Electra Complex Research Articles

Electra complex: alienation in the depths of self-motivated involution

Electra complex: alienation in the depths of self-motivated involution

Of Difficult Mothers and Rebellious Daughters: Investigating the Electra Complex in Contemporary Nigerian Feminist Fiction

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta and Lola Shoneyin are undoubtedly three of the most celebrated feminist novelists in the contemporary Nigerian literature. These three women-writers have one thing in common – each has written at least a novel in which she employs the usual problematic relations between a mother figure and a daughter as a means of exploring feminism – inflected issues such as identity-construction, subjecthood, and patriarchy, etc. I am making reference to Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun, Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. These novelists thematize in various ways albeit unconsciously the Electra complex. This paper argues that it seems something of a paradox that these women – novelists in engaging in feminist critiques of patriarchy, should to some extent appear to do so through the agency of the difficult relationship between a mother-figure and a daughter even when no psychological exploration in the delineation of these characters appears to be intended in these novels. The paper aims to draw attention to each of these writers’ representation of certain aspects of the relations between the female protagonist of their respective novels, who appears to embody the novelist’s feminist values, and her parents, especially to the uneasy tensions that seem to exist between them. Keywords: Patriarchy, Feminism, The Electra Complex, The Symbolic Realm, The Unconscious

Sylvia Plath: Her Growth Beyond Electra Complex: A Study of Her Poem ''Daddy''

Sylvia Plath is a great poet from America in the 20th century. Although she is known as a talented woman poet, she is said to have been unfit to adjust herself in the society due to mismatch between her aspirations and societal expectations from her. The society expected her to settle down into a family by marrying a man, and giving birth to his children. On the other hand, she wanted to build her career in writing. She didn't want to give in to the pressures of the society. However, she couldn't go against the conventions of the society for long. The pressure from the society was too much upon her. She is said to have undergone the experience of close emotional attachment to her father who had died when she was just eight. Some of her works including the poem under study show a girl-child's strong emotional attachment towards her father. The present research work has made an attempt at exploring the theme of Electra Complex in her poem Daddy.

BETWEEN MOTHER FIXATION AND COLONIAL ATTRACTION: DERACINATION, ILL-FATED MIGRATION, AND REDEMPTION IN KEN BUGUL’S THE ABANDONED BAOBAB

The Abandoned Baobab, Ken Bugul’s brutally sincere autofiction, is the prototypal model of African postcolonial, feminist, and psychological narrative built around the post-traumatic stress disorder, self-flagellation, and “excesses” of a speaking female/colonial subject in desperate need of love. The paper analyzes the protagonist’s alienation, identity crises, and ill-starred sojourn in Europe against the backdrop of maternal attachment and absorption of colonial codes. The study is eclectically anchored on Hendrika C. Freud’s reconstruction of the Electra complex and postcolonial theory. Its major finding is that notwithstanding the protagonist’s anguish at maternal abandonment and her subsequent colonial assimilation, she still employs repressed norms and values associated with the mother/the land/Africa to berate (neo-)colonialists, Westerners, and herself. The paper concludes that the protagonist-narrator redeems herself somehow through the willful adoption of the appellation Ken Bugul, the admission of her errors, and the return to the motherland.

‘Better the devil you know’: feminine sexuality and patriarchal liberation in The Witch

ABSTRACT At the end of 2015‘s The Witch, isolated and beaten protagonist, Thomasin, ultimately rejects her puritanical upbringing to become a witch, accepting the invitation of the Devil (in the guise of the family’s goat Black Philip). This essay will discuss Thomasin’s sexual deliverance in terms of her turning away from the authoritarian ‘Law of the Father’ towards female liberation that comes in the form of the Witch. Thomasin transitions from girl to woman, but does not want to do so in the restrictive Puritan fashion where patriarchy and oppression rules. She becomes a woman by embracing her sexuality in the figure of the witch and Black Philip as the figure of lust helping her become free. Western folklore posits the goat as a symbol of fertility, independence, and lust; Black Philip is a figure who represents a connection to wild desires. Therefore, Black Philip becomes not only a physical representation of the devil, but also a symbolic representation of Thomasin’s sexual desire. Drawing on theories of the monstrous-feminine (Creed, Kristeva, Arnold), the symbolism of folklore and Freud’s Electra complex, this work argues that, despite its message of feminine empowerment, The Witch cannot fully reject or escape patriarchal discourse.

