Freud and Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

Paper Summary:

This paper argues that Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic concepts illustrated in "The Interpretation of Dreams" and "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality", which examine the discipline of dreams and sexuality, their implications and inner mechanisms, are significant tools for interpreting human behavior and intrinsic to learning critical theory. The author points out that, nonetheless, these theories are not strictly scientific, are not free from the taint of Freud's gross generalizations and sometimes represent his chauvinistic mindset. The author then uses these tools to disect Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and in doing so, aligns himself with both critics who stress the inherent nature of Freud's theories in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" as well as with the critics who assert that examining the play from a strictly psychoanalytic perspective can limit and compartmentalize certain of its dramatic elements and themes. The paper includes many quotations.

From the Paper:

"The theories in "Interpretation" are linked to ideas presented in "Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality", which is considered an equally prominent and definitive publication in Freud's career. Although "Three Essays" does not include case studies, it also closely examines the nature of sexuality, which begins in early childhood and, like the nature of dreams, is ridden with angst and hidden meanings. According to Freud, sexuality is the driving force for repression, neurosis, and hysteria. One exemplary concept is castration anxiety, an idea involving a deep-rooted fear originating from the phallic stage in young men."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carroy Jacqueline. "Dreaming Scientists and Scientific Dreamers."Science in Context 19. (2006): 15-35.
• Crews, Frederick. "Confessions of a Freud Basher." New York Review of Books. (1993): 55-66.
• Davis, Douglas. "Teaching Notes on The Interpretation of Dreams." 1994. Haverford College, Pennsylvania. December 18, 2007 <http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/F_intdre.html>.
• Fagin, N. Bryllion. "Freud on the American Stage." Educational Theatre Journal 2 (December 1950): 296-305.
• Freud, Sigmund. "The Ego and the Id" in On Metapsychology (The Penguin Freud Library Vol.11). Ed.A. Richards. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1923. 350-407.

More papers on Freud and Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof":

• Film Review # 134274 : "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "A Streetcar Named Desire"
• Analytical Essay # 50765 : "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof"
• Analytical Essay # 7975 : "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

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