tool and techniques for character interpretation

tool and techniques for character interpretation . SIGMUND FREUD, FATHER OF PSYCHOANALYSIS I 13 Prologue: The Study of Hysteria and the Beginnings of Psychoanalysis, 13; The Foundations, I: How the Mind Works, 16; The Foundations, II: The Stages of Psychosexual Development, the Oedipus Complex, and the Nature of Sexuality, 23; About Neurosis and Disturbances in Mental Functioning, z9; Eros and Thanatos: The Life Instinct and the Death Instinct, 34; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Application of Freudian Ideas to Character Interpretation, 35; Free Association: An Exercise for Actors, Writers, and Directors, 68 1011972. MOTHERS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS: ANNA FREUD, SIGMUNDS ANTIGONE; HELENE DEUTSCH, FREUDS DARLING; KAREN HORNEY AND THE NEUROTIC PERSONALITY I 71 Anna Freud, Sigmunds Antigone, 71; Helene Deutsch, Freuds Darling: The Psychology of the Feminine and Freudian Theory, 8o; Karen Horney on Feminine Psychology and on Neuroses, 84 3. MELANIE KLEIN AND OBJECTRELATIONS THEORY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES 189 111197Kleins Psychoanalytic Theories and the Beginnings of the ObjectRelations School, 89; The Development of ObjectRelations Theory, Attachment Theory, and Self Psychology 96 4. THE REBELLIOUS CROWN PRINCE: CARL GUSTAV JUNG AND ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY I III Prologue: The Conflict Between Jung and Freud, 111; The Major Concepts ofAnalytical Psychology, 114; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Applications of Jungs Ideas on Character and Character Typology, 117 5. Two OUTSTANDING PIONEERS: GEORG GRODDECK AND The Book of the 121197It; ALFRED ADLER AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY 123 Georg Groddecks Insights into Transference and Ambivalence: Deepening Characterization, 123; Alfred Adlers Ideas on Birth Order and the Inferiority Complex, 128 6. WILHELM REICH AND CHARACTER ANALYSIS I 135 The Emotional Plague, 137; Character Armoring, 138; Questions and Considerations: The Practical Application of Reichian Ideas to Character Interpretation, 141; Body Character Armoring: An Actors Exercise in Awareness, 149 1311977. EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY: THE THEORIES OF WILLIAM JAMES, LUDWIG BINSWANGER, HARRY STACK SULLIVAN, JEANPAUL SARTRE, AND OTHER PIONEERS 1 151 William James on the Nature of Habits, 151; An American School of Psychiatry: Harry Stack Sullivans Interpersonal Relations, 153; Ludwig Binswanger and Existential Psychology; Viktor Frank and Logotherapy; Sartre and the Look in the Eye of the Other, 16o; Facing the Opposite: An Existentialist Exercise from Gestalt Therapy, 168; Brief Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (BPP) and the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT) Method, 169; An Exercise: Using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme (CCRT), 171 1411978. PSYCHOLOGICAL TERMS AND TOPICS I 175 PART TWO INTERPRETING CHARACTERS: THE PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY 1 221 Introduction 1 223 PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS IN PLAYS AND FILMS 9. SHAKESPEARES TIMELESS PSYCHOLOGICAL THEMES I 229 A Psychopathic Personality: Shakespeares Richard the Third, 229; The Merchant of Venice: The Psychology of Prejudice, 233; 151197Some Characters in Othello: Paranoia and Wounded Love, 24o; A Classic Freudian Interpretation: Ernest Joness Hamlet and Oedipus, 244; Other Approaches to Hamlet, 248 10. SHERIDAN, STRINDBERG, AND IBSEN: THE DEVELOPMENT OF FEMINISM I 253 Mrs. Malaprop and Sir Anthony Absolute in Sheridans The Rivals Two Narcissistic Egotists, 253; August Strindbergs Miss Julie, 2,55; Feminism and Ibsens A Dolls House and Hedda Gabler, 256 11. ANTON CHEKHOV I 265 161197Chekhovs Philosophy; The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, and Other Plays, 265; On the Harmfulness of Tobacco, 269; Three Sisters, 271; Uncle Vanya, 275 12. THE ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENT: SIX MODERN PLAYS I 283 Introduction: The Psychology of the Artist, 283; Martin Morans The Tricky Part, 287; Oscar Wilde, Lord Alfred Douglas, and The Marquis of Queensberry in Moises Kaufmans Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, 289; 171197Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Rudolph Besiers The Barretts of Wimpole Street, 297; Emily Dickinson in William Luces The Belle ofAmherst, 300; A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppards The Invention ofLove, 302; Rimbaud and Verlaine in Christopher Hamptons Total Eclipse, 304 Selected Bibliography 309 Acting and Theater, 309; Plays and Playwrights, 310; Psychology and Psychoanalysis, 311; 181197Literary Works, Literary Biographies, and Criticism, 317 List of Films and Television Series 1319 List of Plays 1 323 About the Author 1 327 191197aving run through the gamut of plays from every century in teaching scene study these forty years and more, I have come up with some rules of thumb for character analysis. I often characterize plays written since Sophie Treadwells Machinal as postFreudian and all previous ones as preFreudian. Machinal is an all but forgotten psychological drama based on a sensational reallife murder case Treadwell had covered as a journalist. It was produced on Broadway in 1928, with Clark Gable making his debut. Written in a repetitive, impressionistic style, through the eyes of its heroine (the murderess), this play greatly influenced the 201197young Eugene ONeill, who went on to write Strange Interlude using a stream of consciousness technique. Early ONeill, Chekhov, Ibsen, Shaw, Wilde, Shakespeare, and Moliere, I call preFreudian; Williams, Miller, Inge, Pinter, Mamet, et al., postFreudian. My reason for making this distinction is an important one for the actor to keep in mind while exploring the characters psyche: Freud brought about a universal awareness that is present in all postFreudian plays, in sometimes obvious and sometimes subtle ways. Some modern playwrights, such as Arthur Miller, spell out their characters problems, and some