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Psychoanalysis In The Wizard Of Oz

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Psychoanalysis of the Wizard of Oz Of the many literary theories that have come about over the years, one of the most interesting is the idea of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis was first introduced in the 1880s by Sigmund Freud, he claimed that unconscious desires were the reasoning behind most behavioral problems. Furthermore, Freud speculated that one’s subconscious desires were influenced by what happened in one’s childhood ("Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism", 2018). Freud also said that children go through various stages of development where they focus on one body part or another, such as the oral or anal stage, and that children may fixate on their parent of the opposite sex, known as the Oedipus Complex ("Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism", 2018). After reading about psychoanalysis it is easy to apply the theory to one of the most beloved movies of all time, The Wizard of Oz. Revealing the character’s inner conscious, I believe helps reveal the …show more content…

The wicked witch of the west wants her sister’s ruby slippers, which apparently have magical powers. However, Glinda has magically put the shoes on Dorothy’s feet. The wicked witch of the west vows to get Dorothy and regain her sister’s shoes, “I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too” ("Quotes from "The Wizard of Oz", 2018) Besides her vow to the shoes, very little is known about the motivations of the Wicked Witch of the West. Many other mediums in literature and movies have attempted to explain her intentions, including occasionally making her an antihero. Psychoanalytically speaking, the witch’s inner desires are a mystery because so little is known about her. One could speculate that maybe she wants the magical slippers because they belonged to her sister and she wants something of hers to remember her

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