A feminist critique of Freud's famous patient, "Dora". "Dora" was Freud's initial attempt to marry dream therapy with psychoanalysis.
Written in 2003; 2,532 words; 16 sources; APA; $ 76.95
Paper Summary:
This paper attempts to deconstruct and expose the inherent patriarchal ideologies in Freud's psychoanalysis of his famous patient, "Dora". The basis of Freud's psychoanalytic theories revolved around sexuality, and his account of her "madness" condemns her sexuality and dismisses all feminine sexuality. This is a feminist critique of Freud's theories, in general, and specifically, in regards to his comments on the case of "Dora", which attempt to expose the unconscious assumptions that Freud saw in everyone else but himself. The contention of this paper is thus that the society and culture and gender of an individual directly influences his or her perception and interpretation of another individual, and thus Freud, as a privileged, white man in a patriarchal society, could never hope to help or analyse "Dora" accurately.
From the Paper:
"For Dr Sigmund Freud the case analysis of "Dora" signified the possibility of proclaiming a marriage between dream analysis and psychoanalysis to the psychoanalytic community (Freud, 1901/1905: 44ff.). Yet it was never the woman in analysis who was of importance for either Freud or the psychoanalytic community. Ida Bauer was never important and nor was her Symbolic representation, Dora. Indeed all the women within Dora's case are characterised as ?nothing,? no woman is important (Gallop, 1985: 216). It might be argued that we can never truly know the content of Ida's "nothingness" because Dora was Freud's invention, his interpretation, biases and desires postured onto her feminine form (Geargear, 1985: 177). However we need not know Ida's real life story as Freud's narration of her is more indicative of Ida's status as a woman within a patriarchal society than any autobiographical account could ever have been. Thus Dora becomes a fluid character who need not claim a "real" identity or to be set in an historical moment for she exceeds Ida and is instead the transcendent woman; her hysteria is every woman's hysteria."
We have thousands of high-quality term papers, research papers, essays, book reports and dissertations on every topic. At AcaDemon, you can download those term papers to help you write yours! You can be sure that the term paper, essay, book report or research paper you download are top-quality, competitively priced and high-level work.
Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on Freud's "Dora"
If you can't find your topic here, try another search
or try our affordable, unique custom paper alternative
Custom Research Services include:
Papers written from scratch, according to your specifications. Every paper is UNIQUE - Guaranteed
This Free Term Paper Abstract is a part of our Term Paper Library.Here you can purchase research papers, examples of essays, academic dissertations, articles, notes, analytical papers, book reports, stories and poems. We have thousands of persuasive, point-of-view, narrative, critical, compare and contrast and other types of essays in our Library. You can also find here Term papers on "Freud's "Dora"", Essays on "Freud's "Dora"", Research papers on "Freud's "Dora"", Student papers on "Freud's "Dora"", Book reports on "Freud's "Dora"", Dissertation on "Freud's "Dora"", Thesis on "Freud's "Dora"", Summary of paper on "Freud's "Dora"", Articles written on "Freud's "Dora"".
Look for more research papers, essays and book reports on