The Unconscious Mind: Freud's Discovery and its Application to Literature

This article explores Freud's discovery of the unconscious mind and its application to literature, specifically focusing on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It discusses Freud's ideas on conscious and unconscious mind, interpretations of dreams, and the significance of symbolism in psychoanalytic theory. The article highlights how the monster in Frankenstein represents the deep desires buried in the unconscious mind.

The Unconscious Mind 1
Freud’s discovery of the unconscious
Author's Name
Institutional Affiliation

The Unconscious Mind 2
Introduction
Freud is often credited with discovering the unconscious and his conception of the
unconscious made significant contributions to understanding the conscious mental processes.
Freud’s ideas and his psychoanalysis can be applied to the study of literature, to enhance
a broader understanding of the literary phenomena and the characters. Freud’s ideas on conscious
and unconscious mind allow a deeper insight into the characters of Mary Shelley’s novel
Frankenstein and assist in their psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud and his psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud, the Austrian neurologist1 is the founder of psychoanalysis and is credited
for giving the unconscious its eminence in empirical psychology. Freudian views may have seen
distorted treatments, yet, there is an enormous influence of his views on the conscious and the
unconscious. His psychoanalysis provided a new insight into the human thoughts and the special
characteristics of unconscious states. While many do not agree with Freudian interpretations and
theories, his concepts have introduced the modern conceptualization of consciousness2.
The earliest use of the term” unconscious” can be traced back to the early 1800s, when
unconscious term was used to refer to a hypnotically induced behavior3. Darwin (1859) used the
term “unconscious selection” to explain the processes in nature while Freud is credited with the
1 Leanne Whitney, “Jung in Dialogue with Freud and Patanjali: Instinct, Affective Neuroscience, and the
Reconciliation of Science and Religious Experience.” Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social
Philosophy, 13.2 (2017), 298-312 (p.302).
2 Avinash De Sousa, “Freudian theory and consciousness: a conceptual analysis”: Mens sana monographs,9.1
(2011), 210–217 (p.210).
3 Bargh, John and Ezequiel Morsella. “The Unconscious Mind.” Perspectives on psychological science: a journal of
the Association for Psychological Science. 3.1 (2008): 73-79 (p.75).

The Unconscious Mind 3
original discovery of the unconscious and study of unintended behavior. Just like Darwin and
Freud4, most evolutionary scientists think of the unconscious as unintended actions rather than
obliviousness of stimuli. Freud’s psychoanalysis propagated that a human being is sum total of
his instincts and manifestations of good and evil.
Freud provides a systematic theory that offers an understanding of the destructivity. He
uses two metaphor systems to explain dreams and traumatic memories5. Consciousness and
unconsciousness are interdependent phenomena. While Freudian theory may be considered
outdated, but it offered a lot to the modern theories of consciousness6. He gave consciousness the
capacity to alter an experienced activity into unconscious states. The thoughts, just like the
different forms of energy can hover in both conscious and un conscious states. Swiss psychiatrist
Carl Gustav Jung was not satisfied with Freud’s views that left no space for objective impersonal
facts. The spiritually oriented Jung felt that Freud had not penetrate the deeper layer of the
unconscious7. Jung looked the unconscious to be a natural object and tried to understand the
unconscious as an objective psyche. From his view, Freud’s view was oriented backwards and
did not look at where the things were going.
The Interpretation of Dreams
Freud (1900) reveals his early psychoanalytic publication and analysis of his own dreams
in The Interpretation of Dreams, where he makes an analysis of 46 of his own dreams in a first-
person narrative8. Those dreams reflect his internal struggles with self-worth. The psychic and
4 Barbara ’Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde: A Literary Forerunner to Freud’s Discovery of the Unconscious”: Modern
Psychoanalysis 30.1 (2005), 92–106 (p. 94).
5 Perry Meisel, ‘“The Feudal Unconscious: Capitalism and the Family Romance”: October Magazine, Ltd. and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.159.1 (2017), 19–36 (p. 21).
6 De Sousa, “Freudian theory and consciousness: a conceptual analysis”: p. 217.
7 Whitney, “Jung in Dialogue with Freud and Patanjali”, p.302.
8 Barbara ’Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde”, p.95.