Seeing Pink

Seeing Pink

Swede Levov O Herói Trágico Americano de American Pastoral

This essay aims to analyse the character of Seymour “Swede” Levov in the novel American Pastoral, written by Philip Roth and published in 1997, as the first book of Roth’sAmerican Trilogy. For such, we start with an overview of the trilogy and provide background to the following works:I Married a Communist(1998) and The Human Stain(2000). Then we move on to an analysis of the protagonist of American Pastoral. The study of the character is divided in three sections: the first section studies the character in itself and his conception of the American Dream, whereas the second section looks into his relationship with his wife, in order to reflect upon the female condition in the 1960’s, as well as the role of the husband, froma feminist perspective. The third and fourth sections concern Swede’s daughter, Merry, in order to focus on their relationship, study the consequencesofgeneration gap, and address how this father/daughter relationship may illustrate the Electra Complex, as proposed by Carl Jung.The fourth sections combined will contribute tounderstandwhat originated the tragedy of Swede Levov, a central theme in the novel.

Dear Heavenly Mother

Dear Heavenly Mother,You have been lost to me, hidden from my view behind a veil of professed sacred protection, but I am searching for you—pulling you into the light. Now that I am also called Mother, I know you are strong. I know you do not need protecting, that you are a force of love and life. I believe you have always been with me. Guiding. Directing. Giving me strength in time of need and celebrating my moments of joy. I know you were there as I pushed and breathed and bled my own babies into the world. Yet, I looked past you.Now, I see how my self-proclaimed “daddy's girl” attitude has been shaped by the patriarchal system that hid you from me in the first place. I do not pray to you, and until recently, hadn't even prayed about you. Now I ask Father to help me feel your love and guidance and to understand when you are present in my life. I long to find my way into your arms, to be held up by you.For so long, I felt unbalanced, but I didn't understand why until others of my faith began to speak your name. Now, each time you are acknowledged, I feel righted. I see myself as a woman loved by Heavenly Parents, with an inheritance that includes the feminine divine. “Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man” (1 Cor. 11:11).I wept when you were included (as a Heavenly Parent) in the Young Women theme, Now, when my nieces recite those powerful words, you become part of their identities. I am grateful for this, but the young men, my own boys included, repeat a weekly theme that still does not include you. How long before they will be allowed to acknowledge your divinity too?I am encouraged by small changes, but change takes time. For now, I will speak your name. I will make you part of our eternal narrative. I will share your love and stop myself from looking past you. I will teach my children to see your light and be lifted by your strength, that they will speak your name as easily as they do Father's—for both of you are part of their eternal makings.All my love,Daughter

How does the brain function when a person is in love?

Abstract: This article identifies the nature of love and some of its conscientious and political implications. It is a question to the thinker, 'What is love?'Many problems arise. Love is an ideational noun. That is, for some people, it is a word that is not connected to reality or sensibly. For others, it shows our existence, ourselves and the world, is irreversibly affected after we "refer to love". Some are trying to analyse it, others prefer to leave it as an inefficient area But it is undeniable that love plays a huge and inevitable role in our different cultures. We see it discussed with humour and seriousness in songs, films and novels. It is a constant theme of maturity in life and a vibrant theme for young people. Philosophically, the nature of love has been at the heart of philosophy since ancient Greece, from the materialistic concept of love as a purely physical phenomenon (the animal or genetic motif that governs our behaviour) to theory. That moment Love as an intense spiritual entity, to the highest degree, allows us to come into contact with divinity. Historically, in the Western tradition, Plato's Feast presents the original text to provide us with a very influential and compelling idea that love is characterized by several levels. To love. This is also overcome by what can be explained by the theological view of love the research sends sexual attraction and reciprocity. Since then, there have been various alternative theories, including Plato’s critics and advocates of love, Plato's disciple Aristotle, and his more mundane theory of true love. It reflects what he described as "two bodies and one soul". The philosophical treatment of love covers a variety of disciplines, including epistemology, metaphysics, religion, humanity, politics and ethics. Often, for example, statements or discussions about love, its nature and, its role in human life refer to one or all of the central theories of philosophy and are compared or considered in the context of philosophical sex. And not just sex, but the body as well. It is intentional. The mission of the philosophy of love is to present relevant issues in a targeted way, based on relevant theories such as human nature, desire and morality. The research concludes that biological, mind and ideology stand significant for the analysis of love. Nonetheless, additional study is preferred for differentiating that what actually is and how this knowledge can be applied in everyday life. With the divorce rate on the rise and the idea of a changing marriage during present time community, significance for researching a theory in affection can’t be ignored. In this study, as a community, we can understand its importance for human love and survival. Keywords: Physical, Mental, affection, intercourse, divorce, serotonin, oxytocin, Oedipus complex, Electra complex, ideology, soul mate, neurotransmitter, dopamine, odour, psychosexual

