Literary Theory - a Rose for Emily - Psychoanalytic & Historical

Literary Theory: A Rose for Emily (Psychoanalytic & Historical)

A Rose for Emily, by William Faulkner is a story revolving around Emily Grierson, a daughter from an aristocrat family, where her lifestyle is very much restricted to that of a luxury lifestyle and have significant gap with the society. Plus, her family was formerly a big contributor to the development of the town in its early years, so she was excluded to pay taxes until the next generation of the town came into power. Sad events continuously occur within her life and that elements cover almost the whole plot. The piece is one worthy piece to be criticized. You know, criticism is important in any piece of literary works. It provides the readers a wide understanding of the piece with various different perspectives that can be looked at. This story is suitable with multiple theories, but what we are going to discuss here are the Psychoanalytic and Historical Theory.

The Psychoanalytic Theory, according to Sigmund Freud (1913), is a body of empirical findings and a set of theories on human motivation, behavior, and personality development that developed. The theory may be the most interesting way of accessing the protagonist Emily Grierson, due largely to how mentally disturbed she turned out to be. First, in looking at Emily's issues, she exhibits a massive fear of abandonment. Not only does she try to hold on to her father's corpse, she does hold onto Homer's. Also, her dependence on Tobe, her black servant may be connected to her fear of abandonment. She just cannot stand to feel abandoned. This fear emerges maybe because she lost her mother at a young age, and her father kept her isolated and then he dies. Also, she doesn't form ties with other family members, members of the community, or with young men where we can see that she also has fear of intimacy here. Her fear of abandonment contributes to her fear of intimacy, where we can see it was hard for her to accept people unless they are really relevant in her perception as the filler of the empty space in her heart. As it seems, in Emily's head, the criteria are very rigid and hard to be filled by anyone, except for Homer later in the story.

Next, she was rife with denial. She seemed to deny Homer's death even though she killed him and plus rested down beside his corpse. She denied that her father died and denied that she could owe taxes. Also, she shows very significant signs of the Electra complex, or the Feminine Oedipus complex - in the way she clung to her father despite him having been dominating her and took an interest in another man, Homer. In Emily's psycho sense, Homer is seen as a stand in for her father. The Electra complex is a psychoanalytic term used to describe a girl's sense of competition with her mother for the affections of her father. In Emily's case, she may think that she is the perfect replacement for her late mother in context of giving love to her father. As a result, she doesn't accept reality when she would not release her late father's body. She tries to live in the past after her father is buried and also after Homer's death.

Finally, we can see some imagery. The most obvious dream-related imagery is the bedroom in which Homer was kept - taking the usual place of a basement or attic, in being the storage place of her issues and ill-deeds. Homer was '"alive" in