of the more poetic ones, Tennessee Williams most especially, cloak their characters, keeping them in the dark. But in all twentiethcentury postFreudian plays, the actor will discover in the subtext a good deal of intrigue and complexity, conscious and unconscious, which will eventually define his or her performance. No one can doubt the 211197Freudian influence on the New Wave English writers, and Neil Simons hilarious comedies all have characters with clearly recognizable psychological neuroses. On the other hand, when exploring preFreudian plays, the actor must take care to hold on to a certain innocence about his or her characters motivations, for example with a playwright like Chekhov, who illuminated the human condition second only to Shakespeare. The trials and tribulations of Chekhovian characters derive from their total lack of ability to understand their own or others motivations. It is very helpful to the actor to analyze what motivates them, but that analysis must recede into the unconscious in order for the actor to become the character who does not understand motivations A profound psychological understanding of human nature certainly can be found in plays as far back as the Greeks; yet any actress 221197playing Antigone should not psychoanalyze her as someone with a martyr complex. Her reasons for choosing death have to be what she claims them to be or the play doesnt work. I once had a student playing Orlando in act 3, scene 2, of As You Like It, with the disguised Rosalind, and he was behaving very strangely. I asked him what his choices were, and he said that he naturally recognized that the boy he was with was really a girl, and so he felt his Orlando must know it too. Talk about the loss of innocence Knowing but then forgetting is the actors job in every event. However, in preFreudian plays of earlier times, it certainly helps actors to understand fully what psychological forces may be driving their characters, but in the end they must remain innocent of them in order to play the character. To do this, they learn to accept the text at face value, first and foremost, burying their sophisticated analyses during rehearsals. By all means analyze 231197Hamlets procrastination, but be sure at the same time to keep him in his Shakespearean state of selfwoe and determination for revenge With this book, Robert Blumenfeld has done all the research into the modern science of psychology for us, which, combined with his personal experience as an actor and a coach in the theater, fills a void and goes a very long way in correcting the controversy and confusion regarding the use of Freud in both the acting classroom and play rehearsals. This book, written in a lively and readable style, helps us analyze what lies behind our own behavior and how it can be used as a source for the character in the play. As an acting teacher and coach, I have acquired a particular aversion to the unfortunately all too common teaching approach that had its beginnings way back in the 1950S inside the Actors Studio. Grossly misinterpreting the original Stanislavsky tenets, 241197the instructor in these types of classes uses pseudopsychoanalytic methods as a means of opening up acting students and breaking down their inhibitions. The students are often forced to expose themselves in front of the class in the form of private moment exercises and, in some cases, even appear nude My own philosophy of teaching acting emphasizes instead a respect for my students personal lives, treating them as colleagues and not as patients. There is no doubt that searching into ones past in order to understand how childhood events have molded ones adult behavior is a very useful step in analyzing a character in a play. Such selfanalysis helps to provide substitutions, where necessary, to bring about the behavior and emotions required. However, these personal revelations should be kept private. They are not to be shared with the class as a whole. The danger in making public in class intimate details of the 251197students past life is twofold: firstly, it could bring about a crisis in an especially sensitive person that the acting teacher would be illequipped to handle; and secondly, the Stanislavski approach actually demands secrecy Without secrets, the actor is never free to experiment. What caused his or her tears, for instance, has to be protected for the long run of the play, or else they will dry upthat is to say if the actor can remember what he or she used to begin with. By opening night, the substitution the actor made during rehearsals ought to have become so woven into the fabric of his or her role that the substitution itself is forgotten. There are some directorsfewer and fewer these dayswho prefer an open approach during rehearsals and who discuss the characters, their relationships to one another, and even their motivations in front of the entire cast. But even in these cases, all personal, subjective decisions the actor makes to bring about his or her own 261197experience should remain secret. My teacher and mentor, Uta Hagen, believed that any details of the students private life that he or she would not reveal to a close personal friend should be censored in the class as well This book will enable students to research their pasts to find parallels for use in character interpretation in private. Common sense, instincts, impulses, memory, logic, recognizing ones own neuroses andor peculiarities, sensitivity, empathy, sometimes even pityall play a huge part in character analysis. In a pure interpretation of the Stanislavsky technique, the actor should begin the process of searching for the character in the play with an amorphous idea. By using as if I were, the actor works to become a character that is not preconceived physically nor even influenced by the playwrights description, or else the performance is in danger of being just a stereotypean intellectual idea rather than a 271197fully realized human being. By making accessible the psychology behind behavior, Robert Blumenfelds book inspires and aids the actor in the process of personalizing and building the character from the inside out.