Unraveling Electra Complex in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine and Dust

The aim of this study is to explore the Jungian Electra complex in Kanza Javed’s Ashes, Wine and Dust. This is a qualitative research. Electronic media including reviews and interviews form the secondary source of this study. The researcher substantiates that Javed’s young protagonist Mariam Ameen is father-fixated for her beloved grandfather, who is simply known as Dadda. The concealed unconscious desire for her grandfather is unveiled by dint of establishing the fact that Dadda is the true father figure for Mariam. He overshadows the role of the biological father, taking up the position of an immediate father for Mariam. This accentuates the underlying Electra complex in Mariam’s heart. Moreover, the use of double roles is also deciphered as a leitmotif in Javed’s novel. Mariam serves as the doppelganger of Parakneeti which further aids the prevalence of the Electra complex. Dadda’s incessant influence in Mariam’s life even after his death and her self-imposed spinsterhood is discerned in terms of her infatuation for her grandfather. This study also analyses Mariam’s journey to the land of her grandfather as a metaphorical voyage of regression to the phallic stage which renders in a metaphysical union of the lover and the beloved. As a result, it is a journey of self-discovery in terms of love. The significance of this critical study is that it broadens the research horizons on Javed’s work as a psychoanalytic novel. It also enables the researchers to explore theories by other psychoanalysts, since only Freud and Jung share the limelight in the field of psychoanalytic research.

The Tragic Lives of Oedipus Complex and Electra Complex Sufferers in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra

This study aims to analyse the tragic lives of Oedipus and Electra Complex sufferers in Eugene O'Neill's “Mourning Becomes Electra”. The writer applies psychoanalytical theory which fits with the characters psychological condition. The writer uses a descriptive qualitative analysis as the method to analyse. This study analyses Oedipus and Electra Complexes sufferers from characters in a drama entitled Mourning Becomes Electra that leads tragedy in a family and ends the tragic death. In this analysis, the writer finds out that the psychological conditions of those Oedipus and Electra Complex sufferers contribute to their tragic lives.

The Female Version in Daphne Du Maurier�s Rebecca

Rebecca is a novel which is created by Daphne Du Maurier. That novel is retold by Margaret Tarner in 1991. The main character of this novel is the narrator. This study uses A Freudian Psychological Analysis. The purpose of this study is to trace the Electra Complex (the female version of the Oedipus Complex) in Rebecca. So, the steps of this study are identify the symbolic father figure and the symbolic mother figure and trace how the main character tries to displace the symbolic mother figures in that novel. There are two results of this study. The first, Mr. De Winter is the symbolic figure father, while Mrs. Van Hooper, Rebecca, and Mrs. Danvers are the symbolic of mother figures. The second, the main character tries to displace the mother figures. The main character is marrying Mr. De Winter before Mrs. Van Hooper realizes her plan to make Mr. De Winter as the next victim. Then, the main character is trying to displace Rebecca by doing: (1) make social call with Beatrice and Giles, (2) prepare the best appearance for the Ball, and (3) cover her husband as murderer. Then, the main character is trying to displace Mrs. Danvers by convincing Mrs. Danvers to be her friend, but Mrs. Danvers decides to burn Manderley and go away from that place. Therefore, the narrator suffers Electra Complex and becomes the female version of the Oedipus Complex.

The Obsession of Women Characters in Daphne du Maurier's 'Rebecca'

The objectives of this study are to analyze how is the obsession of the women characters and to explain how the obsession of the women characters influences their behavior described in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. The object of the study is a novel entitled Rebecca, written by Daphne du Maurier. This study is a descriptive qualitative study by applying Freudian psychoanalytic theory. The data of the study were collected by reading, identifying, inventorying, classifying, selecting, and reporting. By using Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the analysis focused on the women's character's obsession. The results show (1) Rebecca’s obsession in gaining power through fake appearances to get wealth and honor. Then, Mrs de Winter obsession in getting her husband’s love influenced by her father’s figure so that she has an electra complex. Further, Danvers obsession in loving Rebecca makes her have selfishness. (2) The influence of Rebecca’s obsession makes her have a narcissistic personality disorder. Then, the influence of Mrs de Winter obsession makes her envy, and finally she imitates Rebecca to increase her confidence in getting her husband’s love. Further, the influence of Danvers obsession makes her a Rebecca worshiper.
 Keywords: Characters, Obsession, Psychoanalytic, Rebecca, Women