The Unconscious Mind 4
intellectual climate was very much there even before Freud as many thinkers and writers who
came before Freud used dream material to depict the presence of a human unconscious. In his
book The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud presented a shocking view of the human psyche with
the layer of unconsciousness with deeply rooted drives underneath the surface of consciousness9.
These drives, when left unchecked could manifest themselves in slips of the dreams and,
neuroses10.
Freud joined different articulations under the psychoanalytic discourse to give a universal
accountability of the working of the human mind. In his innovative way, he introduced the
category of the unconscious into a tripartite meta-psychological theory of human
psychopathology11. Through the unconscious, Freud was able to address the Descartian duality of
body12. There are remarkable variations on the contemporary perspectives on the unconscious
mind. Social psychology looks at the unconscious from a different perspective and there has
been much research on unconscious in the past few decades. Freudian model of the unconscious
still influences many on how they look at the unconscious and tis impact can be seen in
contemporary cognitive or social psychology13. Freud developed his model based on individual
cases on anomalous thoughts and behaviors. For the orthodox Freudian14, Frankenstein is a kind
of the unconscious and for the Jungian he is a shadow.
While Freud was against the scientific rationalist, his theory of melancholy is not
classically logocentric as his category of the unconscious places the final truth of melancholy at
9 Steve Ayan. “The Brain’s Autopilot Mechanism Steers Consciousness.” Scientific American Mind, 30. 2, (2019).
15.(p.15).
10Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde”, p.104.
11 Primož Mlačnik. “The Deconstruction of Freud’s Theory of Melancholy.” Druzboslovne Razprave, 34. 88, (2018),
113–131. (p.118).
12 Bargh, and Morsella. “The Unconscious Mind.”, p.73.
13 Christie. “The critical metamorphoses of mary shelley's Frankenstein”. Sydney Studies in English 25 (1999): 47-
82. (p.22).
14 Barbara ’Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde”, p.93.

The Unconscious Mind 5
the center of the discrepancy between reasoning and unreasoning15. Freud reflects his innermost
psychic conflicts in his novel," The Interpretation of Dreams16.Freudian unconsciousness is
composed conceptually, and although the two vocabularies of early and late Freud carry
negligible difference, he maintains historical metaphors. Freud changes his system of historical
metaphors from a “topographical” to an “economic” or “dynamic” one.17” Freud absorbed and
synthesized ideas within the culture to give evidence of the existence of unconscious life. He
studied the work of different writers and thinkers, and thus did not work in a vacuum.
Applying Freud to literature
Freudian unconscious is a conceptual one and it is essential to understand the broader
nature of the unconsciousness in holistic terms. The analysis of consciousness paved way to the
concept of the unconsciousness18. Freud’s notion of unconsciousness is derived by combining the
distinct mental states from consciousness with the topographical model with independent
psychological locales. Freud’s ideas have a lot more to offer literature and his psychoanalytic
readings can be applied to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where deep desires are the cause behind
the creation of the monster and the monster himself could be psychoanalyzed.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has always been a favorite text for literary criticism because
of the supernatural explorations of monstrosity. A psychoanalytic interpretation of the novel is
interesting as well as productive19. The novel not only contains dreams but is origin also lies in
an actual dream. As Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams makes a psychoanalysis of real
15 Mlačnik. “The Deconstruction of Freud’s Theory of Melancholy.” p.118.
16’Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde”, p.93.
17 Perry Meisel, ‘“The Feudal Unconscious.”, p.22.
18 De Sousa, “Freudian theory and consciousness: a conceptual analysis”: p. 210.
19 Jessica Butler, ‘“The Application of Psychoanalysis to Literature: Mary Shelley’s 'Frankenstein', and 'Beowulf':
Lancaster University 1.1 (2007), 1-6. (p. 2).

The Unconscious Mind 6
dreams, a psychoanalytic understanding of dreams in the novel can help to understand the
characters. The novel is based on the idea of the divided self within one and the creator and the
Creature are the two aspects of the same person. Frankenstein is excited by the idea of creating
life as his first creation project. Frankenstein’s mental state, when his mother dies shows signs of
depression20 and he shows an inward dejection and the only relief for him is his sleep.
In the novel, Frankenstein tells Walton that he persuaded himself to believe that he was
dreaming, and the monster could well be the projection of his mental illness. There is a clear link
between Frankenstein’s worsening mental state, and the development of his monster, which is
large, powerful and ugly21. There is a monster within each human being, and it can become alive
because of any negative and depressed thoughts. Frankenstein’s monster can be seen as a
personification of his illness and expression of his mind with deepest unconscious feelings22.
There is a psychoanalytic moment in the text when Frankenstein falls asleep after the
creation of the monster and dreams that Elizabeth is walking towards him in the streets of
Ingolstadt. In his dream he sees her features changing and turn to the body of his dead mother
and when he wakes up from his dream, he sees the monster he had created23. The monster is
behind the cause of the dream and the product of Victor's desires. Frankenstein is the narcissistic
Other prevents the normal separation of the ‘ego-libido’ from ‘object-libido’, as discussed by
Freud in ‘On Narcissism’24.
20 Butler, ‘“The Application of Psychoanalysis to Literature,” p.2.
21 Butler, ‘“The Application of Psychoanalysis to Literature,” p.3.
22 Christie. “The critical metamorphoses of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”. p.14.
23 Haidee Kotze. "Desire, Gender, Power, Language: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein."
Literator, 21. 1 (2000), 53-68. (p. 61).
24 Christie. “The critical metamorphoses of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”. p.14.

