Freud's "Dora"

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to deconstruct and expose the inherent patriarchal ideologies in Freud's psychoanalysis of his famous patient, "Dora". The basis of Freud's psychoanalytic theories revolved around sexuality, and his account of her "madness" condemns her sexuality and dismisses all feminine sexuality. This is a feminist critique of Freud's theories, in general, and specifically, in regards to his comments on the case of "Dora", which attempt to expose the unconscious assumptions that Freud saw in everyone else but himself. The contention of this paper is thus that the society and culture and gender of an individual directly influences his or her perception and interpretation of another individual, and thus Freud, as a privileged, white man in a patriarchal society, could never hope to help or analyze "Dora" accurately.

From the Paper:

"For Dr Sigmund Freud the case analysis of "Dora" signified the possibility of proclaiming a marriage between dream analysis and psychoanalysis to the psychoanalytic community (Freud, 1901/1905: 44ff.). Yet it was never the woman in analysis who was of importance for either Freud or the psychoanalytic community. Ida Bauer was never important and nor was her Symbolic representation, Dora. Indeed all the women within Dora's case are characterized as "nothing," no woman is important (Gallop, 1985: 216). It might be argued that we can never truly know the content of Ida's "nothingness" because Dora was Freud's invention, his interpretation, biases and desires postured onto her feminine form (Geargear, 1985: 177). However we need not know Ida's real life story as Freud's narration of her is more indicative of Ida's status as a woman within a patriarchal society than any autobiographical account could ever have been. Thus Dora becomes a fluid character who need not claim a "real" identity or to be set in an historical moment for she exceeds Ida and is instead the transcendent woman; her hysteria is every woman's hysteria."

More papers on Freud's "Dora":

• Case Study # 109550 : "Dora: Questions about Sigmund Freud's Analysis"
• Analytical Essay # 142463 : "Oedipus the King" and Sigmund Freud's "Dora"
• Research Paper # 47121 : "To Sigmund Freud, Blameless Physician"

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