Shadow of the Father: Evidence of Electra Complex in Benazir Bhutto’s Daughter of the East

This paper aims at exploring the symptoms of Electra complex in Benazir Bhutto through her autobiography Daughter of the East (1988). As developed by Freud, psychoanalysis provides an insight into the conflicts that are believed to lie at the roots of people’s problems. His discovery of the unconscious mind led him to believe that all dreams, jokes, slips of tongues, thoughts, behavior and action have hidden meanings, and suggest the psychic structures of the mind shape the personality. The researcher uses this theory to explore the symptoms of Electra complex in Benazir’s personality. This paper proves that Daughter of the East contains evidence of certain symptoms which prove that Benazir suffered from Electra complex. Specific strategies of narratological analysis are selected for analyzing and interpreting textual evidence. This paper throws light on the deep-seated anxieties that exerted continuous pressure on Benazir’s mind. Through this analysis, the researcher has found symptoms of Electra complex in Benazir Bhutto. Benazir was so deeply in love with her father that she was unable to focus on her own life in her autobiography. She was obsessed with her love for her father and revered him as a saint. Benazir even developed a sense of competition with her siblings for the love of her father. The researcher argues that Benazir recreated her traumatic past, her father’s images, and his memories by writing her autobiography.

Reinventing the barbarian: Electra, sibling incest, and twentieth-century Hellenism

AbstractSince Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s adaptation of Sophocles’ Electra in 1903, numerous dramatic versions of the Electra story have given the heroine a sexually charged relationship with her brother, or even her sister. Despite being an international phenomenon, predating Jung’s coinage of the ‘Electra complex’ by a decade and enduring through more than a century of artistic and institutional trends, this trope has received little scholarly attention. Since the appearance of sibling incest in adaptations of the Electra plays, scholars from multiple disciplines have even begun to read intimations of incest in the ancient dramatic texts. This article will consider the aetiology of a motif that resists being attributed to a single cause.

Dewi Ayu’s Electra Complex as seen in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is A Wound

This study aims to analyze Dewi Ayu’s Electra Complex as Seen in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is A Wound. The objectives of the study are: (1) to find out the proofs of Dewi Ayu’s Electra Complex as Seen in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is A Wound; (2) to find out the causal factors of Dewi Ayu’s Electra Complex as Seen in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is A Wound; and (3) to find out the effects of Dewi Ayu’s Electra Complex on herself and on Ma Gedik as Seen in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is A Wound. The theory used by the thesis writer is the theory of Electra Complex by Freudian theories in psychoanalysis approach and she also applies a qualitative research. Keywords: Psychoanalysis, Electra complex, Defence Mechanism.

Electra complex in Sylvia Plath

Electra complex in Sylvia Plath

КОМПЛЕКС ЕЛЕКТРИ У РОМАННОМУ МИСЛЕННІ ХХ–XXI СТ.: ПРОДОВЖЕННЯ МЕТОДУ НІЛИ ЗБОРОВСЬКОЇ

КОМПЛЕКС ЕЛЕКТРИ У РОМАННОМУ МИСЛЕННІ ХХ–XXI СТ.: ПРОДОВЖЕННЯ МЕТОДУ НІЛИ ЗБОРОВСЬКОЇ

Plath’s DADDY as a Break-up Letter

Sylvia Plath’s best-known lyric is steeped in the psychology of the Freudian family romance. The poet herself invoked the “Electra complex” of her speaker in a much-quoted BBC interview (Plath 196)...

Electra Complex and the Confusion of Albee’s Martha’s Sexual Identity: A Psychoanalytic Study

According to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory, earlier traumatic experiences highly influence the psychological development of personality. Freud also affirms that the earlier years of childhood development play a crucial role in the formation of personality. He states that all normal infants go through specific stages of psychosexual development that are naturally progressive, namely: oral, anal and phallic stages. Any disruption of or delay in the progress of any of the psychosexual stages or failure to cope with them causes the fixation of the libido at a particular stage. Martha, the central figure in Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, suffered from painful emotional experiences during childhood which gave her an unbalanced personality and a fragile ego. She lived a lonely and troubled childhood because she was abandoned and rejected by her father, a matter that has left a deep scar on her psyche. Martha also has a phallic fixation owing to the unresolved sexual conflicts during the phallic phase of the psychosexual development, a matter that negatively influences her personality. Applying Freudian psychanalytic theory, the aim of this study is to investigate the influence of past traumatic experiences of childhood on Martha’s behaviour and her psychological wellbeing. The study also seeks to uncover the impact of the unresolved Electra Complex on the development of Martha’s personality and her sexual maturity.