.

However. as the escapade progresses. she shortly realizes the selfishness of her desires and focal points on assisting her friends find their ain desires. Even if the dream is a manifestation of her Idaho. the self-importance and superego win over the Idaho. Another thing to indicate out is the 2nd object of struggle between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West which is the red slippers of Dorothy. Firstly. nevertheless. it is of import to observe the being of the ruby slippers itself. Again. harmonizing to Tim Dirks’ reappraisal of The Wizard of Oz. the ruby slippers are the beginning of Dorothy’s entryway into female adolescence.

Red has ever been the archetypical colour for passion and blood. and the symbolism behind such colour could merely intend that Freud’s psychosexual theory can be justified. Traveling back to the Wicked Witch of the West’s desire to hold the ruby slippers. it can intend that the Witch wants to free Dorothy once more of the felicity ( as the same character who portrayed Miss Gulch is the Wicked Witch excessively ) that she wants to hold because the slippers are her agencies of returning back to Kansas. From a different position nevertheless. it could intend the Wicked Witch of the West wants to steal Dorothy’s pubescence and young person.

There has been many literary plants wherein evil enchantresss are in desire of immature girls’ young person. verve. and virginity ( as Snow White’s stepmother wants her dead because of her beauty or when Lamia lures Yvaine to steal her young person in the fresh Stardust ) . It can be concluded that the state of affairs may be the typical good versus immorality scenario. but if the Witch so severely wants to hold power and allow evil reign in the Emerald City. why non travel after the Wizard of Oz himself ( even if he is a fraud ) ?

If Freud was at the existent scene. he may hold interpreted the ruby slippers as a symbol of the beginning of Dorothy’s menses. If Klein was at that place. she would hold merely said that the ruby slippers are another of Dorothy’s play things. The following thing to indicate out is the utmost struggle between Dorothy and Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West. In Klein’s theory of Depressive Position. when a kid hates his or her female parent. he or she in consequence hates him- herself.

It can non truly be said that Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West can be likened to Dorothy’s female parent. but the hostility between them is so great that the Witch utilizations such dismaying menaces to Dorothy and Toto. Even if the Witch truly wants certain “valuable” things from Dorothy. the emphasis that the Witch feels for Dorothy is so great that it is certain that an implicit in symbolism may be present. In Mitchel and Black’s book. a citation by Herman Hesse was introduced to Klein’s chapter: “If you hate a individual. you hate something in him that is portion of yourself.

What isn’t portion of ourselves doesn’t upset us. ” This citation. in all its simpleness. already justifies the claim that Dorothy and Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West hatred each other because there is a large portion of themselves that they likely see in each other and in bend hatreds it since they see the mirror of themselves. Both Freud and Klein have a batch of similarities and differences in both their theories and in this paper. both theories have been voiced with the certain elements that were picked in the narrative.

Although there is no claim in which theory is better or which reading provides more deepness and comprehensiveness. it is safe to reason that each theory is alone and helps in doing acquiring a bigger and better point of view of The Wizard of Oz. most particularly when used and analyzed together. Mentions Mitchel. S. & A ; Black. M. ( 1995 ) . Freud And Beyond: A History Of Modern Psychoanalytic Thought. New York: Basic Books Dirks. T. ( 2009 ) . The Wizard of Oz ( 1939 ) : Review by Tim Dirks ( Review of the film The Wizard of Oz ] . Filmsite. Retrieved March 30. 2009. from hypertext transfer protocol: //www. filmsite. org/wiza3. hypertext markup language.