Please read Frau Freud by Carol Ann Duffy. She's a brilliant poet, this poem is from an anthology where she writes from the perspective of the female counterparts of famous male figures - in this case Freud. Have we ever wondered what it would actually be like to have to be the wife of such an influential figure? Especially Freud? This is from a presentation I did on him to give some context to the poem, enjoy!
2. Frau Freud By Carol Ann
Duffy
Ladies, for argument’s sake, let us say that I’ve seen my f
share of ding-a-ling, member and jock, oftodger and nudg
and percy and cock, of tackle, of three-for-a-bob, of willy a
winky; in fact, you could say, I’m as au fait with Hunt-the-
Salami as Ms. M. Lewinsky – equally sick up to here with
beef bayonet, the pork sword, the saveloy, love-muscle, ni
crawler, dong, the dick, prick, dipstick and wick, the ramm
the slammer, the rupert, theshlong. Don’t get me wrong, I’
axe to grind with the snake in the trousers, the wife’s best
friend, the weapon, the python – I suppose what I mean
is, ladies, dear ladies, the average penis – not pretty… the
squint of its envious solitary eye…one’s feeling of pity…
3. MAIN FACTS
Birth: Freiberg, Moravia
Location of death: London, England
Cause of death:Euthanasia
Gender: Male
Religion: Atheist
Sexual orientation: Straight
8. Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
STAGE FOCUS
Pleasure centers on the mouth-
Oral (0-18 months) sucking, chewing, biting
Pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder
Anal (18-36 months) elimination; coping with demands for control
Pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with
incestuous sexual feelings
Phallic (3-6 years)
Dormant sexual feeling
Latency (6 to puberty)
Maturation of sexual interest
Genital (puberty on)
12. MARTHA BERNAYS
• Freud ended his commitment to laboratory
science when he met the love of his life,
Martha Bernays.
• Six months after he met Martha he
sacrificed his scientific ambitions to
become a doctor – for Martha of course.
13. FREUD"My precious, most beloved girl, I knew it
was only after you had gone that I would realize
the full extent of my happiness… I still cannot
grasp it, and if that… sweet little picture were not
lying in front of me, I would think it was all a
beguiling dream."
MARTHA"Sigi, My Sigi. Today for the first time I call
you by your name… My darling, I am happy, yes
happy as I have never been in my long life."
14. PARENTHOOD
• Freud thrived in an atmosphere of solidity
• As his research progressed, the passion in
his marriage faded
Sophie Freud
“Every Sunday, the family assembled in the Freud household including
myself. He would come out at 12 o'clock, and his physical contact was
you did like this, you put your two fingers and you squeezed the child's
cheeks, which was a sign of affection. You did not hug or anything like
that, you did this.“
15. • Martha became the kind of wife Freud had
hoped for
• Domestic duties had replaced the passion
Freud and Martha had expressed for each
other
16. Bergmann
“We have wonderful courting letters before
marriage. After marriage we only get
laundry letters. It's all practical. We don't
have a single love letter after marriage.”
17. LIFESTYLE
Man of regular habits
• Mustache/Beard trimmed daily bi his
barber
• Strolled the boulevard each day
• Played cards with the same group of
friends every Saturday night
• Highly conscious of his image
• Loved a good cigar; smoked >20 a day
18.
19. LIFESTYLE
• In the end of August, 1899, Freud finished
his book in a farmhouse in Berchtesgaden
high in the German Alps
20. LIFESTYLE
• After publishing his book he became very
well known
• Dr. Freud supposedly found in sex the
meaning of life.
”I'm not famous," Freud mused.
"I'm notorious."
21. LIFESTYLE
• In 1933, the Nazi’s came to power and
burned his books alongside those of
Thomas Mann, Berlolt Brecht and Albert
Einstein.
22. Freud died in London in 1939 from mouth
cancer. His mother died just 9 years
before his own death in 1930, he did not
attend her funeral. His wife died in 1951 in
London.
23. By the time of his death, Freud’s ideas had
become part of the fabric of the twentieth
century life.
24. “Ms. M. Lewinsky”
• Monica Samille Lewinsky (born July
23, 1973) is an American woman with
whom then US President Bill Clinton
admitted to having had an “improper
relationship” while Lewinsky worked
at the White House in 1995 and
1996.
• The affair and its
repercussions, especially the
impeachment of Bill Clinton, became
known as the Lewinsky scandal.
The “father” of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud is best known for his tendency to trace nearly all psychological problems back to sexual issues.
A famous Freudian innovation includes the therapy couch, the use of talk therapy to resolve psychological problems.
While Freud's theories have always been controversial, his work forms a major portion of the foundations of modern psychology, with considerable modification by later theorists.When he published his theories he shocked the world by claiming that even infants had a sex drive and that (as in the Oedipal Complex) little boys become emotionally and sexually fixated on their own mothers -- while viewing their fathers as hated sexual rivals to be defeated or killed off.
Freud also came to see personality as having three separate aspects, Id, Ego, and the Superego. All three needed to be well balanced to have good mental health. The Id contains basic needs and feelings, and is essentially the ‘pleasure principle.’ The Ego realizes that you cannot always get what you want, and is basically the ‘reality principle.’ Moreover, the Superego is the moral part of the mind, and usually strives for perfection, though the so-called perfection is typically far from reality.
Freud thrived in an atmosphere of solidity and order in his home, as if he needed a firm foundation to explore the shifting timeless world of the unconscious. As he delved deeper into the mysteries of sexuality in his research, the passion faded from his marriage.
Martha became the kind of wife Freud had hoped for; almost constantly pregnant for 9 years and giving birth, busy with home and family, raising their children and managing the household while Freud attended his medical practice and researched his theories.Domestic duties had replaced the passion Freud and Martha had expressed for each other. Settled comfortably in the routines of daily life, he was consumed by his work, but the ardor had disappeared from his marriage.
Freud was a man of regular habits. He had his mustache and beard trimmed daily by his barber, strolled the boulevard each day, and played cards with the same group of friends every Saturday night. Highly conscious of his image, he was always faultlessly dressed. Above all, he loved a good cigar and smoked more than twenty a day. Every summer, Freud fled the heat of Vienna to vacation with his family in the Alps.In the end of August, 1899, Freud finished his book in a farmhouse in Berchtesgaden high in the German Alps, looking out on what would one day be the site of the vacation home of Adolph Hitler.