GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: A VOYAGE TO ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO

Psychoanalytical criticism primarily deals with the methods of reading encouraged by Freudian theories of psychology. Its primary focus is on works of literature as a sort of expression of the author's personality and state of mind. While reading a text, readers encounter groups of signs that could unravel the writer's psyche, besides having effects on their own mentality. Therefore, the essential shared element between Literature and Psychoanalysis could be that both deal with human behavior. Accordingly, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels has been chosen to be studied in the light of Freudian psychoanalysis since it is one of the most renowned literary works which comments on human personality and its roots. The famous allegorical readings of the novel might have shadowed its psychoanalytical importance; consequently, we will discuss how Gulliver's four voyages are demonstrating different life phases of human beings with having either id, ego, or superego as a dominant force in each stage. Besides, the voyages help Gulliver form a better understanding of not only himself but of all human beings. By making use of satire, Swift proposes a critique of human beings' vice, folly, pride, and avarice, the roots of which will be discussed according to Freudian propositions.