The Unconscious Mind 7
In another novel, Robert Louis Stevenson (1886), makes use of dream material to portray
human unconscious in "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Stevenson's fictional story
is inspired by an extraordinary dream and reflects his psychic conflicts25. Jekyll and Hyde"
shows as to what can happen when one’s expressions are denied and how it can result in a
pathological split. Stevenson's novella shows the author’s unconscious understanding of the true
nature of man. With "Jekyll and Hyde," Stevenson was able to reveal as did Freud in The
Interpretation of Dreams.
In Frankenstein, the Creature is the personification of Frankenstein’s subconscious mind
and reflects the darkest thoughts of his personality. Frankenstein creates the Monster to fulfill his
own needs and desires and when he wakes up from his dream about Elizabeth and his mother,
the Creature had appeared. However, as the conscious and subconscious mind are separate, they
are allowed to act independently. Thus, the Creature acts with his desires completely unchecked
but keeps with the deep-rooted desires of Frankenstein26.
Freudian views may have seen distorted treatments, yet, one cannot deny the enormous
influence of his views on the conscious and the unconscious. He gave a new opening to the
human thoughts and the special characteristics of unconscious states. While many do not agree
with Freudian interpretations and theories, his concepts have given way to design the modern
conceptualization of consciousness.
Freud’s psychoanalysis allows a deeper understanding of the characters in Mary
Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. His ideas on conscious and unconscious mind and interpretations
of dreams defines the separations between the conscious and unconscious. Dreams and their
symbolic representation hold significance in psychoanalytic theory. Freudian theories have
25 Amato, ‘“Jekyll and Hyde”, p.104
26 De Sousa, “Freudian theory and consciousness: a conceptual analysis”: p. 210.

The Unconscious Mind 8
opened up a limitless vista, by showing how consciousness develops and enriched the therapeutic
importance of analytical psychology. When applying Freudian unconscious theory on
Frankenstein, the Creature or the monster is symbolic of our deep desires buried in the
unconscious mind. The monster is a symbol of Frankenstein's fractured psyche and the scientist
becomes obsessed by his own desires and success. The hideous monstrosity of the Creature
forces Frankenstein to wake up from his dream. The discovery that dreams can have a meaning
as they are related to the unconscious mind carry a great significance in psychoanalysis. Freudian
interpretation holds the notion of repression of great importance and asserts how those repressed
fears and conflicts can cause mental disorders.
Bibliography
’Amato, Barbara. "Jekyll and Hyde: A Literary Forerunner to Freud’s Discovery of the
Unconscious." :Modern Psychoanalysis , 2005: 92–106.
Ayan, Steve. "The Brain’s Autopilot Mechanism Steers Consciousness." Scientific American
Mind, 2019: 15.
Bargh, John and Ezequiel Morsella. " The Unconscious Mind.” Perspectives on psychological
science." a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 2008: 73-9.

The Unconscious Mind 9
Butler, Jessica. "The Application of Psychoanalysis to Literature: Mary Shelley’s 'Frankenstein',
and 'Beowulf'." Lancaster University, 2007: 1-6.
Christie, William. "The critical metamorphoses of mary shelley's Frankenstein." Sydney Studies
in English , 1999: 47-82.
Kotze, Haidee. "Desire, Gender, Power, Language: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein." Literator, 2000: 53-68.
Meisel, Perry. "The Feudal Unconscious: Capitalism and the Family Romance." October
Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017: 19–36.
Mlačnik, Primož. "The Deconstruction of Freud’s Theory of Melancholy." Druzboslovne
Razprave, 34. 88, (2018), 113–131, 2018: 113–131.
Sousa, Avinash De. "Freudian theory and consciousness: a conceptual analysis." Mens sana
monograph, 2011: 210–217.
Waldron, William S. "Mindfulness and Indian Buddhist Conceptions of Unconscious Processes."
Current Opinion in Psychology, 2019: 28-31.
Whitney, Leanne. "Jung in Dialogue with Freud and Patanjali: Instinct, Affective Neuroscience,
and the Reconciliation of Science and Religious Experience." The Journal of Natural and
Social Philosophy, 2017: 298-312.