Analysis Of Psychoanalysis In Jane Eyre

Psychoanalysis is the investigation of the conscious and unconscious mind, examining the phallic envy of a woman, often stated as the Oedipus complex; the implicit impulse to kill your father and marry your mother. Sigmund Freud’s research of the unconscious and conscious mind has established the psychoanalytic critique on texts, looking specifically at dreams, infantile sexuality, libido, repression, and transference (Psychology Today 2018), all of which delve deeper into the meaning behind characters and provide inference into the writer’s life. In Jane Eyre, psychoanalysis can be utilized to interpret the each character’s role in the five stages of being, establishing the impulse, the mediator, and the absolute good forces throughout the text. Three characters from each stage represent Jane’s three branches of ego, ordered by ego, ID, and superego. The novel begins with Mr. Lloyd, John, and Mrs. Reed, leading into Maria Temple, Mr. Brocklehurst, and Helen, followed by Blanche Ingram, Bertha, and Alice Fairfax, then St. John, Jane herself, and Diana Rivers, and finally Jane reaches a point of full-realization by the last stage and contains all the states within herself.

This analysis provides insight into Jane’s thoughts as formerly argued, but it additionally looks at the intricacy of all the major influencers in her life, and ultimately, the parallels of those characters in Charlotte Bronte’s life. Jane Eyre’s accounts of the previous fictional interactions and introspective thoughts are what provides this novel with its significance and realism. Psychoanalytically, the conscious and unconscious realms of each character are the bridge from literature into the complex and three-dimensional elements of society, instilling sympathy and parallels between the reader and